Recruiting in China

Saongroup, the online recruiter majority owned by Denis O’Brien, has acquired Monster’s China operation, ChinaHR.com, for an undisclosed amount.

Monster Worldwide will retain a ten per cent shareholding in the combined China business of Saongroup and the agreement takes place with immediate effect. Monster had previously announced its intention to divest its operation in China.

Saongroup already has a comprehensive national network of offices and websites in tier two, three and four cities throughout China and the addition of ChinaHR boosts this network to almost 200 cities across the country, whilst also giving it a strong presence in the tier one cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

“ChinaHR is an excellent match with Saongroup China. Its blue chip client list and strong tier one city presence complements Saongroup’s robust online platform and pan-China reach. The acquisition of ChinaHR repositions Saongroup as a market leader and leaves us well positioned to accelerate our growth in the Chinese market.” said Ciaran McCooey, group chief executive officer of Saongroup.

Saongroup.com is a global online recruitment company with operations across four continents – Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas – and websites live in 30 countries. Irishjobs.ie is its domestic trading entity.

Saongroup is 75 per cent owned by Mr O’Brien, with chairman Leslie Buckley owning the balance.

Summary: Monster Worldwide's China unit is starting to shed 54 percent of its 400 workers, and remaining employees organize a sit-in office protest to demand for compensation should they be laid off this year.

Chinese recruitment site ChinaHR.com, a subsidiary of Monster Worldwide, has started laying off 54 percent of its 400 staff members amid discussions of the company being sold.

According to Sina Tech Wednesday, the dismissed staff were compensated three months' salary plus additional amounts depending on the time they have spent with the company. For example, an employee who has been with ChinaHR.com for five years will get an additional five months' worth of his salary. Pregnant staff members will receive an extra 24 months' salary, it added.

The layoffs come amid reports in November 2012 that Monster Worldwide will sell off its Chinese business unit, which it fully acquired in 2008, as part of its restructuring program to curb losses of US$130 billion. The acquiring company has not been disclosed though.

However, employees who did not get laid off were unsatisfied as they were not included in the compensation scheme. They were also disgruntled that ChinaHR CEO Luo Bingquan did not want to reveal details of the buyout, citing confidentiality, it reported.

On Tuesday night, more than 200 employees organized a sit-in protest in ChinaHR's headquarters in Beijing.

After 10 hours of negotiation, both Luo and Monster Chairman Sal Iannuzzi proposed the remaining staff be compensated with the same plan if they are to be laid off in 2013 following ChinaHR's acquisition, Sina Tech reported.

The proposal is subject to the approval from the unnamed buyer of the Web company, it added.

Apple has stuck to its word and begun to cut ties with Chinese suppliers who are found to employ underage workers.

Apple last year joined forces with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) after a report from the organisation found evidence of the practise at some of Apple’s suppliers.

Now the company has released its Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, in which it was revealed that Apple has cut ties with Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics (PZ) after 74 violations were discovered.

Staffing firm Shenzhen Quanshun Human Resources, which supplied workers to PZ, reportedly went as far as to aid families to produce fake age documentation. 106 active cases were revealed.

Interestingly, notorious employer Foxconn “is on track to meet the FLA's recommendations by July 1st”, The Verge reports.

In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a point of stressing that improved labour practices are a key priority for Apple – a notable change from the seemingly opposite policy employed by his predecessor (and Buddhist!) Steve Jobs.

The company performed 393 labour audits in 2012 – that’s a 72 per cent increase over 2011.

According to Antal China, the oil and gas sector is about to experience significant growth thanks to the growth of the Chinese economy. The company state that since 2011, the two China oil giants CNPC and Sinopec, have been pushing the wholesale prices down at a minimum, while increasing the prices of the retailed refined oil, thereby delivering high profits. However this year, at a time when the price difference between retailed and wholesaled oil has reached RMB 300/ton, foreign and private retail stations are facing a serious lack of oil source. For this reason some oil companies are now setting up their own depot – a move which has been recorded and supported by recruiting firm Antal China. In part, these new ventures ensure the companies retain enough oil reserve, but they also help companies to respond to price fluctuation which remain a clear feature of the Chinese market.

Antal have also perceived that deep-sea oil and gas field Exploration and Production (E&P) is becoming a greater focus in the region. However, this area of business requires higher quality of equipment, technology and talent. There are clearly new opportunities here for foreign companies who wish to supply this kind of technology to the region and alongside this there will be a higher demand for skilled personnel in deep sea development, project management, sales and application.

Antal have already been working in this area, recruiting for a foreign company who specialise in high-end sub-sea products. The company concerned set up a new office in Shenzhen in order to supply the deep-sea E&P development.

The Global Recruiter Magazine, the principal magazine for the global recruitment industry together with the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), are pleased to announce our second Asia Pacific Recruitment Summit.

The event will bring together the industry in and around Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and the other main Asia Pacific jurisdictions.

With the world’s major industries and companies concentrating their efforts in the Asian Pacific hubs, the recruitment industry has seen dramatic growth. However, recruitment-specific data and events are a rarity, with conferences and expos leaning towards the corporate/HR end of the market.

The Global Recruiter magazine, together with the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), have filled this void.

Held in Singapore in October 2013, our Summit will include a two day-long conference, with presentations from world leaders in global recruitment knowledge focusing on many different issues to help you grow your recruitment brand in the region. The two days will culminate in a lavish gala awards ceremony with the region’s staffing sector coming together to celebrate their achievements.

The 2012 Asia Pacific Summit provided the recruitment industry with an invigorating diverse informative and invaluable event where inspiring new ideas and refreshed enthusiasm were found. The conference programmes plenary sessions, masterclasses and tracks provided delegates real-life practical solutions to help transform their organisations and add value to their brand. Alongside the conference the exhibition provided tailored advice and solutions from leading recruitment industry suppliers, specific to the business challenges faced in the Asia Pacific region. The Summit climaxed with a glittering Gala dinner and awards ceremony, where 13 companies were recognised for their outstanding achievements in the Asia Pacific region.

The 2013 Summit will be a must attend for those serious about business in the Asia Pacific region. We fully expect the 2013 Summit to even further demonstrate the high standards of Recruitment in Asia Pacific , which, through this Summit, will only become more globally renowned.

The war for talent in China has led Nike Sports to introduce the Lumese TalentLink technology platform on which to base its recruitment strategy for the country. In the first phase of the initiative 11 recruiters in Greater China and over 15 agencies will work with a complete Software as a Service system which will enhance the screening and selection process as well as creating a standardised workflow for the task ahead. The company hope this will bring transparency and a high level of reporting to the process which will benefit recruitment across the Asia region.

"Demand for the best candidates, which far exceeds supply, is becoming a serious problem in recruitment management in China," said Rishi Dadlani, Nike’s Talent Acquisition Sourcing Manager in Greater China. "Our recruiting processes have been working well in recent years, but now with aggressive market growth plans in place, our recruiters absolutely need to deal with and manage a higher and more effective workload.

While supporting the company’s overall objectives in the region Nike hopes to bring some of it brand strength to talent acquisition work. They also intend to connect Lumesse TalentLink to Nike external and internal career sites for a much better and richer candidate experience in the direct application process.

"This is a perfect example of our philosophy of being the only global company making talent management work locally," said Lumesse CEO, Matthew Parker. "China is an absolutely unique market today, with a high growth economy, a shortage of skilled talent, and very specific requirements for languages and local support."

"While job-boards is certainly a channel that has been around for a long time, we don't particularly focus on it. We have an excellent toolkit, coupled with the strength of our consumer brand, and our dream is to convert all our consumers into potential candidates," said Rishi Dadlani. "There are a number of social media platforms/networks we will certainly leverage to market our employment brand. Through these channels we will build and engage talent communities and eventually stimulate direct applications."