Recruiting in China

Salary levels in China are likely to increase in 2013 as the nation expects stable growth in gross domestic product, recruitment consultancy Robert Walters Plc said.

Generally speaking, candidates moving jobs usually will get a 15 to 25 percent pay increase in the nation this year, said a survey released by the London-headquartered company.

Those who stay in their jobs are getting approximately 8 percent salary increases, which corresponds with the forecast for GDP. The World Bank estimated in January China's 2013 GDP growth could hit 8.4 percent.

With the economic environment challenging, salary increments for professionals who moved jobs were generally lower than previous years, said the survey.

Candidates typically received increases of 15 to 20 percent when changing roles in 2012, while the amount was between 15 to 30 percent in 2011. Strong performers could receive as much as a 40 percent increase in some cases, it added.

Financial sector

The banking and financial services industry was the most affected by the global economic recession. As these employers were keen to increase profitability and hire sales professionals, they were also required to minimize costs and, in some cases, were subject to headcount freezes, according to the survey.

"In the second half of last year, international financial institutions bolstered their control functions in response to several overseas banking scandals. Senior professionals with risk, compliance, credit risk approval and anti-money laundering expertise were highly sought after,” said Robert Walters.

A number of overseas financial firms delayed their expansion plans last year because of economic uncertainty. The demand for talent is set to bounce back this year as China's economy stabilizes, said Arthur Wang, managing director of Robert Walters China.

Multinational companies will be eager to recruit candidates with better knowledge of the Chinese market as banks start to explore markets beyond major financial centers such as Shanghai and Beijing.

"Candidates who could develop strong relationships with local clientele and possessed both overseas and local experience were particularly sought after and generally received average salary increases of 10 to 20 percent when moving jobs,” Wang said.

"Meanwhile, as Chinese financial institutions continue to increase their presence within the local market, we expect to see continued demand for local candidates with Mandarin skills.”

Speaking fluent Chinese will also help the candidates to seek jobs in other industries such as information technology.

The survey found that candidates were not only required to master IT systems made by industry giants such as SAP or Oracle: Bilingual proficiency in English and Mandarin will also be expected.

Retail and luxury

In cities such as Hong Kong where IT infrastructure and construction projects were implemented, demand for IT talent also jumped, said Robert Walters.

The industry with strongest talent demand was retail and luxury, boosted by the increasing purchasing power of Chinese citizens. It may grow by up to 20 percent year-on-year until 2015. Salaries in these sectors may jump 15 to 25 percent on a yearly basis, said Wang.

According to the Beijing-based World Luxury Association, Chinese people spent $830 million on luxury goods from Jan 20 to Feb 20 this year during the traditional festival shopping spree.

Although the growth of the Chinese luxury market slowed last year, the association expects that by the end of 2015 China will dominate the global luxury market with 60 percent of market share.

"The expansion of international luxury brands into second- and third-tier cities will boost demand in sales, human resources, training and in business development departments,” said Wang.

Luxury brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton have entered most capital cities at a provincial level.

Manufacturing

Companies in the manufacturing sector are also likely to recruit more staff in China to cement their presence in the world's second largest economy, the report showed.

"As the economy showed signs of recovery at the end of 2012 with improving manufacturing activity, multinational conglomerates are likely to continue to invest in China moving into 2013.”

Robert Walters expects this new trend will lead to new jobs becoming available, although organizations will remain cost-conscious and, as a result, will seek local candidates to fill positions vacated by expatriates.

Despite an uncertain economy and a challenging business climate, companies specializing in foreign-made consumer goods, auto parts, machinery and pharmaceuticals performed well throughout the year, Walters said.

Most recruitment activities throughout 2012 were largely replacement-focused as employers concentrated on reducing costs. Although most job seekers were primarily motivated by a better salary, career development is playing an increasingly important role among Chinese candidates, according to the survey.

Shanghai Leads Office Worker Salary Rankings
Shanghai has topped a white-collar worker salary list of China's 24 largest cities, according to a report released by Zhaopin.com, a leading Chinese online job advertising site. The city's ¥7,112 monthly salary for white-collar workers is followed by Shenzhen's ¥6,787/month and Beijing's ¥5,453/month. The three highest paid industries in Shanghai are energy/mining (¥9,711), automobile (¥9,644) and petrochemicals (¥9,218). The three highest paid industries in Shenzhen are telecom (¥8,488), finance (¥8,240) and energy/mining (¥8,220). The three highest paid industries in Beijing are telecom (¥7,633), real estate (¥7,095) and finance (¥6,950).

PBOC's Zhou Says 20% of Local Govt Debts Are Risky
About 20% of China's local government financing vehicles are not profitable and are vulnerable to risks, Xinhua reported, citing central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan. Different from those funding major infrastructure and mortgages, 20% of local government financing vehicles are funding projects which are largely not profitable and the debts have to be paid with other incomes of local governments, according to Zhou. He called for further reforms to introduce new financing tools to ensure financial support for the country's urbanization.

Money Rate Rises Amid Inflation Concern
China's money-market rate rose to a one-week high after central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said the nation should be on high alert over inflation, Bloomberg reported. The CPI climbed to a 10-month high of 3.2% in February. The People's Bank of China will sell ¥18 billion of 28-day repurchase contracts Thursday, which will reduce the amount of cash in the system and stem the rapid monetary growth. The seven-day repurchase rate, which measures interbank funding availability, rose 0.06 percentage points to 3.08% as of 10:45am in Shanghai Thursday.

Power Usage Up 5.5% January-February
China's electricity consumption fell 12.5% year on year to 337.4 billion kW hours in February 2013 due to the Chinese New Year holiday, the National Energy Administration said. Between January and February, electricity consumption was up 5.5% to 789.2 billion kW hours, including 12.8 billion kW hours by the primary sector (up 4.3%), 552.8 billion kW hours by the secondary sector (up 4.2%), 106.8 billion kW hours by the tertiary sector (up 13.8%) and 116.9 billion kW hours by civilians (up 4.7%). A total of 6.48 million kW of new power generation capacity were installed during the two months, including 3.4 million kW of coal-fired capacity and 1.56 million kW of hydropower capacity.

Railroad Investment Jumps 26% January-February
Fixed-asset investment in China's railways totaled ¥37.63 billion in the first two months of 2013, including ¥25.14 billion in rail infrastructure, up 25.7% and 20.9% respectively from the same period of last year, said the Ministry of Railways, which is soon to break up and merge with the Ministry of Transport. The strong growth came after the investment in the sector remained sluggish throughout 2012 following a deadly high speed train crash in 2011. Chinese railways are expected to receive ¥650 billion in total fixed-asset investment this year, including ¥520 billion in rail infrastructure.

Deal-of-the-Day Turnover Exceeds ¥2.3b in January
Turnover at Chinese deal-of-the-day websites added up to ¥2.32 billion in January 2013, up 7.5% from a month earlier and up 72% from a year earlier, according to Tuan800.com, a site that collects information about such deals. 46.6 million people purchased deal-of-the-day coupons in January, up 4.4% from a month earlier and up 33.9% from a year earlier.

Big mainland cities like Shanghai are ratcheting up the pressure on Hong Kong on a new front - enticing professionals and specialists with higher pay and perks as the salary gap between the two narrows.

According to British recruitment agency Hays, 47 per cent of mainland-based businesses increased salaries by more than 10 per cent last year, compared with only 4 per cent in Hong Kong.

A Hays survey of 1,200 employers in Asia, including those in Hong Kong, the mainland, Japan and Singapore, showed that a chief financial officer on the mainland could earn up to 2.5 million yuan (HK$3.1 million) a year, beating a Hong Kong counterpart whose annual income tops out at HK$3 million.

"China led Asian countries in terms of salary growth despite uncertain economic conditions in other parts of the world," said Simon Lance, regional director for Hays in China. "Competition in the job market is fierce and it is a salary-driven market."

The British company said talented executives worldwide, including expats and overseas Chinese, were increasingly looking to relocate to the mainland.

Skill shortages remain a stumbling block to foreign companies' aggressive expansions in the mammoth market, with 30 per cent of employers saying they planned to further raise salaries by more than 10 per cent this year.

The Hays survey showed that 93 per cent of employers were worried about a shortage of skilled workers, which would hamper their business growth.

But Lance said the trend of more professionals being drawn to China by increasing pay packages could be reversed. China's higher personal income tax, difficult business environment and poor food-safety record could emerge as primary concerns, he said.

The performance of foreign businesses in China has declined as they fall victim to rising labour costs. A survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai revealed recently that US companies reported profit drops for a second consecutive year last year due to rising costs, tougher competition and a slowing economy.

ZTE has reduced some middle and senior management positions amid an ongoing organizational review which begun last year to streamline the organization.

A spokesperson told ZDNet there will also be changes in underperforming parts of the company. "ZTE's aim is to make our organization more streamlined and deliver improved business performance," the spokesperson said, adding the company has a "natural" employee attrition rate of between 5 percent to 10 percent annually.

The company was responding to queries about reports about massive job cuts to its workforce in the first quarter of 2013.

The Investment Bulletin reported on Monday it learned the Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer will be laying off 20 percent of its workforce in the first quarter of the year. The layoffs will also be staggered, with a certain percentage of contracts not being extended as they come up for renewal each month, the article said.

Streamlining underway
In January, ZTE announced plans to streamline itself to form a simplified, three layer structure comprising of headquarters, operational division and representative office, and some regional and structural grouping will be eliminated.

"The reorganization will strengthen competitiveness and risk-management, ensuring all departments have access to key operational resources," ZTE said in the statement.

Rumors of large layoffs at ZTE have been circulating since ZTE's vice president Shen Li announced his resignation on February 17, 2013. However, the company's management has denied such claims that it laid off 10 percent of its workforce, explaining 5 percent left of their own will while 5 percent were those with the lowest performance and part of routine elimination, a separate report by Want China Times, noted.

In January, ZTE said it expected to book losses of up to US$439 million in its preliminary report for the year ending December 31, 2012, due to postponed contracts and decreases in revenue from terminals in the domestic market.

China's coastal city Hangzhou plans to recruit a tourism image ambassador worldwide by paying 40,000 euros for one year work. The recruitment has been posted on well-known social networking services, including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, reported the official website of the Hangzhou municipal government.

The "Modern Marco Polo -- Dr. Hangzhou" global recruitment campaign is looking for a tourism ambassador by providing Chinese culture lovers around the world with a chance to experience the best of Chinese tea, silk, sigillography (the art of Chinese chop and seal making), kung fu and traditional Chinese medicine while being remunerated to the tune of 40,000 euros plus a 15-day free trip to Hangzhou. The only work for "Dr. Hangzhou" is to share his or her experience in Hangzhou through the internet

Participants must complete an online training program and games about Hangzhou culture first and the top 20 will enter the next round. The government will select the winner from the 20 candidates.
The unique competition procedures and the high payment are attractive for young people, and recruitment through modern media will help raise Hangzhou's image and competitiveness, said Li Hong, head of the Hangzhou Tourism Commission.

In 2009, Australia's Queensland tourism authority started a recruitment campaign of caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The "dream job" attracted 35,000 applicants and adventurer Ben Southall from Britain finally won the job. He worked only three hours a week and enjoyed a salary package of 150,000 US dollars for the six-month contract.

The recruitment triggered hot debate among netizens. Some think the competition is interesting and the work is attractive. Some criticized the extremely high salary as a waste of money and said the government should spend money in more urgent issues.

Gary Wang, who left his online video platform after its merger with rivals Youku in August, said he hopes to import foreign technical experts to staff his new enterprise, to be launched April 1.

HONG KONG – Having left the limelight more than six months ago when he sold his online-video brainchild, Tudou, to his erstwhile rivals Youku, Gary Wang is now gearing for a return with a bang – by unveiling a Beijing-based animated-film studio producing movies for domestic consumption.

But the enterprise may have an international twist on it: Wang is aiming to recruit animation-film experts from Hollywood so as to compete with imported U.S. blockbusters.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Wang said he would build a team that includes U.S. members. He said he had met directors, storyboard artists and senior animators while on a two-week scouting trip in Los Angeles and San Francisco in January.

“I get the impression that everyone there is excited about the Chinese market,” said Wang, who was born in China but moved to New York in 1993 to study high school before graduating with a computer science degree at Baltimore’s John Hopkins University.

Wang said he has already secured hundreds of thousands of dollars from international investors for his latest project and that the output will be mainly aimed at domestic audiences.

Citing an improvement in his home country’s distribution, exhibition and copyright protection issues, and also the surge in opportunities and profit in what now stands as the second-biggest film market in the world, Wang said “the time is right” to launch an animation-film studio that could tap into this pool.

Wang’s studio will add a domestic competitor in a scene that has long been dominated by Hollywood blockbusters. While films like DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda franchise have proved to be massive hits in China, the local industry has failed to offer reputable alternatives beyond straightforward copies like Legend of a Rabbit, which flopped badly at home.

In fact, DreamWorks will be one of Wang’s major competitors on home turf as well, as the U.S. studio is now already proceeding with building a studio near Shanghai under the name Oriental DreamWorks, a joint venture owned alongside China Media Capital, Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Alliance Investment. Upon the launch of the company last year, the company announced the making of Kung Fu Panda 3 as a co-production, with a release date in 2016.

Wang founded Tudou in 2005 and sold his company to Youku, his long-running rivals in the business of hosting online videos for Chinese audiences, in August in a stock deal worth about $1 billion. He said his investors, which he did not name, are with him in terms of looking at the new business from a “very long-term view."