Brain drain or not?

It's true... in the right industry (but certainly not all) there is again a demand for expats - (or excellent locals)

 

 

DROWNING IN THE TALENT POOL By EMILY PATTERSON 652 words 12 June 2006 China Business Weekly English Copyright 2006 China Daily Information Company. All rights reserved. While many soon-to-be graduates are bemoaning the lack of good jobs, many multinational companies are complaining about the lack of competent employees. "Lack of good talent is the single biggest issue that impacts companies in China today. Every company has problems," says Duncan Cunningham, director of the Shanghai branch of Aquent, a recruiting and consulting agency. How is an employee shortage possible in a country that will produce 4.12 million college graduates this year? The problem is quality, not quantity. According to a recently released report by McKinsey and Co, less than 10 per cent of Chinese job candidates have the skills to work in a foreign company. Many Chinese graduates lack practical experience, because university courses emphasize theory over work skills, according to the report. Multinational companies also complain that graduates are short on communication skills, such as the ability to speak English, and the confidence and assertiveness to work in a multicultural office. Not all experts agree though, Cunningham says. Aquent, which deals with companies in creative fields such as marketing and public relations, doesn't face problems recruiting new graduates. In his field, he says, mid-level managers in their late 20s and 30s are difficult to find. Either way, to cope with the shortage, most international companies go one of two ways: train their staff or hire experienced talent from another country. But neither option is perfect. Canadian John Chabot has made a business out of helping companies cope with the talent shortage. Chabot has worked in Beijing for two years helping Chinese employees learn the skills they need to work in multinational companies. Though Chabot teaches many business skills classes, he believes personal abilities are even more important, such as critical thinking, creativity, assertiveness, and intercultural communication. "It's one thing to learn a skill such as making presentations or conducting negotiations, but there is a big cultural background that Chinese employees have to learn." When Wang Beibei, a 28-year old graphic designer, returned to Beijing after earning a Master's degree in Sweden, she wanted to put her overseas education to use in an international company. Swedish furniture chain IKEA fit the bill, but in her first week of work, she and other Chinese employees received training about its "company culture". Yet she says that many locally educated Chinese - both managers and staff - have a difficult time with the company's Western-style, speak-your-mind policy. "For many Chinese, that's very difficult for them to do. People are afraid to speak out. They can't understand the policy, because in a Chinese company, if you are going to talk about the company's problems to the big boss, you would get fired." Other than training, multinational companies often choose to hire expats. As business expanded rapidly for advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather earlier in this decade, it decided to recruit locally instead of hiring abroad. But with the advertising market expanding by as much as 40 per cent a year, according to some estimates, the pool of potential local employees is no longer big enough. "Now the whole thing has been reversed," Chris Reitermann, Ogilvy's Beijing-based managing director, told the International Herald Tribune. "We hire many more expats simply because we can't get the quality locally. Good senior local people are as precious as diamonds." The number of expatriates working legally in China has doubled to 150,000 since 2003, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in April. But bringing foreign talent to China is expensive, and many foreigners don't know the language or the Chinese market, says Cunningham, adding that despite these obstacles, the situation is improving. Recently, Chinese universities have started specialized courses and have begun co-operating with companies to help graduates get more hands-on experience. (Copyright 2006 by China Daily)