Recruiting in China

SHANGHAI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Officials from Shanghai, China's financial hub, will travel to the United States and Europe next month on a recruiting mission, potentially offering jobs to fund managers, policy analysts and others left jobless by the financial crisis.

Wu Jianrong, deputy director of the Shanghai Financial Service Office, told the official Xinhua news agency on Friday that the delegation would go to London, Chicago and New York in search of employees.

Financial institutions in Shanghai listed more than 170 vacancies specifically for foreigners as of Nov. 19, Xinhua quoted Sheng Yuruo, the office's human resources head, as saying.

Thousands of investment banking jobs have been axed on Wall Street and the City of London as the global financial crisis has pushed some of the industry's biggest names into bankruptcy or buyouts.

Shanghai hopes to recruit specialists in such areas as risk management and control, asset management, product research and development, macroeconomics and policy analysis, the Xinhua report said.

Institutions looking for staff include the China Financial Futures Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Futures Exchange, securities agencies, insurance companies and banks, it added.

Sheng said detailed information would be available on the websites sjr.sh.gov.cn, 21cnhr.gov.cn and www.sh.xinhuanet.com. (Reporting by Edmund Klamann; editing by Simon Jessop)

BEIJING, Nov 07, 2008 China's online recruiting websites lured 118.726 million individual members and 7.65 million company members as of Q3 2008, respectively leaping 70% and 34% from a year ago, according to a recent report by technology, media and telecom (TMT) market researcher Analysys International.
The top three recruiting websites, 51job, Inc. (Nasdaq: JOBS), ChinaHR.com Corporation, and Zhaopin.com respectively had 37.10 million, 23.15 million, and 14.90 million registered job hunters, as well as 1.01 million, 1.038 million, and 420,000 company members.

Efficient browsing time of Chinese online recruiting websites increased to 16.22 million hours in September from 14.11 million in August, representing an increase of 15%. And the number is forecast to grow further in October, according to an earlier report.

Monthly coverage index increased 4.1% from the comparable period one year ago. The top six recruiting websites all saw their efficient browsing hours climb during the period. Yingjiesheng.com, a recruiting website especially for new graduates, witnessed its efficient browsing hours rise drastically by 273.7%.

A group of talented graduates flew in from Beijing this month, to take part in a flagship work experience scheme. This joint UK-China Government initiative gives top Chinese graduates the opportunity to learn about UK culture and working life.

The scheme, which was announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a visit to China in 2004, was set up to strengthen education and business links between China and the UK. Over 160 graduates have since taken up internships around the UK.

Thirty-one of the newest interns were welcomed at a reception organised by GTI Recruiting Solutions, at the Barbican in London. The graduates were fresh from spending two weeks at Regents College on a special induction to working life in the UK.

Employers and current interns were on hand to offer advice at the reception event. Philip Morgan from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills congratulated the graduates and advised them to, “work hard and make the most of their internship, making sure they visited as much of the country as possible during their stay.”

The candidates went through an intense selection process to be awarded a place on the programme, and are out to impress. For most, it is their first opportunity to experience life outside China and to gain work experience. They are very enthusiastic about their placements and the experiences they will have in the UK.

Intern Nan Zhang, explained why the programme means so much to her: “One of my friends once told me that ‘Life is a journey. Enjoy the ride’. For me, the reception event formally brought me into the field of work in the UK. This is a brand new journey for me to enjoy and an exciting adventure for me to attempt.’

A host of UK businesses are taking part, offering paid internships in a range of job functions, from marketing and HR, through to engineering, finance and project management. Employers are impressed with their interns, and their businesses are gaining much from the initiative. Paula Quinton-Jones, Graduate Resourcing & Development Manager for Europe at Standard Chartered Bank, who has taken on four interns, says “We’re delighted with the calibre of our interns – they are already making a fantastic contribution to our business”.

This is echoed by the recruitment team at Swiss Re who are set to expand in China, “We have launched an Asia Development Programme and a global graduate programme that includes China – so the UK-China Graduate Work Experience Programme is an ideal way to raise our profile among graduates in China.”

Employers offering the latest internships are Antonov, Associated Newspapers, British Sugar, Diageo, Euromoney, Halcrow, KL Communications, Lawson Dodd, Mazars, Norton Rose, Pinsent Mason, PwC, Rolls–Royce, Standard Chartered and Unilever.

The recruitment process is managed by GTI Recruiting Solutions, on behalf of the UK Government. As well as ensuring employers are matched with the graduates with the right skills and experience, GTI Recruiting Solutions takes care of all the administration required to bring the interns to the UK and provide pastoral care during their time here.

“New employers from all sectors are always welcome to the programme. If you need English-speaking talent with Chinese language skills, a strong education and a powerful will to succeed then let us know. We deal with all visa issues to make life easy for supporting employers and offer pastoral care for the interns outside the work place,” says GTI Recruiting Solutions Director Paul Clark, “Our aim here is to ensure the employers have the opportunity to offer work experience to graduate talent they are unlikely to reach. We have been hugely impressed by the hunger of these graduates and the determination to succeed.”

When the economy took a turn for the worse in October, many recruiters began fearing for their own jobs. The good news is that some companies are still thriving. To predict a company’s financial health and penchant for hiring, look no further than its customer base.

“This downturn is really a mosaic, not a uniform event,” says Kip Cassino, VP of research for Borrell Associates. “You can’t just look at the national trends to judge which industries or companies might be hiring; you’ll have to do some rigorous homework.”

Here’s an example of what Cassino is describing.

News reports frequently cite the construction industry as being highly impacted by the weak economy, but lingering below the surface-level macro data are some exceptions. Firms that build hospitals, schools, bridges, or power plants may have a healthy pipeline of projects around the globe. Customer demand for goods and services and geographic footprint determine how the economy is impacting each company or industry sub-segment and its economic outlook.

In addition to traditionally recession-resistant industries like healthcare and education, transportation and information services appear to be fairly strong during this downturn, according to Cassino, while recruiters will have to carefully research opportunities within the durable and non-durable goods manufacturing industry, because it is a mixed bag. Real estate is slowly being reignited by a buyer’s market, and when you get beyond Wall Street, even the financial services industry isn’t all bad.

Also, growth-oriented, mid-size companies may be a source of opportunities for recruiters with large-corporation recruiting experience and know-how.

Despite a few bright spots, recruiters are facing some headwinds. A search on the online job posting consolidator Indeed reveals 6,705 open recruiter positions nationwide, 3,937 of those in corporations and 2,744 in staffing agencies. Temporary help led all industries in the number of initial unemployment claims filed in October, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the entire industry accounts for only 787 open recruiter positions on Indeed.

The slowdown dovetailed with a decline in U.S. new job creation and a subsequent pullback by increasingly wary passive job seekers. The number of employed people planning to look for new jobs declined 7.5 % between Nov. 2006 and March 2007, and the numbers have since continued to decline, leaving recruiters to refill a dwindling number of vacant positions. Cassino’s view is that there won’t be a significant uptick in hiring until 2010 to 2011, mostly fueled by vacancies created by retiring baby boomers.

Local enterprises and trade unions are working aggressively to limit unemployment following the central government's call for domestic firms to nurture confidence in the face of the global financial crisis.

More than 200 local enterprises, mostly technology and manufacturing companies, promised recently not to lay off employees during the crisis but instead invest more in training and technological innovation.

The move, initiated by Shanghai Minhang district federation of trade unions, is designed to help local enterprises cope with the global economic turmoil and maintain stable social and economic development.

Sun Yaohui, vice-president of the trade union, said: "So far the government has introduced a series of measures to boost confidence among enterprises.

"Surely, trade unions now should unite with workers and business enterprises to overcome difficulties and strive for building a harmonious and stable society," he said.

"That can to some extent help reduce some pressure on the government."

Earlier this month, the ministry of human resources and social security urged state-owned enterprises to avoid large-scale job cuts.

The global financial crisis could worsen the already grim job market, Yin Weimin, the minister of human resources and social security, said.

Sun cited the Shanghai-based Baolima Technology Company, which produces mainly mobile phone keyboards and auto parts, as an exemple of the current fight.

Affected by the rising price of raw materials, the company foresees a sharp decrease in orders this year.

But it has still recruited more than 70 production line workers and engineers, Sun said.

Attributing its current difficulties to an irrational product mix, Baolima quickly set about redressing it.

It also launched a series of staff training programs to help improve productivity.

This year the company will send a total of 150 employees abroad for up to three months training.

One of them, Lu Peipei, a production line worker at Baolima Company, said three months of professional training makes workers much more efficient.

Chinese recruiter Career International announced today it is preparing to go to Wall Street to find financial talent for its domestic clients, the first time for a local human resources company to directly find overseas financial expertise for Chinese enterprises.

Gao Yong, president of the Beijing-based HR company, told China Daily that this is an ideal time for businesses to recruit high-quality personnel engaged in finance, since the financial tsunami has led to laid-offs of banking and financing talents, who have greatly reduced their package expectations.

Meanwhile, unemployed Wall Street staff, with rich experience and professional skills, is eyeing huge opportunities in emerging market, like China and India.

Career International will soon put recruitment ads in the Wall Street Journal and its website and organize teams to hold job fairs in the United States to attract Wall Street talents.