Recruiting in China

JOB seekers have a new way to find vacancies with the emergence of Zhi Ke (Job Key) on the Internet, allowing well-connected people to make money by finding positions.

Several Websites featuring Job Keys have appeared, mostly since July last year.

Operators get their cut from the online trading platform, and are tapping into a strong demand: hundreds of thousands of Chinese are now surfing the net in search for better paid positions.

Job Keys, many of whom are professionals at headhunting firms, can get 70 percent of the money once their reference lands the applicants their desired positions. The rest is kept by the Website as its commission.

While these Websites are not reaping huge profits, it will take time to see whether they can seriously compete with professional job Websites which offer free job information to individuals and rely fees from companies posting vacancies.

But it's good news for job seekers as there have been many cases where people have found better positions.

"What we want to do is to complement the current channels that job seekers use, given that it's becoming difficult for many of them to find the right place, especially university

graduates,'' said Zhou Changqing, general manager of Facejob.cn, a Beijing-based Job Key site.

China began to expand university recruitment in 1999 to improve the overall level of citizens' education background. But this led to the number of college graduates reaching record highs, creating a tough, competitive environment for those seeking employment.

Adding to their difficulty is many students are graduating from their chosen majors only to find the job market has changed since they picked the so-called "hot courses,'' which were expected to land them good jobs.

Zhou said college graduates had not yet emerged as loyal customers, although some had made offers up to 50,000 yuan (US$6,849) for a good job in Beijing.

Total offers on Facejob now are worth 8.86 million yuan, from about 5,600 job seekers, mostly with three years' working experience. Meanwhile, it has nearly 2,000 registered Job Keys, according to Zhou.

The most sought-after jobs on the site are entrance level ones, such as secretarial, administrative support and sales staff.

They are priced usually at about 2,000 yuan apiece, as the site fee is generally based on their expected one month's salary.

While Zhou's site doesn't require job seekers to deposit their offered money in advance to encourage users to register, Zkeer.com, also Beijing-based, does.

"It's a common practice for Witkey Websites to receive the money before achieving the task,'' said Gong Deping, founder of Zkeer.

The Job Key, indeed, is a specialized model of Witkey, or Wei Ke in Chinese, which allows users to sell their knowledge, information and ideas online, and enjoys greater

popularity than Job Key.

Yang Kexi, a spokesman for Taskcn.com which is China's leading Witkey site, said job references account for only a small percentage of their business.

"We believe that the real advantage of the Witkey sites is to serve as an outsourcing platform for corporate users,'' he said.

"There are more job-related tasks at the beginning of our operation but it seems such tasks are not well received, for the prize is usually very small,'' Yang said.

The reason, probably, is there are tons of free vacancies on the professional human resource service Websites where competition is intense.

On ChinaHR.com, China's largest HR service site by sales, there are two million vacancies every day on average, which are available to 15.6 million registered users

for free. It charges the corporate users for posting jobs and consulting.

Officials with ChinaHR declined to comment on the Job Key sites, or whether they have found any of their employees doing part time for such sites.

Interviewing candidates and gauging their fit for a culture and position is one of the most indispensable tasks a recruiter performs. The more a recruiter knows about a candidate, the better equipped they are to add value to the hiring process. That's why getting to know the candidate and understand what they are looking for, along with overall qualifications, is so critical.
But there is more about candidates you should uncover if you want to do the best possible job of providing information (read: value) to hiring managers. Below are ten points in key areas that all recruiters should investigate for each candidate they interview — before they present the candidate to the hiring manager.

Complete compensation details. Understand exactly how the candidate's current compensation program is structured. This means more than the candidate's base salary; the base salary is just part of the overall package. Be sure that you ask about bonuses; if, how and when they are paid out, stock options or grants that have been awarded. Compile a complete list of benefits and how they are structured (e.g. PPO vs. HMO; there is a difference) and know when the candidate is up for his or her next review, because this can alter cash compensation.

Type of commute. Commute is a quality-of-life issue and discussing it is important. A ten-minute commute against traffic is very different than taking the car to a train and having to walk five blocks to the new organization. If the commute to your organization is worse for the candidate than it is in his or her existing job, bring it up and see how the candidate responds. If the commute is better, use it as a selling point. By all means, be sure that you understand the candidate's current commute and how they feel about the new one.

The "what they want vs. what they have" differential. Most candidates do not change jobs just for the sake of changing jobs. They change jobs because there are certain things missing in their current position that they believe can be satisfied by the position your organization is offering. This disparity is called the "position differential" and it is the fundamental reason a person changes jobs. Know what this position differential is and you will be able to know if you have what the candidate is looking for. If so, you will be able to develop an intelligent capture strategy when it comes time to close.

How they work best. Some candidates work best if left alone, while others work best as part of a team. It is your job to know enough about the organization's philosophy and the way the hiring manager works to see if the candidate will either mesh or grind. Beware of recommending hiring a candidate who does not fit into the current scheme, because, at times, style can be just as important as substance.

Overall strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to get some understanding of the candidate's strong points and the candidate's limitations. All of us have strengths and weaknesses (even John Sullivan has weaknesses, but he won't tell me what they are). Our role is to identify them and be able to present them to the hiring manager. Hint: Ask what functions the candidate does not enjoy performing. We are seldom good at things we don't like.

What they want in a new position. Everyone wants something. Find out what the candidate wants in a new position. Be sure to do whatever is necessary to get this information. Feel free to pick away during the interviewing process with open-ended questions until you have all of your questions answered. It is difficult to determine whether a given hiring situation has a good chance of working out if you do not know what the candidate is looking for in a new position.

Is the candidate interviewing elsewhere? This is big; I don't like surprises and neither do hiring managers. I always ask the candidate what else they have for activity. If the candidate has three other companies they are considering and two offers are arriving in the mail tomorrow, this is absolute need-to-know information. If the hiring manager wants to make an offer, it's time to advise them as to what the competition looks like and move this deal onto the express lane, fast.

What it will take to close the deal. This is a first cousin of #6 above but it is more specific and flavored with a "closing the deal" mentality. #6 relates to what the candidate wants in a new position, but this one quantifies that want. For example, if the candidate wants more money, this is where you will assess how much it will take to close the deal. As another example, while #6 will let you know that the candidate wants to work on different types of projects, this one will tell you exactly what types of projects those are.

Can the candidate do the job? Even though, as the recruiter, you might not be able to determine if this is the perfect candidate, you should exit the interview with an opinion as to whether or not the candidate can perform the functions of the position. Furthermore, that opinion must be based upon information that was unveiled during the interviewing process and not just a gut feeling. It has to be based upon what the candidate has successfully accomplished and how that aligns with the needs of the current position. If you can't offer a solid opinion on this one, you need to dig deeper until you have a solid case for why the candidate can or cannot do the job.

Will the candidate fit into the culture? Predicting the future is tricky business, but someone has to take a shot at evaluating a candidate's chance for success. Not everyone that is capable of doing the job will have a successful run at the company, because culture does play a role in candidate success. For example, the culture of a buttoned-down insurance company in Boston is very different than the garage culture of a software startup in the valley. If you have a reason to believe that the person is the wrong DNA for an organization, it is imperative that you raise the issue.
There are few things hiring managers value more than solid candidate feedback based upon a well-executed interview. Convey this information to the hiring manager and take one more step towards becoming a world-class recruiter.

CHINA Yahoo, a subsidiary under the nation's largest e-commerce firm Alibaba.com Corp, is trimming its workforce and sending staff back to the parent company, sources close to the company said.

"Dozens of people," including mid level managers and directors, are returning to Alibaba while others are asked to leave with compensation for their service, they said, asking for anonymity.

Tao Ran, a spokesman for Hangzhou-based Alibaba, refused to comment yesterday.

Alibaba took over Yahoo China - which was later changed to China Yahoo - in 2005 and was paid an additional US$1 billion from Yahoo Inc, which in return gained a 35-percent stake in Alibaba.

Since the deal, a revamp of the acquired business has been going on as Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is trying to integrate it into their e-commerce platform, with ideas like launching shopping search functions. The business was renamed China Yahoo last year.

China Yahoo had about 800 staff as of September 2006. It was still recruiting sales and marketing staff in October and November. The latest figure on its employee number was not known.

EMPLOYEES at two-thirds of multinational companies on the Chinese mainland can expect year-end bonuses to rise at least 10 percent this year, a human resources report released yesterday revealed.

The figures were released amid revelations that many employees were dissatisfied with wages and bonuses, with 10 percent quitting their jobs.

Hudson Recruitment, a Nasdaq-listed international headhunting firm, surveyed 737 multinational companies on the mainland, mostly based in Shanghai, about their hiring intentions, year-end bonuses, salary and turnover in the first quarter.

Across all sectors, 66 percent of employers surveyed said they were planning to pay a year-end bonus of 10 percent more than that of last year.

The consumer sector turned out to lead the year-end bonus list with 78 percent of respondents saying they would pay more than 10 percent.

But the report didn't provide an average year-end bonus figure.

It did, however, say that 32 percent of the surveyed firms would raise employees' salaries at least 20 percent this year, compared with 25 percent for the same period last year.

In media and public relations firms, 21 percent of surveyed employers promised a salary rise of more than 20 percent, the lowest among all sectors.

The mainland finished first in both year-end bonus and salary increase categories in the quarterly report that covered the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

Angie Eagan, general manager of Hudson's Shanghai office, said the high bonus increase and high pay rise reflected the country's headcount shortage.

"It's interesting to find employers here using bonuses and higher pays to retain talents as a way to stop people leaving," Eagan said.

The survey reported that 61 percent of employers were looking forward to hiring new staff in the first quarter of this year.

"But this strategy does not seem to be working, as they are also facing the highest staff turnover rates," she added.
In the past 12 months, turnover in the Chinese mainland was high. Forty-seven percent of firms said more than 10 percent of their employees quit their jobs.

The turnover rate is almost twice the figure of Japan, the report said. The most frequently cited reason for resignation was limited career progression and "dissatisfaction with salaries or bonuses."

Most employers are deluged with résumés from eager job seekers. Some human resource managers have hundreds of them sitting on their desks on any given day. With competition this fierce, the key to effective résumé writing means being certain that yours is free of the common errors that many employers complain that they see made over and over again.

A strongly written résumé can be the difference between landing an interview and landing in the “no” pile. Here are 10 common pitfalls to avoid when preparing your résumé:
1.No clear focus. Your résumé should show a clear match between your skills and experience and the job's requirements. A general résumé with no sharp focus is not seen as competitive. Why are you the best person for this particular position?
2.Dutifully dull. A solid résumé is much more than a summary of your professional experience; it’s a tool to market yourself. Avoid phrases like “responsibilities included” or “duties included.” Your résumé should not be a laundry list of your duties but rather an announcement of your major accomplishments.
3.Poorly organized. Information on a résumé should be listed in order of importance to the reader. Don't ask employers to wade through your hobbies first. Dates of employment are not as important as job titles. Education should be emphasized if you are freshly out of school and have little work experience; otherwise, put it at the end. If your résumé is difficult to read or key information is buried, it's more likely to be cast aside.
4.Too much emphasis on old jobs. Résumés that go too far back into the job seeker's work history can put that person at risk for possible age discrimination. Does anyone really need to read about your high school job bagging groceries, especially if that was 20 years ago? The rule of thumb for someone at a senior level is to list about the last 15 years worth of professional experience.
5.Important skills buried. Don't forget to bullet the important skills that make you a standout in your field. Your objective is to play up the value that you will bring to a prospective employer. Emphasize how and what you will add worth to the company, not the reason you want the job. Employers are looking for someone to enhance the organization, not their own résumé.
6.Drab looking. Try to stay away from the cookie-cutter résumé templates that employers see constantly. Show a little imagination when writing and designing your résumé. But don't overdo it. Overly artistic or tiny fonts are a no-no, since they're hard to read and don't scan or photocopy well.
7.Too personal. If your Web site includes photos of your cat or your personal blog about what you did over the weekend, don't steer prospective employers there by including it on your résumé. Keep your personal and your professional life separate in order to be taken seriously.
8.One typo too many. Your résumé is your one chance to make a first impression. A typo or misspelled word can lead an employer to believe that you would not be a careful, detail-oriented employee. Spell-check software is not enough, since sentences like “Thank you for your patients” would get the thumbs up. Ask several people to proofread your résumé to be sure that it is free of typos and grammatical errors.
9.Stretches the truth. Everyone wants to present his or her work experience in the most attractive light, but information contained on your résumé must be true and accurate. Whether you're simply inflating past accomplishments or coming up with complete fabrications, lying is simply a bad idea. Aside from any moral or ethical implications, chances are that you'll eventually get caught and lose all credibility.
10.Skips the extras. A common mistake is neglecting to mention any extra education, training, volunteer work, awards, or recognitions that might pertain to your particular job area or industry. Many employers view such "extracurricular activities" as testament to a well-rounded employee, so leverage such things as assets to distinguish your résumé from the hordes of others out there.

SHANGHAI, China, Jan. 16 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Linktone Ltd. , a leading provider of interactive media and entertainment products and services to consumers in China, announced today the resignation of Chief Financial Officer -- Colin Sung, effective January 31, 2008. Mr. Sung has also resigned as a member of the board of directors of Linktone.

Mr. Sung is expected to remain with Linktone in a consulting capacity for a transition period in order to assist the company with the planned strategic investment by PT Media Nusantara Citra Tbk. Mr. Sung informed the company that he is leaving his position as Linktone's Chief Financial Officer to pursue other interests.

Foo Him Tiem, the Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Linktone, has been appointed as the acting Chief Financial Officer of the company. Ms. Foo Him Tiem joined Linktone in June 2004. Linktone plans to begin its search for a permanent Chief Financial Officer and will announce a successor when this process is completed.

Mr. Sung said, "It has been my pleasure to serve as Chief Financial Officer of Linktone for the past 2 and a half years. I believe that the company is well-positioned with strong initiatives and ample opportunity to achieve long-term value for its shareholders."

Michael Li, Linktone's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "On behalf of the board of directors and Linktone's management, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to Colin. His hard work and contributions are most appreciated by the company. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors." Mr. Li added, "We are also committed to identifying a highly qualified permanent CFO in the near term."

About Linktone Ltd.

Linktone Ltd. is one of the leading providers of wireless interactive entertainment services to consumers and advertising services to enterprises in China. Linktone provides a diverse portfolio of services to wireless consumers and corporate customers, with a particular focus on media, entertainment and communications. These services are promoted through the Company's and our partners cross-media platform which merges traditional and new media marketing channels, and through the networks of the mobile operators in China. Through in-house development and alliances with international and local branded content partners, the Company develops, aggregates, and distributes innovative and engaging products to maximize the breadth, quality and diversity of its offerings.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward- looking statements by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar statements. The accuracy of these statements may be impacted by a number of business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including risks related to: the risk that Linktone will not be able to locate and retain suitable people for its board of directors and middle and senior management; current or future changes in the policies of the PRC Ministry of Information Industry and the mobile operators in China or in the manner in which the operators enforce such policies; the risk that other changes in Chinese laws and regulations, or in application thereof by other relevant PRC governmental authorities, could adversely affect Linktone's financial condition and results of operations; the risk that Linktone will not be able to compete effectively in the wireless value-added services market in China for whatever reason, including competition from other service providers or penalties or suspensions for violations of the policies of the mobile operators in China; the risk that Linktone will not be able to develop and effectively market innovative services; the risk that Linktone will not be able to effectively control its operating expenses in future periods or make expenditures that effectively differentiate Linktone's services and brand; and the risks outlined in Linktone's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its registration statement on Form F-1 and annual report on Form 20-F. Linktone does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information, except as required under applicable law.

NOTICE TO INVESTORS

This announcement is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities by any person. The offer for the outstanding shares of Linktone described in this announcement has not commenced. Any offers to purchase or solicitations of offers to sell will be required to be made pursuant to offer documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") in accordance with U.S. securities laws.

The offer documents required under U.S. laws, including Linktone's recommendation statement, will contain important information, and shareholders and potential investors are urged to read them carefully when they become available before making any decision with respect to any offer. The recommendation statement and other documents filed with or furnished to the SEC are available for free at the SEC's website ( http://www.sec.gov ). Free copies of these documents can also be obtained by directing a request to Linktone through the investor relations contacts listed above.

For more information, please contact:

Edward Liu
Linktone Ltd.
Tel: +86-21-6361-1583
Email: edward.liu@linktone.com

Brandi Piacente
The Piacente Group, Inc.
Tel: +1-212-481-2050
Email: brandi@thepiacentegroup.com