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2 Chinese firms hungry for
talent By Olivia Chung
HONG KONG - In the 1980s and most of the
1990s, almost all talented Chinese students wanted
to study abroad. And those who were lucky enough
to be able to study in advanced countries such as
the United States or Japan would make every effort
to remain there after graduation, reluctant to
return to China.
But times have changed.
Because of rapid economic development, living and
working conditions have dramatically
improved in China. In recent
years, more and more Chinese citizens studying
overseas are returning home to work or start their
own businesses.
An increasing number of
multinational corporations have set up operations
in China, providing job opportunities for returned
overseas Chinese students. Although multinationals
have helped to lure back and retain domestic
talent, they also pose great challenges to
domestic companies and research institutes.
Wu Yikang, senior adviser for the Chinese
Association for International Science and
Technology Cooperation, said more and more local
talent in China has flowed to multinationals
because they tend to be engaged in cutting-edge
high-tech research and offer generous salaries.
"It is a fact that multinationals in China
have created a large amount of job opportunities
for Chinese graduates, and also attracted many
Chinese students studying abroad," he said.
According to government statistics, since
1979, when China opened its doors to let students
go abroad for further study, more than a million
students have left the country. Thirty percent of
them have returned to China.
But this is
far from enough to meet market demand. There is
still a huge demand for overseas-trained Chinese
with international vision and management
expertise. The shortage of such talent is a big
challenge to Chinese companies planning to expand
their business overseas, as well as to
multinationals operating in China.
Many
multinationals understand that they could train
local people to meet their growing demand for
labor, but this takes time and money.
Early reports said almost 40% of China's
educated talent worked in foreign-invested
enterprises. A survey in Shanghai also indicated
that the ratio of Chinese researchers to
expatriate research-and-development staff reached
nearly 40:1 in foreign-invested research
organizations based in China, Xinhua said.
However, Wu Yikang points out that Chinese
research and development people tend to have a
very good academic background but very little
practical experience. "The training provided by
multinationals can help improve Chinese
researchers," Wu said.
But multinationals
are also afraid that once they invest in training
local talent, their rising stars will be lured
away by their competitors - "job-hopping" is now
commonplace in China because of a shortage of
talent.
Wu said: "The well-trained talent
in multinationals are actually potential human
resources for the Chinese companies, when the
companies grow stronger."
And with fast
social and economic changes in China, there have
appeared new occupations, such as supply-chain and
risk management, for which it is hard to find
qualified personnel locally.
Therefore, it
is easier for multinationals in China and Chinese
companies to recruit foreign-educated Chinese
students with work experience overseas.
According to the global head-hunting firm
Whitney Group, China's financial industry is
particularly hungry for Chinese with overseas work
experience.
"Although there is an
increasing trend of foreign-educated mainland
students returning to China, the market is still
in short supply,'' said Whitney Group managing
director Harry O'Neill.
Whitney has about
400,000 people in its database but candidates
suitable for the Chinese market account for only a
very tiny percentage.
The expansion of
multinationals in China has further boosted demand
for experienced executives with world vision.
Human-resources consultancies, including
Whitney, have predicted that in a couple of years,
one out of every four managers working for
multinationals will be a returned overseas Chinese
student with work experience in overseas developed
markets.
With the Chinese economy becoming
increasingly globalized, big Chinese enterprises
are also wooing overseas Chinese with attractive
offers. Even the Chinese government opens some
posts to lure foreign-trained Chinese and offers
incentives for returnees to set up their own
businesses. According to the Ministry of
