By Brian Fenerty

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.

This is precisely why the proper care of candidates is so important to your recruiting efforts. China is currently a high-volume type of place. Many of the recruiting systems in place here are based on the more-is-more philosophy. If you are not finding the candidates you need, get more! The problem with this approach is that it is often implemented at the expense of quality and in a candidate short market like this every candidate counts. 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

As UK companies seek to take advantage of China’s growing commercial prominence, recruiting and keeping employees is becoming more of an issue; particularly with the increase in forged CVs and Diplomas.

Stories in the press make fairly frightening reading. The China Daily did a test and discovered that out of 3,000 diplomas, 800 had been forged. It also revealed that a Harvard PhD can be bought for as little as $100.

Read the rest of “Caution is the key in Chinese recruitment” or post a comment >>

‘Will there or won’t there be?’ The small clump of young European & Asian salesmen breaks from their huddle and puts the question to me. They try to look relaxed, but clearly they’re concerned. The entire sales department has been watching the economies of the US and Europe losing momentum and asking themselves the same question:

Read the rest of “What would a US recession mean for China Sales HR?” or post a comment >>

Gender confusion seems to be the topic of the day right now, with a recent report that cites 30% of young women identifying their personality as part-male, part-female.

This has important implications for the workplace, especially for those who have yet to recognize the sea change in attitudes.

Read the rest of “Androgynous Attitudes” or post a comment >>