Building a talent pipeline is not easy in China and you will need all the help you can get.

Those who get to know you or to know about you through a third party grant you a higher level of confidence, credibility and loyalty. According to Dr. Robert Cialdini in his amazing book; Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, this is social proof in action.

Read the rest of “Competing for Candidates in China” or post a comment >>

By Richard Brubaker 

In terms of human resources, the current debate is focused on the continued need for multinational corporations in China to increase hiring of local staff, particularly for operations management, while decreasing or completely removing expatriate staff. Reasons for this shift away from expatriate staff include the high cost of salary and benefit packages, questionable value (in terms of productivity and ability to drive the business), high failure rates and most recently, the large readily available talent pool of expatriates already based in China (“halfpats”).

Many within China agree that there is a shortage of local talent in the middle management sector. In the past, this was a significant issue as companies had only two options – to hire and relocate expensive expatriate staff from overseas, or inexpensive, inexperienced local staff. Read the rest of “Halfpats: the New Expatriate” or post a comment

By Kyle Long

J.P. Morgan’s recent decision to hire Elaine La Roche as its China vice-chairman may have not been a difficult one, given her qualifications as a former chief executive of China International Capital Corporation.

Leading the large, successful, foreign-owned investment banking business left no shadow of a doubt on her capabilities, with many public decisions and achievements made through her run.

But what about companies looking to hire candidates without such an extensive and verifiable paper trail of credentials? Read the rest of “Hiring From the Unknown” or post a comment

By Frank Mulligan

When a company sets up operations in China they appear to be faced with two distinct choices: ‘going local’, or imposing the dominant business culture of their organization.

It’s not an easy choice, and there are no clear cut answers as to which route will bring you the best results. In the absence of a definite conclusion it can become a battle of wills to see which culture will win.

Choose the local culture and you will be in a position to motivate local staff more effectively, but much of the operations of the business will become opaque to non-locals. Things will get done but not necessarily the way the Headquarters wants them to. What you gain in effectiveness, as defined locally, you lose in visibility. Read the rest of “Think Global, But …” or post a comment

By Nannette Ripmeester

In this issue I am venturing beyond European borders to China, a fast growing marketplace. But starting operations in a new market is not easy.Will you move your own people to the new location or will you start hiring locally? And if you hire locally, how do you attract the best candidates and what do these new recruits expect?

Campus recruitment

Kevin Ng, Partner at the Beijing office of Deloitte, is clear about the type of graduates Deloitte targets. “We will only approach the first-tier universities in China to be assured of quality graduates,” he says. “We conduct campus recruitment to introduce our firm and the attributes of graduates we are looking for.” Read the rest of “Eastern Promise?” or post a comment