Recruiting in China

ALMOST 40 percent of office workers in China are planning to land a new job after the Spring Festival holiday, according to a key human resources survey.

ChinaHR.com, one of the leading Web-based headhunters in the country, asked more than 700 white-collar workers, mostly in Shanghai, in 15 different industries, via the Internet about their career plans for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

More than 37 percent of people surveyed said they had resigned from their previous job, and were planning to work for a new boss after the Spring Festival break.

Most of those planning to change jobs are ordinary to mid-level employees aged between 25 and 35. Only 2.6 percent of decision-makers plan to change jobs, according to the survey.

Terry Ouyang, director of ChinaHR's human resources research center, said the high turnover rate reflected the conflict between young white-collar workers' career-development demands and employers' staff-retention targets.

"People aged between 25 and 35 are undergoing the highest career-progress pressure, especially in high-tech companies." Ouyang said.

"A strong wish for achievement motivates them to change jobs if they see no development prospects in their present positions."

The week-long Spring Festival holiday seems to motivate people to focus on careers and ponder their options, as nearly 21 percent of survey respondents listed "mapping out new year career plan" as their most important task during the break.

Michael Shen, a local sales manager, said the traditional concept of "new year embraces a new beginning" also pushed the decision-making along.

ChinaHR's human resources analysts estimated that the large-scale job-changing peak will come in mid-March.

The survey also suggested that more than 41 percent of HR managers are taking measures to head off the effects of any impending staff losses.

Twenty-two percent of HR managers said they plan to recruit staff after the festival. Another 20 percent are offering additional training, or strengthening communication with their staff.