Recruiting in China

Foreigners who want to work in China should first get in touch with a valid Chinese employer who has an employment license for foreigners issued by related labour administrative bureaus.

Foreigners with permission to work in China should apply for employment visas at the Chinese embassies.

Employers of foreigners should get employment permits for their foreign employees within 15 days after their entry into China by providing related documents.

Foreign employees who have received their employment permit should, within 30 days after their entry, apply for a residence permit from local public security bureaus. The term of validity of the residence certificate may be determined in accordance with that of the Employment Permit.

Chinese employers and their foreign employees should conclude a contract in line with law. The term of the contract should not exceed five years and such a contract can be renewed.

The employment permit of the employed foreigners shall cease to be effective upon the expiration of the term of the labour contract between the foreigner and employer.

(Source: Rules for the Administration of Employment of Foreigners)

Senior managers in China's listed companies have a specially designed insurance plan which helps ease work pressure both in and out of the office.
AIU Insurance Company China branch, a member of the American International Group, yesterday presented a liability insurance plan for directors, supervisors and senior managers in listed companies. This is the first plan of its kind in China.

The liability insurance enables listed companies to meet the costs of compensation and legal fees for employees who are injured or take ill at work through the fault of the employers, be they directors, supervisors, senior managers or managing directors in the affiliates.

German industrial giant Bayer said yesterday that its healthcare group had agreed to acquire Topsun Science and Technology's over-the-counter cough and cold medicine business for 1.072 billion yuan (US$135.69 million).
Bayer said it would pay another 192 million yuan (US$24.30 million), subject to the fulfilment of certain performance criteria.

Topsun is one of the largest privately owned pharmaceutical firms in China. Its brands include White and Black, one of the leading cough and cold medicines on the Chinese market.

The transaction, which is now subject to the regulatory approval, will include the transfer of the Gaitianli manufacturing facility in Qidong, a city in East China's Jiangsu Province, as well as the sales force and distribution network associated with the brands.

The transferred employees and assets will become part of Bayer Healthcare China Ltd and operate within its consumer care division.

"With this transaction Bayer HealthCare follows its global strategy to strengthen our over-the-counter business, as well as our presence in China, one of the fastest-growing over-the-counter markets," said Bayer Healthcare Chairman Arthur Higgins.

Bayer Healthcare acquired Roche Consumer Health last year, making it one of the world's top three over-the-counter businesses.
"The Topsun deal provides us with an entry into the very important cough and cold category in China. The transaction, which is expected to close within 2007, will double the size of our consumer health business in China and puts us within the top 10 over-the-counter companies in this important market," said Gary Balkema, president of the Bayer Worldwide Consumer Care Division.
The over-the-counter medicine business is believed to have huge potential in China.

According to a study of China's pharmaceutical industry issued in March by global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, sales of over-the-counter medicines accounted for less than one-fifth of the country's pharmaceutical market. But it grew 11.2 per cent last year to US$4.2 billion, making it the fourth-largest over-the-counter medicine market in the world, as well as the fastest growing of all major economies.

Bayer Healthcare, with an annual growth rate of 30 per cent, is the fastest growing global pharmaceutical firm in China, according to US-based market consultancy firm IMS Health.

Commenting on the deal, Topsun Chairman Guo Jiaxue said the firms "intends to develop its modern Chinese medicine as its core business."

Identifying what RecruiterX would look like
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 | by Brian Whitfield

As an owner of an IT staffing firm, I am always looking for good recruiters and have had the pleasure to work with some very skilled people over the years.

If I could somehow blend the better traits of all of them into one mythical person (RecruiterX), he or she would show the following skills:

Understands how to source. These days, many recruiters think their job is to be great at using fancy Boolean searches to find candidates on the Internet or shuffle resumes from other sources. RecruiterX is proficient with the Internet to avoid ignoring a possible source, but he or she also uses every other avenue possible to find good candidates.

RecruiterX has an applicant tracking system and uses it well; has created a network of good people to network with (our recruiters are tasked with developing a network of the most talented people within a given skillset, which we call their "50 best"); go to industry events; and know which companies have similar candidates.

Since RecruiterX recruits for many of the same skills over and over, knows a lot of people in the industry, and calls them regularly, their contacts are happy to help them find good candidates.

Avoids wasting their customers' time. Many recruiters seem to think their job is to send resumes. Resumes don't get hired: people do. RecruiterX knows how to qualify candidates extremely well and only submits candidates who are "dead on" for the role, or at least they believe them to be. They usually only submit two to four resumes for any given requirement. Their customers know they only submit good people and say "here's a resume from RecruiterX; I better at least look at it." His managers usually interview one-half or more of all the people they submit, and hire one-half or more of those.

Understands the industry and customer requirements much better than the average recruiter. While they don't know how to code Java, RecruiterX has a very good grasp on his industry's buzzwords and what they mean.

They know that Javascript and Java are not the same thing. A developer doing HTML and javascript is not going to fit a java/j2ee requirement and they don't present candidates that aren't a fit. Recruiters who do lose whatever credibility they had. They definitely understand the terminology of the industry and what each job function is.

Many average recruiters never get past simply looking for buzzwords to truly understand job functions. Their great candidate has plenty of the proper buzzwords but lack the actual background required. RecruiterX doesn't waste his customers' time and only submits qualified people.

Understands what it means to truly qualify a candidate. Average and beginning recruiters think making sure someone has a particular skill set defines qualifying a candidate. RecruiterX knows it goes way beyond that. RecruiterX always verifies that a candidate's commute is acceptable (and is skeptical when a candidate says he will drive 75 miles every day to the job).

They're a pro at getting salary information and requirements, determining the candidate's true motivations and seriousness, and getting any and all information that will help or prevent him from being able to close a placement. RecruiterX is an expert at qualifying someone and rarely has surprises when their candidates get an offer (e.g., the candidate says, "Oops, I really meant $125,000, not the $100,000 I originally said, because it is just too far of a commute.").

They admit that most failures to close an offer are a result of failing to truly qualify a candidate upfront. They don't blame the candidate, the company, or something else when a placement falls apart. They don't end up in situations where they're trying to relocate a candidate who tells you they'll move, only to find out after they turned down an offer that they have children in high school, have lived next door to their mother-in-law for the last 17 years, and have a spouse who is vice president of the local bank. In other words, they were never going to relocate no matter how hard you wished they would.

Is an expert at salary negotiations. While this is a topic worthy of several articles, suffice it to say that RecruiterX knows how to uncover a candidate's existing salary information, desires, and what it will really take to close the person on an offer. Although he or she earns $50,000 and will take $55,000, the candidate might also take $50,000 because the worker feels under-appreciated by the current boss.

Knows to pre-close the candidate at each step. Average recruiters believe 99% of the job is determining whether someone has a particular skillset. RecruiterX knows that it takes two to tango, and his job is to not only make sure a candidate is qualified, but to sell the opportunity and "pre-close" the candidate from the very first conversation to the last.

Without being pushy, he takes every opportunity to sell the position and verify that the candidate wants the opportunity at each step and that nothing has changed ("I know I said I wanted $70,000, but I really will only take $90,000."). Average recruiters sell the candidate hard on the first conversation and rely upon faith that everything will still be okay in the end. They get a lot of surprises.

Maintains a laser focus. RecruiterX has the attitude, "I'll quit when I die and not until." When they get a requisition, they work it until they have filled the position, not until they've submitted one or two resumes that were kind-of-sort-of close and then wonder why more of their managers don't respond to their resumes. They use every avenue possible to find hireable candidates and don't do one-half of a search on 10 different assignments. They do 100% of a search even if they spend one-third of their time each day on three searches.

Displays high energy. RecruiterX is a high-energy person in both business and personal pursuits and does not tire as easily as others or avoid hard work. This person has a positive attitude and does not bring down others.

Shows a good work ethic. Ask an average recruiter what percentage of their time they are actually working, and they'll probably tell you 50% to 80%. The true number is more than likely less than 50%. They are surfing the Internet, talking football, talking to their spouse on the phone, daydreaming about winning the lottery, and anything but recruiting.

RecruiterX actually works 75% of the time while knowing an occasional break is healthy. He or she may miss a few days a year for an illness or a personal day, but the boss knows the recruiter is a producer, has created a great relationship, and is generally very reliable.

Acts honestly. Let's face it: some in our industry have helped give us a used-car salesman image. RecruiterX is honest and does not misrepresent a company to a candidate nor a candidate to a company. That's just not good business. He or she does not steal candidates from clients or lie about salary information/rates, and maintains high ethics no matter what. RecruiterX refuses to work for an organization that bends ethics.

None of these traits should come as a surprise to a successful recruiter. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us should recognize we have some of these traits some of the time versus all of these traits all of the time. If you know any RecruiterX types, please send them my way.

Zhejiang University set up a special class to help 29 heirs of the family enterprises to build confidence and to gain experiences in management; however, none of them chose to go back to inherit the family heritage, but to start their own careers from scratch instead.

All the 29 graduates have started their own career. One started a game company, and all the other 28 found jobs in property, cars and Internet industries.

Wang Weixiao, an heir of a big hardware factory, now works in a car factory in Zhejiang. ¡°I don¡¯t want my career to be based on the achievement of my father,¡± said Wang. In fact, his father really wants Wang to help him, and the post of ¡°vice general manager¡± is left vacant for Wang.

The other reason for Wang to refuse his father¡¯s offer is that he doesn¡¯t like the atmosphere in the family enterprise, where all the important posts are taken by family members, and every decision must be based on an emotional basis. ¡°The ineffective organization of my father¡¯s enterprise really chokes me, ¡±concluded Wang.

Chinanews, Shanghai, Oct. 25 - China has over 40 million small and medium enterprises, which account for 99.6% of the total number of enterprises in China. The products they manufacture and the service they provide account for 58.5% of the country¡¯s GDP, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported.

President of the China Small and Medium Enterprises International Association Zheng Silin says that at present, Chinese small and medium enterprises are at the important historical moment of carrying out international cooperation with their counterparts around the world.

According to Zheng, the sales volume of the small and medium enterprises in China accounts for 59% of the total sales volume in society. In addition, the small and medium enterprises have created 75% of the job opportunities in China¡¯s urban areas. These enterprises, as it were, have played an increasingly important role in the national economy.

On one occasion, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said that at present, Chinese small and medium enterprises have contributed to about 60% of the country¡¯s GDP. They have created 70% of the job opportunities and accounted for 70% of the country¡¯s export volume. The small and medium enterprises have already become the source of economic vitality in China and an important link in the global industrial chain, said the minister.