Archives March 2008

How to find, hire—and keep—talented people

Every day, I get calls from frantic and sometimes frustrated HR people. “Can you find a government sales specialist in Seattle? How about a sales manager in California? Is there a metalworking sales specialist in Detroit?”

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the questions come easier than the answers. In fact, the panorama of industrial supply distribution has changed dramatically over the past eight years, especially within the sales arena. Boeing relocated, China infiltrated, 9/11 happened and the experienced industrial people made like rabbits and high-tailed it for safer havens [read: other industries]. Add the proliferation of non-compete agreements to the brew and we have ourselves the perfect storm for industrial headhunters, HR personnel and sales specialists.

The problems are compounded by disinformation emanating from the various media mavens. They manipulate statistics to create news and cause fear with talk of rising unemployment coupled with a labor shortage caused by millions of retiring Baby Boomers. But what’s really going on?

As someone who has been recruiting within the industrial supply sector for more than 20 years, my feeling is that there are still plenty of good times ahead, both for larger and niche players. Here is what I tell clients who ask about the industrial supply industry from the perspectives of talent retention, recruitment and the hiring process:

Talent Retention: From the inside out
• The company that offers options to cross train, interchange jobs and relocate for career advancement has the decided advantage. The cost to the company is more than made up for by successful internal promotions which yield measurable and quantifiable results.
• Positive buzz generated by in-house staff and associates that transfers into the marketplace can be a corporate “Gatorade infusion” of energy and enthusiasm for the entire company. It will attract new talent from within the industry as well as adjacent industries.

The recruitment process: Communication is the key
• Once the need is determined and the funds are provided within the corporate budget, companies want positions filled yesterday. The pressure to hire is immediate and burning. Therefore, every day that the job goes unfilled builds up cost-of-vacancy, which can be very expensive.
• In the vast majority of companies, the hiring process is plagued by delayed responses to resumes, indecisive management follow-ups and poor feedback from line management interviews to the HR departments or the outside recruiter. If these hiring companies ever determined the actual cost-of-vacancy caused by these delays, there would be a great outcry from senior management.
• The faster a company moves within the interview/hiring process, the better the rate of hiring and retention.

The hiring process: Close the deal without delay
• Open your doors to any trainable, sales-oriented individual who understands and believes in relationship sales. That means thinking as broadly as possible as to industry experience. Some companies put their salespeople people through rigorous training.
• Give feedback to every candidate within 72 hours of receiving their resume. This shows you care and mean business.
• Set up a phone interview with either a manager or HR rep within five days of receipt of a candidate’s resume.
• A face-to-face interview should be set up within one week of the phone interview. Thereafter, whatever necessary steps, including tests, background checks or reference screens, should be set up in a similar time frame.
• The completion of the interview/hiring process to the offer phase should take no more than five or six weeks. Add to that at least two weeks for a start date and you have a two-month process. That’s the way to make a strong impression on any candidate.

These are best-case scenarios. It might take longer to unearth the hero/heroine. You might need a recruiter with the right synergy, who can help you avoid many of the potential pitfalls. They can serve as the first line of offense to promote your company, its objectives and its culture — and prepare the candidate for each step in the process.

Whatever you decide, if you stay the course with a proper timetable, you can maximize your chances to make that strategic hire.

51job’s Aggressive Marketing Posture Delays Upside

Excerpts from Gilford Securities analyst Ashish R. Thadhani’s recent note to clients on 51job, Inc. (JOBS):

• • •

Solid 4Q: 33% YoY Growth, 15% Op. Margin, Cash ~$5 / ADS; Aggressive S&M (Sales & Marketing) Posture Delays Upside, EPS Estimates Cut

Investment Conclusion. Based on stepped-up operating expenses (marketing, sales force expansion and online product development) – offset partially by continued currency-aided revenue growth – we are reducing our estimates: 2008 GAAP EPADS to $0.55 on net revenue of $131 million (23% YoY growth) from $0.68 on net revenue of $128 million; and 2009 GAAP EPADS to $0.75 on net revenue of $163 million (25% YoY growth) from $0.90 on net revenue of $159 million.

We are lowering our target from $23 to $20.50. In 12-months, this would correspond to a $434 million enterprise value and 25-30x forward GAAP EPADS – a premium to 20% compound EPS growth in 2007-09E. Although 51job stated that “business fundamentals are stronger than ever,” we are disappointed by ballooning near-term S&M expenses (27% of 2008E net revenue vs. 22% in 2007) – ostensibly to match rival ChinaHR.com. On a positive note, the $360-405 million valuation placed on ChinaHR.com by Monster (MNST-Hold) has positive implications for 51job ($386 million), which remains much larger and more profitable than its nearest competitor.

4Q07 Results. GAAP EPADS of $0.10 vs. $0.09 a year ago on net revenue of $27.7 million (33% YoY growth) beat our $0.09 estimate on net revenue of $26.0 million. 51job posted positive variances in net revenue ($1.7 million led by training/outsourcing – this segment could benefit under the new labor law) and tax/other items ($0.2 million) – offset partially by operating costs ($1.1 million) and a forex translation loss ($0.5 million).

Revenue from online recruitment services advanced 40% YoY to 36% of the total. Operating income rose 57% YoY to $4.1 million (14.9% margin) and exceeded our $3.5 million estimate (13.3% margin) by 17%. Metrics showed somewhat slower growth in print advertising page-count (+21% YoY) with lower average revenue per page (-3% YoY in dollar terms attributed to city-mix); and steady growth in the number of employers using online services (+30% YoY) with higher revenue per employer (+8% YoY). Net cash climbed to $138.0 million (or $4.85 per ADS) from $131.7 million on September 30…

Investment Thesis. According to recent surveys, a shortage of qualified staff and high turnover ranks as the biggest business concern in China. 51job is enviably placed to capitalize on the rapidly evolving market for HR services in China – by applying a proven business model across its vast labor force (5x U.S.). Compared with traditional job search channels such as referrals and fairs, pioneers like 51job offer significant reach and speed advantages.

Favorable demographic drivers include GDP growth (~10% in recent years), Internet usage (ranked #2 behind the U.S.), an aging workforce and increasing private, urban and service sector employment. iResearch forecasts that the total recruitment market in China will increase from $568 million to $1.39 billion in 2005-10, implying 20% compound annual growth. During this period, the online recruitment segment is expected to advance from $99 million (17% of the total) to $631 million (45%), or 45% compound annual growth.

Superior positioning includes a premium brand/pricing; comprehensive online/offline offering; wide geographic presence (25+ cities); large direct sales force (over 1,600 representatives); and unmatched job seeker database (access to more than 16 million resumes for professional, clerical, industrial and hourly jobs). EPS growth stands to benefit from ramp-up of online subscriptions (from single-digit penetration of client budgets at present) and a scalable model offering 30%-plus operating margin (excluding share-based compensation).

JOBS is suitable for aggressive investors. In our opinion, principal risks include the following:

Deterioration of economic conditions in China, slowing of hiring activity or a “hard landing” scenario.

Competition from ChinaHR.com and Internet portals could pressure future profitability by way of higher marketing expenses and/or lower pricing.

Rapid online migration could result in cannibalization of offline revenue.

51job has an inconsistent execution record.
Uncertainties in the PRC regulatory and legal system, particularly laws governing foreign ownership and licensing/operation of HR and Internet business entities. Note that 51job is incorporated as a holding company in the Cayman Islands.

Disruptions such as spread of the H5N1 virus or a recurrence of SARS, political unrest, breakdown in relationship with a major publishing/distribution contractor, etc.
Influence of Recruit Co. and current management over all matters requiring a shareholder vote.
Correction in the U.S. markets.

Microsoft Unveils Windows Embedded R&D Center in China

Microsoft Corp has launched its first Windows Embedded regional development center in Asia. This new facility, the Microsoft Embedded Systems Development Center (MESDC), will support global product development and drive smart, connected, service-oriented device development.

Located within the Microsoft Advanced Technology Center (ATC), part of the Microsoft China Research & Development Group (CRD) in Beijing, China, the MESDC is a significant part of the US$75 million global investment in R&D that the Windows Embedded business is making this fiscal year.

The MESDC will support global product R&D, drive development of innovative features of Microsoft’s embedded operating systems, and accelerate collaboration between the US-based Microsoft product groups and their counterparts in the ATC. In addition, the MESDC will support the needs of the active windows embedded partner ecosystem in China by engaging with OEMs in embedded systems to showcase high visibility embedded systems projects that accelerate the development of connected consumer devices.

Microsoft has started recruiting embedded systems engineers for the MESDC. By the end of 2008, the MESDC will have up to 15 engineers working closely with the Windows Embedded product development team in Redmond, Washington.

Heidrick & Struggles up 58.8 percent in Asia and 33 percent in China

Sydney, (ANTARA News/Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet) – Heidrick & Struggles increased its net revenue by 58.8 per cent in the Asia Pacific region last year, driven by continuing high demand for leadership advisory and executive search services.

Net revenue for APAC was $US78.6 million. Operating income of $US15.9 million increased 20.1 per cent compared with 2006 and the operating margin was 20.3 per cent, compared with 26.8 per cent in 2006 as the firm invested in infrastructure to support its expansion.

Regional managing partner Gerry Davis says that Australia New Zealand, Greater China and Singapore recorded the highest growth rates, with ANZ revenue up 118 per cent on last year, Greater China up 33 per cent, Singapore 72 per cent, India, 29 per cent, Japan 33 per cent and Korea 61 per cent.

Davis says that an aggressive recruiting effort and investment in information technology infrastructure have provided a strong foundation for further regional expansion in 2008.

“Offices have also been expanded and upgraded to cater for the increased headcount. We have opened an office in Bangkok, Thailand to address the significant demand for multi-national and in-country executives,” Davis says.

The scale of reach of the Heidrick & Struggles operation in Asia Pacific has caused many corporations to seek access to its “thought leadership”, industry sector analysis and research materials, Davis says.

Leadership advisory practice leader Steve Langton says the firms advisory work has helped to increase the number of chief executive and non-executive director roles. “Leadership advice leverages the Heidrick & struggles reputation, brand and capability to support clients in addressing their talent concerns they have in a time of leadership transition.” Langton says.

Globally, for the fiscal year ended December 31, Heidrick & Struggles reported consolidated net revenue of $US619.7 million, an increase of 29.5 per cent from $US478.5 million in 2006. The firm expects global revenue to grow by between 5 and 8 per cent in 2008.

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. is the worlds premier provider of senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including talent management, board building, executive on-boarding and M&A effectiveness.

For more than 50 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationships with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Atkins to recruit from China

Atkins has started recruiting in Mandarin to attract Chinese engineering undergraduates studying in the UK

The country’s biggest consultant takes on nearly 400 graduates a year – a third of them civil engineers.

Now Atkins head of recruitment Karen Wallbridge said the company had hit on the idea of recruiting directly in Mandarin to make sure it was reaching the widest possible audience.

Atkins has decided to use native Mandarin-speaking recent graduates within the company to address students from China who are studying for engineering degrees in the UK.

Wallbridge told a skills conference organised by Construction News: “Many people in India and China view engineering as a blue riband qualification, the way it used to be viewed in the UK. There are a lot of good young people coming to this country that we would like to bring on board.”

She said the events had been extremely popular among Chinese students pleased to be addressed in their first language and that rooms had been filled with undergraduates keen to find a high-profile job.

She said: “It’s made us review our policy on communication altogether. We look at recruiting good communicators.

“But now we are re-thinking whether this is the same thing as being able to speak good English.”

The firm has already held a number of events at UCL in London and one in Manchester, the largest centre for Chinese students in the UK. It is planning more events at other universities.

Wallbridge said the Chinese recruits would be used not just in the UK but back in their native China where Atkins employs several hundred consultants.

She added the company had not ruled out expanding the plan to cover speakers of other languages.

Sourced from Construction News

China Investment Corp. hiring foreign fund managers

SUZHOU, China: China Investment Corp., the $200 billion Chinese sovereign wealth fund, is hiring foreign fund managers to invest in hedge funds and private equity, as well as in traditional assets like bonds and shares.

Gao Xiqing, CIC’s general manager, said Thursday that he hoped to hire the managers within the next few months.

Dozens of the world’s leading money managers have been making presentations to CIC in Beijing in recent weeks in an effort to win coveted mandates to handle some of the fund’s money.

“The hiring is going smoothly,” Gao told reporters at a pension fund forum in Suzhou, near Shanghai. “The asset classes we are hiring managers for include the cash market, fixed income, equity and hedge funds.

“We will also be hiring managers for private equity.”

China sets inflation as a top priority targetU.S. Federal Reserve chairman calls for action to help distressed homeowners and lendersSharp drop-off in spending by Japan’s companies
According to media reports, CIC could plough about $4 billion into a private equity fund run by the former Goldman Sachs executive, Christopher Flowers, that will focus on financial institutions weakened by the global credit crunch.

China set up the sovereign wealth fund last September to earn greater returns on part of its $1.53 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, most of which is invested in safe but low-yielding U.S. bonds.

CIC will invest only a third of its initial money overseas. It has already spent most of the rest buying investment vehicles used by the central bank to recapitalize domestic banks.

The fund, which is also busy recruiting in-house staff, moved Tuesday into plush new offices in central Beijing.

CIC has had a rocky start, drawing fierce criticism for steep losses suffered on its maiden $3 billion investment in the U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Group.

The share price of Morgan Stanley has also fallen since CIC took a $5 billion stake in the U.S. investment bank in December.

Gao said he hoped to finish hiring external money managers within a few months.

“We must negotiate terms so it needs some time,” Gao said.

The process could have been shorter if CIC had invited just a few firms to bid for the mandates.

But to ease the concern about a lack of transparency among sovereign wealth funds, CIC had invited a large number of asset management firms to apply, making selection a tougher task.

“Sovereign funds have come under a lot of pressure,” Gao said. “In fact, we didn’t need to invite everyone. We just needed to invite those top-performing ones. But we’re doing so to show we have transparency.”

Norway, Singapore and Abu Dhabi are also among the more than 20 countries with sovereign wealth funds. The International Monetary Fund estimates their worth at between $2 trillion and $3 trillion, a total that it says could reach $10 trillion by 2012.

Some Western critics fear state-owned sovereign funds will not invest for long-term commercial returns but for political purposes, building up stakes in leading companies that will give them influence in politically sensitive sectors.

The European Union said on Wednesday that sovereign funds were welcome to invest in the 27-nation bloc but that they should be more open about their motives and methods.

“Sovereign wealth fund countries must acknowledge that their growing weight in global financial markets brings responsibilities,” said Joaquín Almunia, the EU’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner.

Gao has said CIC would be a benign force in global markets, but that it was unfair to expect total transparency because of the commercial interests at its heart.

Zheng Bingwen, a pension fund expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the government’s top research institute, said at the forum that CIC’s assets would expand rapidly, as China’s foreign exchange reserves were likely to keep growing for the next 20 years.

China’s Baidu To Offer Instant-Messaging Service

Beijing — Baidu.com, the most popular search engine in China, is throwing its hat into a new instant messaging (IM) service designed to let Internet users in the country communicate with one another, a fast-growing market dominated by Tencent’s QQ and Microsoft, with this morning’s introduction of Baidu Hi.

Baidu said in a statement released on Friday that it has started testing the service internally of its IM product “Baidu Hi,” which only Baidu employees who have submitted applications through internal networks can get approval to download.

“IM is one of Baidu’s few ‘strategic’ products and it has been developing it for over a year,” a company statement said.

Baidu is currently recruiting new developers and engineers to help develop the software, but the company refused to disclose the scale of the test, and stopped short of saying when the instant-messaging service would be offered to the general public.

The move makes perfect sense. Baidu has used its search engine prowess to launch sticky community sites devoted to everything from discussion boards to social networking. It is the perfect pivot point. If folks are text chatting in real-time online, why would not Baidu want a piece of that?

It is also a booming market. According to Web information company Alexa, QQ.com is the second most popular website in China, trailing only Baidu. Yes, the hot IM platform is getting more traffic than SINA and Google. It is not as easy to monetize an IM application as it is with search, but it is more about keeping up with the trends and eyeballs than the pocketbooks.

Since last year, rumors have been rife that Baidu has been eyeing the IM market in the hope of finding another revenue generator outside its online search business, in order to maintain rapid growth.

The Beijing-based company stated that all aspects of Baidu Hi development will be done completely in-house, eliminating the need for jobs to be contracted out to other companies.

“The statement did not say whether Baidu Hi will offer features besides messaging, such as the ability to make voice over IP (Internet Protocol), or VoIP, calls.”

Baidu may dominate Internet search in China and routinely trounce Google in market-share surveys there, but that is unlikely to translate into dominance of the instant-messaging market in China.

“That market is currently dominated by Tencent, a Shenzhen-based company that runs the popular QQ instant-messaging service.”

The company has 580 million registered users and earned 1 billion yuan in the third quarter of last year, mainly through providing Internet value added services.

“Microsoft’s MSN is a distant second and attracts many white-collar workers.”

Liu Bin, an analyst at research firm BDA China, said Baidu’s entry into China’s IM market will not trigger direct competition with Tencent and Microsoft in the short term because it will be difficult for Baidu to attract users from other providers.

“Baidu’s IM software will have a significant impact on Tencent and Microsoft in the next two to three years,” he said.

Many search engines, facing an increased level of competition, have been forced to adapt and launch complimentary services to keep users coming back to the site for more than basic Internet searches.

The key to success comes from paddling into new revenue streams without diminishing the brand as a search engine workhorse. Yahoo! did not necessarily fall behind Google in search usage because it dove into things like job listings, dating personals, and instant messaging, but the lack of focus probably did not help.

Baidu stormed on the Internet search engine scene with its “MP3 Search” feature, which made it fast and easy for users to locate and download free music from Chinese and other artists. Another example is Google; the top search engine in the United States has a full range of software and services in development and available to users.

Baidu also branched out by launching a Japanese language search engine, though it does not appear the Chinese search giant has plans to launch a site for the US market.

The good news is that Baidu has not slipped despite launching dozens of similar forays in the past. Even more recent moves like launching its search engine in Japan and developing an eBay clone have not diluted the brand’s popularity. New initiatives also have not materially weighed down the company’s earnings power, going by this month’s fourth-quarter report, which found earnings soaring 79% despite the Japanese expansion.

Since 2005, Baidu has posted annual growth rates of over 100 percent. But Liu said the company’s growth rate may decline to 30 percent within five years due to a larger revenue base.

“Although IM may not bring direct revenue for Baidu in the short term, it will be lucrative if Baidu can combine it with other services.”

“Baidu declined to comment when asked about Baidu Hi and its future endeavors in the instant messaging space.”

All hail China’s new job-seekers

BEIJING, Feb. 27 — Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, held its first labor fair of the lunar new year a few days ago, but the job-seekers gathered there appeared not to be as enthusiastic as their counterparts of years past. For the first time, the number of job-hunters fell far short of the number of vacancies advertised at the fair: 4,000 versus 7,000.?

The employers could only raise their salary standards – on average, to 1,160 yuan (155 U.S.dollars) a month, representing an increase of 13 percent compared with previous years.

Similar phenomena also appeared in other cities in the Pearl River Delta area, one of China’s major manufacturing centers. The area has for years been the largest employer of migrant laborers from the country’s rural areas.

The changes sweeping over the job-seeking public have prompted some economic commentators to cry out in alarm that China is losing its advantage in cheap labor. But some others have argued against such worries, saying that on the whole, the country’s labor supply still exceeds the demand.

Though they contradict each other, the two sides share a common concern: the impact of changing labor costs on China’s exports, which have been a major engine driving the nation’s economic growth.

In my opinion, we should be pleased rather than worried about the situation. Manual laborers can now expect better wages, which is good for both social justice and the wellbeing of the economy.

Most of the manual workers employed by manufacturers in coastal regions are migrants from the country’s impoverished rural provinces. In the past two decades or so, they have contributed greatly to our nation’s economic development by working diligently, for whatever their employers would like to pay.

Their pay has been capped at too low a level for too long a time. An investigation in 2004 found that the average monthly wage for migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta region had risen only 68 yuan in 12 years.

In the past few years, that level has risen at a comparatively faster rate. The national average monthly wage for rural migrant workers rose from the 539 yuan in 2004 to 946 yuan in 2006.

The rises in pay and laborers’ wage expectations can be attributed to a number of reasons. Two of them merit our notice. One is that rural residents’ incomes have increased significantly in the past few years thanks to the strong economic growth and favorable government policies (the annulment of the agricultural tax, for instance). A survey by the statistics authorities late last year indicated that rural residents’ per capita cash income had hit 3,321 yuan in the first three quarters of last year, up 14.8 percent year-on-year.

The low wages at manufacturing plants are no longer enough to attract rural migrant workers.

The second reason is that rural migrant workers themselves have changed. The new generation is more knowledgeable and modern-minded than their parents and less tolerant of harsh working conditions and low pay. They are more ready to change jobs. And their consumption habits inspire them to seek higher pay.

These changes are encouraging signs of the progress our society has made. Rising living standards benefit our economy because they will bolster the population’s buying power, which is the most essential contributor to the growth of the economy.

Encouragingly, consumption has shown signs of growing. China’s GDP grew a hefty 11.4 percent last year, with consumption contributing 4.4 percentage points, investment 4.3 percentage points and exports 2.7 percentage points. Consumption surpassed investment for the first time in several years.

In China, Your Dream Job Is Still Tied to Your Paycheck

When Wayne Ho was growing up in southern California, his father, a first-generation Chinese-American, wanted him to become one of the “usual three”– a doctor, lawyer or banker. In his sophomore year at the University of California, Berkeley, Mr. Ho decided to switch majors from pre-med to English and ethnic studies and to pursue his passion in public policy. His father wasn’t happy about it.

“He basically told me how can I get a job if I get these majors,” recalls Mr. Ho, who is now executive director of the coalition for Asian American Children and Families, a non-profit organization. Degrees in social science might not help him find a high-paying job, said his father, who passed away three months after their long conversation on his career choice.

Non-profit director Wayne Ho talks to WSJ’s Li Yuan about why he pursued a career that he loved over one that promised financial well-being, against his Chinese father’s will. (Feb. 26)
If the idea that a father needs to tell his son what to do with his life seems peculiar to some, it’s because career choice plays out differently in China than in the U.S.

At some point in their lives, many Americans ponder what to do with their lives. You can pursue your ideals or settle down in a more stable and financially rewarding job. You may consult with your parents, but ultimately it’s your decision. You don’t need to justify it to anybody but yourself.

In China, what you do with your life is a family affair. If you’re smart and hard-working, you will be expected to pursue a stable and high-paying job — whether you like it or not. The fear of poverty is so ingrained in society that the first order of family business is financial security. The pressure can be huge. Snobbish relatives may laugh at the parents for allowing a child to become a struggling artist. So, sacrificing your passion for arts and literature to take a “respectable” job is considered normal. Otherwise, we can be considered stupid, selfish and disrespectful of our parents.

That’s not to say Chinese people never follow their career dreams. But those who do, I’d argue, are exceptions to the rule. Their parents are either very open-minded – like mine, who let me have my head and become a journalist — or have deep faith in their children’s talents. There’s no shortage of stories about Chinese parents devoting their entire lives to their children’s musical career. Chasing your dreams, especially when they don’t lead to stable or lucrative jobs, remains more of a dream than reality for the average Chinese.

It’s not unusual for Chinese parents to decide what their children should study in college. For example, my older Chinese friends often ask me what their sons and daughters should major in at college. They never believed me when I said they should study whatever they feel passionate about. At 18, they argue, the children will forget about their hobbies and ideals in a few months anyway. And passion doesn’t put food on the table.

I’ve seen many high-school kids leave the choices of college and major to their “wiser” parents, jump for the highest-paying jobs they can find right after graduation, and then, as young professionals, torment themselves because they hate their high-paying jobs.

Sometimes even when the children know what they want to do with their lives, they won’t rebel against their parents.

During one of my recent Chinese New Year phone greetings, I asked a friend about her 29-year-old son. “He’s doing well, working at a large mutual fund in Beijing,” my friend said. “But what about his passion for drama?” I asked, remembering that he co-wrote and directed a play a few years ago.

“He knew that he had to make money, like everyone else,” my friend said. “He’s making between 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($28,000 to $42,000) a year (after tax). He’s happy about that.”

I’m not saying that most Americans would have made a different choice than my friend’s son. There are plenty of Americans who choose careers largely based on how much money they can make. But at least they made a choice and knew what deal they made with themselves.

I believe there are no right or wrong choices as long as you are honest with yourself. Some bankers and lawyers I know thrive at their challenging jobs, while others hate the long hours and can’t wait to quit as soon as they pay off student loans or save enough security money.

The idea that there’s a choice between life’s passion and financial rewards is also relatively new in China. My parents’ generation, and even my generation, were taught to serve as “a brick in the building of socialism,” wherever the party wanted us to go.

Then, about 10 years ago, college graduates were allowed to find jobs on their own. But quickly, everybody marched into the great competition of getting rich. Survival of the fittest became the game of the whole country. With a close-to-none social safety-net, even those who are making decent salaries by American standards feel they’re far from being financially secure. They have to save to pay for education, healthcare, retirement and unemployment. And not just for themselves, but also for their children, parents and in-laws.

Economic prosperity has often been followed by increased appreciation of arts and literature. Take Florence during the Renaissance, Elizabethan England and New York in early 20th century. I’m hoping the same is true for China. Perhaps one day not too far in the future the country’s burgeoning middle class will attach more value to career satisfaction that has nothing to do with how much you make.