Recruiting in China

CHINA'S chief executive officers are more concerned over finding qualified managers but they lack awareness about risk management compared with their global counterparts, an industry report said.

About 46 percent of CEOs who took part in the survey put "finding qualified managerial talents" and "acquiring and developing the right talent" as issues of greatest concern, the Conference Board and Ernst & Young said in a recent report.

In Europe and the United States where the talent market is more matured, CEOs there do not need to put "finding talents" as a major challenge.

In comparison, the pool of talent available in China is growing and evolving, making it one big headache for the bosses.

But a similarity exists in all top management globally, namely a focus for sustained and steady top-line growth and profit expansion.

"CEOs in China place the need for sustained and steady top-line growth and seizing opportunities for expansion and growth in China at the top of their list of challenges," said the survey.

The top concern for CEOs worldwide is sustained and steady top-line growth, with 37.5 percent of those surveyed naming it their top challenge. In China, 53.8 percent put it as their top challenge, tied with seizing opportunities for growth in China.

Meanwhile, despite risk management being an increasingly predominant global business issue, it is still not regarded generally as one of the top challenges by CEOs in China.

"CEOs in China are now only beginning to examine, understand and implement risk management as a business tool," said Eric Chia, an Ernst & Young partner. "This lack of focus on risk management can present challenges for many Chinese companies and we strongly advise CEOs to better prepare themselves."

The China study is an extension of a survey of 658 global CEOs from 40 countries. The number of managers in China who took part was not given.