Recruiting in China

With 30 years of sister city relations, a highly educated work force and international business facilities, San Francisco is an important gateway for Chinese companies expanding into North America.

The close economic and cultural ties between the cities provide a unique business platform, and many Chinese companies have chosen to set up operations in the Bay Area in the past few years.

Moreover, because more than 25 percent of the city's population is of Chinese ancestry, there is no other place in North America where Chinese businessmen and businesswomen will feel more comfortable and welcome, according to ChinaSF - a joint public and private initiative that helps companies set up or invest between China and San Francisco.

The area is an international hub for pioneering and forward-thinking industries such as life sciences and health care, information technology and digital media, clean technology, financial and professional services, iPDR (integrated production, distribution and repair), retail and hospitality, international commerce and film.

"Among these, solar-tech manufacturing and biotech are two sectors with substantial growth prospects in both the Chinese and American markets," says Ginny Fang, director of ChinaSF.

ChinaSF is under the San Francisco Center for Economic Development and operates in close partnership with the city of San Francisco. It is funded entirely by its private sector partners and has offices in San Francisco and Shanghai. Their Shanghai office helps San Francisco businesses navigate China's unique business culture and climate, including support for appropriate Chinese government relations and protocol.

Since its official opening in November 2008, ChinaSF has had the notable success of attracting five of China's top solar companies to San Francisco, making the city the North American capital for the Chinese solar industry. By the end of 2009 it had attracted 10 Chinese companies to San Francisco, including Shanghai life sciences consulting firm SPRIM, which has chosen to base its international headquarters in San Francisco.

SPRIM has offices in 15 cities worldwide and employs over 400 staff.

Other companies of note with a presence in San Francisco include Suntech America based in Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, the world's third-largest solar cell maker; and Yingli Green Energy headquartered in Baoding in Hebei Province, one of the world's leading photovoltaic product manufacturers.

Factors that attract Chinese companies to San Francisco include innovation, intellectual capital and "the world's best employees because of its unparalleled quality of life," says Fang.

The City of San Francisco acts through its Office of Economic and Workforce Development to support the ongoing economic vitality of San Francisco with incentives such as help navigating city government, access to tax credits and other funding, employee recruitment and training, and site location.

The Shanghai-San Francisco sister city relationship has benefited both cities economically because of the involvement of all three main sectors of society including government, business and citizens, says Fang. "Exchanges take place in virtually all areas of the community - sports, art, culture, education, government and business - all of which have contributed to increased foreign direct investment, business partnerships and cross-cultural dialogue."

(Source: Shanghai Daily)

Studying abroad, pursuing a Master’s Degree, entering the civil service sector and marriage are most common choices of female college graduates in China nowadays. Finding private sector employment is the choice of only a small proportion of female students. The National Women’s Association released the results of a survey which indicated that 90% of female college graduates had sensed gender inequality and discrimination when seeking job opportunities.

Recently, MyCOS, a third-party research agency completed a survey of female students. The survey showed that the employment rate for female college graduates is 21%, which is much lower when compared to the 29.5% for male students.

It is common knowledge that female students have unequal opportunity in the job application process. Because of the physical limitations of female applicators, some employers are more inclined to recruit men. A few employers even put up whiteboards indicating “Positions for men”, “Priority - Boys” or even “We don’t accept girl students”. There is also invisible discrimination against females in the selecting of resumes and even though employers may not have specified a gender requirement in their job descriptions, they do not consider the resumes of girl students after accepting their CVs.

Female students are often asked private gender-related questions such as the status of their relationship, intention to marry and have children. Some are even asked to not get married for five years on being offered the job. Because of the unique business culture in China, questions like “Can you drink?” or “Can you travel a lot for business?” are also not rare.

Apart from the recruitment process, discrimination is also present with regard to the occupations and positions offered to female students on their employment. Compared to men, women are usually employed in service and labor-intensive industries, including education and health care, diet, secretary and performing arts industries. On March 3rd this year, a job fair for female college graduates held by the Beijing Graduates Employment Service Centre attracted more than 3,000 women applicants. However, disappointingly, more than 600 of the job posts were secretarial, accounting and customer service positions. In terms of promotion, priority is also always given to men in some companies. Men do core operational work while women often do civilian work in a company. Besides this, there is also a difference in income between men and women in the same positions requiring similar capabilities.

The reasons for the dilemma of female college graduates are as follows:
The overall employment situation in China is not that satisfactory.
Sexual discrimination against women in the job market and incomplete social assurance for women’s childbirth security has not harnessed women’s employment and development.
There are limitations in the selection of professions among female students themselves. Many are inclined to work in hot sectors like financial and media, and prefer to work in major cities rather than 2nd and 3rd tier cities.
There is gap between the needs of the job market and the existing allocation of majors and research areas in college.
To alleviate some of these concerns for companies and women, the government is expected to pay for maternity leave.

Companies and civil organizations are expected to work with colleges to establish institutions for female undergraduates to offer vocational training and courses on practical business operation. Voluntary service is also a good approach to improve the capacity of female students. Some celebrities are calling for the release of a national regulation on voluntary services to guarantee the rights and interests of volunteers, making voluntary services more complete and using it as a building platform for social practice for female students before their employment.

Companies can consider working with influential and experienced partners on campus. Since 2009, the National Women’s Association has promoted entrepreneurship on campus. The organization organized lectures and tours of women entrepreneurs, conveying a new philosophy of employment and entrepreneurship, encouraging female students to set up their own business by applying for micro-finance loans. It has also promoted the construction of social practice base for female students. Based on a partnership with a number of reputational and responsible enterprises, they offer a great deal of internship opportunities that lasts for 3 months to half a year for female students annually.

by Elyse Chen

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong banks and financial-services companies are leading the way as the city's employers step up hiring and say they are willing to pay more money to retain staff, according to a report by a recruitment firm.

The survey of about 500 company executives found 59 percent plan to hire for new positions in the second quarter, compared with 14 percent a year earlier, Hudson Global Resources (Hong Kong) Ltd. said. Hudson said 73 percent of employers in banking and financial services expect to hire more workers.

Hong Kong's jobless rate fell to a 15-month low in the first quarter, supporting consumption and economic growth, as the “labor market remains robust,” Matthew Cheung, secretary for labor and welfare, said last month. HSBC Holdings Plc, China Construction Bank (Asia) Corp. and BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd. have recently said they are hiring.

“Along with a recovering economy, with improvements becoming more broad-based, we expect the jobless rate will drop further this year,” Kelvin Lau, Hong Kong-based economist at Standard Chartered Plc, said Thursday in a phone interview.

Two-thirds of respondents said they are willing to offer more money to employees trying to leave for another company, Hudson said. More companies raised salaries in the first quarter than a year earlier, the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management said May 10, citing the results of another survey.

Hong Kong's economy grew for nine consecutive months through December after a year-long recession. It reports first- quarter economic data tomorrow.

HSBC is joining rivals including Standard Chartered in expanding businesses that target wealthy clients in the region. HSBC aims to recruit more than 300 relationship managers and sales staff in Hong Kong in “a fairly competitive market” for hiring as competitors are also looking for talent, Francesca McDonagh, head of personal financial services for Hong Kong at HSBC, said last month.

China Construction Bank (Asia) , a unit of the country's second-largest lender, plans to hire as many as 400 people in Hong Kong this year as the bank opens about seven more branches in the city. BOC Hong Kong and its units are seeking to employ 200 people, the company said in April.

“The job market recovery remains strong,” said James Carss, a Hong Kong-based general manager at Hudson, in the report released earlier this month.

BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Almost 96 percent of China's secondary vocational school graduates found jobs on graduation last year, the Ministry of Education announced Wednesday.

It was the fifth straight year that the vocational graduate employment rate exceeded 95 percent.

The high employment rate reflected the huge market demand for medium-level technicians, said Wang Jiping, vice director of the ministry's Department of Vocational and Adult Education.

Last year, 6.08 million students graduated from secondary vocational schools, and 95.99 percent of them were employed on graduation.

Wang said the qualifications in highest demand were manufacturing, information technology, civil engineering, trade and tourism, and transportation.

However, the threshold pay for graduates was relatively low.

A sample survey earlier this year in secondary vocational schools across China showed that a quarter of threshold pay was lower than 1,000 yuan (146 U.S. dollars) a month.

Wang said vocational schools across China should tailor curriculums to the demands of specific industries.

At the same press conference, ministry official Song Yonggang said 66,000 teachers would be recruited this year to work at rural schools in central and western China where teachers are in short supply.

The recruitment, under a program initiated in 2006, would see the central government guarantee the teachers equal pay with urban counterparts in their first three years.

Previously, teachers were reluctant to work in rural areas because the pay, funded from local budgets, was lower than in cities.

Moves to strengthen

China’s Public Service recruitment systems have commenced, with the Deputy Director of the State Administration of Civil Service calling for improvements.

The Deputy Director, Yang Shiqiu said the Public Service written exam and interviews needed to be strengthened to make the system more competitive. Mr Yang said assessments of candidates and open selection also needed to improve to ensure the most talented applicants were recruited into the ranks of the PS.

He said a constant effort should be made to improve the selection of staff and that Departments and Agencies should make plans well before carrying out competitive recruitment. Mr Yang said Agencies should make personnel allocation of mid-level cadres and below clear at the beginning of every year and make annual arrangements in line with directions from the Central Government.

He said any Agencies that had not carried out competitive employment processes needed to learn from those which had. Mr Yang urged all to adapt the competitive employment system and to implement it as soon as possible.

He said organisations that had already adopted the system should continue to improve it. He said Agencies should avoid carrying out competitive employment sporadically and should implement it at all times, not just when requested to do so by higher authorities.

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