Archives December 2008

Legal job market tightens in China 2009

The outlook provided by both employers and legal recruitment agencies is not so positive for legal job seekers in China. Unlike in the past few years, when employment opportunities for legal professionals was plentiful, 2009 will see a continuing reduction in legal recruiting opportunities as the global economy slows.

“Except for a few newcomers to the market from the US and the UK, existing foreign and even local law firms will continue cost-cutting measures to avoid redundancies and trim their teams in China to the right size,” said Xia, founder and managing director of DaCare Legal Career.

According to Xia, a wait-and-see mentality will characterise the job market, at least for the first quarter of 2009. Capital markets and real estate attorneys will either be let go or redeployed to working on M&A or even FDI deals. Attorneys in the M&A and private equity practice areas should not worry too much about losing jobs, although PricewaterhouseCoopers’ latest report has revealed that the number of M&A deals in the Mainland have almost halved compared to the same period in 2007. The safest practice areas are expected to include employment, litigation, distressed assets, restructuring and bankruptcy.

A managing partner of a well-established international firm in Beijing, who did not wish to be identified, confirmed Xia’s prediction. He noted that a number of international firms in China have laid off legal staff in the past few months and around 80% of the international law firms here are currently experiencing a relatively quite time.

One of the reasons for the rising number of job casualties was the aggressive expansion of some firms who hired a large number of lawyers from local law firms earlier this year. Many leading local firms told ALB that they would slow down on recruitment plans, but would not stop taking on good talent.

Nevertheless, there remains some good news for employers with a budget and partners who are looking to move.

“Some clients are taking advantage of this special market situation to upgrade their team so with the same budget they can now put a better team together,” said Xia. “Another interesting phenomenon is that partner search, contrary to common understanding, is thought to become more active, especially for those who carry a book of business.”

The in-house side will also see a similar pattern and outlook. The financial crisis will trickle along the ‘food chain’, slowing down many industries including auto, shipping and hi-tech. Some in-house openings will become available, especially for mid- to senior-level counsels with a high degree of independence. The market will further concentrate on hiring more local talent, partly as a cost reduction effort, partly for being more effective.

One uncertainty, though, is to what extent multinational companies will turn to the China market for a solution when their home markets are experiencing serious trouble. “It’s very likely that many MNCs will come to this market, as a better option. General counsel will need to be better prepared for more hands-on work when application for headcount in 2009 will be frustrating and excruciating,” said Xia.

In the light of salary trends in 2009, it will be unrealistic to expect any salary hike. Xia suggested that job candidates will set their eyes more on guaranteed payment, rather on ‘target bonus’ or long-term incentives where the company performance part of salaries is a big question mark.

“Candidates will be more cautious when switching jobs, though some will actively look for a change if they are in a precarious industry,” Xia said.

Deloitte To Hire 2,400 Staff for HK, China Next Year – Report

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)–Accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu plans to hire as many as 2,400 new staff for its mainland China and Hong Kong operations, the South China Morning Post reported Monday citing a senior executive.

The hiring campaign “reflected the firm’s belief that (China’s) economy would rebound to strong growth despite the recent poor market environment around the world,” Kester Yuen, regional managing partner for southern China at Deloitte, was cited as saying.

Around 400 of the jobs will be in Hong Kong, while the rest will be based in mainland China, the report said.

It said the new recruitment will represent an increase of 18% in the headcount of the Hong Kong division and a 25% increase in the mainland China division.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.scmp.com

Shell likely to keep hiring

By Yang Huiwen

WHILE retrenchments are occurring across many sectors, the lubricants business of oil major Shell is expected to keep hiring here as it continues to expand its regional operations.

No details were given on Monday on numbers but extra manpower is needed to expand its grease plant, where an upgrading is in process that will allow production capacity to be doubled. The work will be completed sometime next year.

The grease-making facility forms part of Shell’s larger lubricant oil blending plant at a 5.5 hectate site in Woodlands North. The plant employs 170 people.

It produces greases and lubricating oils for the local and export markets.

About 90 per cent of its products are sold in 52 markets worldwide, including Australia, Indonesia, China and Kuwait.

Lubricant oils, or lube oils, are high-value products used to improve the efficiency of machinery by reducing wear and tear.

The plant also manufactures marine lubricants, which are supplied to ships that stop in Singapore through bunker vessels.

‘Although not very big in land area, this plant has one of the highest production capacity in the Shell network globally, and is the primary source of Shell Lubricants’ supply network in Asia,’ said Shell Lubricants Asia-Pacific vice president Tim Ford.

‘The growth in our Shell Woodlands North operations in the current economic climate is a testament to our proven track record and leadership in fuels innovation.’

Shell’s regional expansion is driven by strong demand for lubricants in industrialising countries such as China.

Last year, Asia overtook North America as Shell’s largest lubricant consuming region in the world, accounting for 38 per cent of sales compared with a 28 per cent share in the US.

Demand for lubricants in the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at about 5.1 per cent a year until 2017, according to industry figures, while demand in the US and Europe is expected to decline.

Shell, the largest international lubricants supplier in Asia by sales volume, is also the leader in the lubricants business. It captured 13 per cent of the world market last year, two percentage points in front of Exxon Mobil, according to consultants Kline & Company.

Shell also has lubricant blending plants in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and China.

It is building its sixth blending plant in China – in Zhuhai in Guangdong Province. This will start operating next year.

Shell’s lubricants business employs about 10 per cent of the oil major’s total workforce worldwide.

E(ast)-Recruiting

Harvard focuses more heavily on China in an effort to increase the diversity of the student body

By BENJAMIN K. GLASER
Contributing Writer

It wasn’t her school, it wasn’t a Web site, and it certainly wasn’t a recruiter that got Yichen Chen ’11 to apply to Harvard in 2006. It was a little help from her friends.

Like many students from mainland China, Chen, a native of Beijing, had to navigate the application process largely on her own. A loose network of friends, including other applicants, served as guides—even encouraging her to apply in the first place.

RED TAPE

“In China…there’s no such thing as a [guidance] counselor,” Chen explains.

In an education system that requires only one entrance exam for enrollment in national universities, Chinese students are often ill-prepared to apply to schools abroad. SAT testing is restricted; Chen traveled to Hong Kong for both the SAT I and SAT II exams.

“You feel like you are just trying to travel in the dark,” says Chen of her application process. “Sometimes there are lights around that are trying to point you in the right direction, but you can’t really trust every one of them.”

But Harvard administrators, like Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 and President Drew Gilpin Faust, hope to increase Harvard’s presence in mainland China. Fitzsimmons and Faust’s recent high-profile trips to the People’s Republic of China are some of the current programs that have sought to promote connections and exchange between Harvard and mainland China.

“A leading university like Harvard has to be involved in areas where knowledge is being created and disseminated at really a revolutionary pace,” says Professor William C. Kirby, director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and chair of the Harvard China Fund.

HARVARD WANTS YOU

In the past few years, China’s higher education system has undergone an explosion in growth and development. According to Kirby, the university population has increased from five to 20 percent of the college-age population. Their aspiration, Kirby says, is to double that number. Currently, China has upwards of 26 million college and university students, in comparison to the U.S.’s fifteen million.

“If you look ahead 50 years from now,” Kirby says, “the only system of higher education that has the capacity to compete with, and perhaps exceed, America’s in many areas is China’s.”

Dean Fitzsimmons sees recruitment of the best and brightest Chinese students as an essential part of Harvard’s long-term vibrancy as an institution. In his view, an increased presence of Chinese students is necessary both to create a diverse student body and to maintain elite standards. “We are thinking generations ahead,” Fitzsimmons says. “We’re thinking much more competition.”

Kirby adds that some Chinese families are pleasantly surprised to hear that “you don’t need to be rich” to apply to Harvard. The University’s recruitment efforts are aimed at both clearing up current misconceptions and getting “people thinking about Harvard in very broad terms,” he says.

DIGGING TO CHINA

In October, preeminent Harvard mathematician Shing-Tung Yau organized the first annual Shing-Tung Yau High School Mathematics Award, a mathematical sciences competition held in Beijing. Fitzsimmons served as a judge.

While Yau established the program to “fulfill [his] dream to promote mathematics,” he acknowledges the benefits of interactions between Harvard representatives and Chinese students. “Harvard students and faculty should understand this country,” he writes in an e-mail message. “The participation of brilliant Chinese high school students [in future undergraduate life] will be very meaningful.”

While the Shing-Tung Yau High School Mathematics Award was not explicitly established to create stronger ties between Harvard and China, Harvard’s Shanghai Office does have such a mission in mind. Opened in the spring of 2008, the office seeks to promote and assist all sorts of University ventures in China. One of the office’s several goals is to facilitate Harvard admissions interviews, as well as providing “on-the-ground services” for students and faculty working and studying in the PRC, according to its Web site.

However, increased awareness has not yet translated into increased matriculation for mainland China’s students. The applicant pool from mainland China has more than dectupled in the last ten years—from 44 for the class of 2003 to 484 in the class of 2012. But the number of accepted students has remained amazingly consistent, around five each year. Fitzsimmons attributes the phenomenon to remaining obstacles, ranging from standardized tests to language skills. A lack of SAT scores and difficulties with English “will not be positive factors,” he says.

STUDENT MOVEMENT

Many student groups have taken matters into their own hands, often long before the University got in the game. Every summer since 2006, the Harvard College Summit for Young Leaders in China has brought Harvard undergrads to Shanghai to teach 300 Chinese high school students as part an intensive week of seminars, guest speakers and extracurricular activities.

“I really want a lot of Harvard students to step on the Chinese mainland,” says co-founder and Shanghai native Meijie “MJ” Tang ’09. She hopes that each trip will give Harvard students a better understanding of Chinese culture. As for the Chinese students, Tang hopes that they will find in HSYLC a love of the “true liberal arts education” and the “eagerness to learn” that she found at Harvard. Whatever HSYLC is doing, it must be working: 22 percent of their Chinese alumni are currently enrolled at prestigious universities abroad, including several at Harvard.

“There are so many programs I’ve heard about between Yale and China,” Chen says. “And Harvard should definitely be more awesome.”

—Lingbo Li contributed to the reporting of this story

China to be 2nd in Bosch´s headcount

BEIJING, Aug. 10 — The world’s leading auto parts maker Bosch said China would represent some 40 percent of its total workforce in the Asia-Pacific by the end of 2008, placing the region’s workforce second only to Germany in terms of numbers.

“China is a main contributor to the increase of the Bosch business in Asia. We attach a special importance to the recruiting, training and retaining of skilled associates,” said Uwe Raschke, who has just taken charge of Bosch’s Asia-Pacific business.

Raschke is the successor to Rudolf Colm, who has taken up a new role within the Bosch board of management, steering the worldwide activities in the consumer goods and building technology business sectors.

The Stuttgart-based company announced that it would invest 1.9 billion euros ($2.85 billion) in the Asia-Pacific region from 2008 to 2010.

By the end of 2007, Bosch had invested around 1 billion euros in China, and it will invest a further 850 million euros in the country between 2008 and 2010.

“We see great growth potential in Asia for all our business sectors especially as it relates to green technologies to conserve resources and protect the environment,” said Rudolf Colm.

He said Bosch drive systems for the car are geared to lower consumption and emissions, both in the diesel and the gasoline engines. The company continues to develop automotive technologies that are safe, clean and economical with a special focus on innovation and localized solutions for Asian manufacturers, including low price vehicle applications.

Chrysler keeps new Chinese partner “confidential”

Though it is troubled by the financial crisis, U.S. auto giant Chrysler LLC has not stopped looking for new partners in China since its dropped out of Daimler AG’s joint venture (BBDC) with Beijing Auto. However, Chrysler keeps its potential new Chinese partner(s) “highly confidential” for the moment, said sina.com today citing Chrylser’s China sales unit.

Chrysler has proceeded with production of the Chrysler 300C and Sebring in Beijing Auto, and Chrysler’s some Dodge-brand models will be made in Southeast Motor, a Chinese partner of Mitsubishi Motors. Chrysler’s Jeep-brand Compass, Grand Cherokee, and Commander have been sold in China as imported cars. Since it withdrew from BBDC a few months ago, Chrysler has talked with several Chinese automakers, including Chery Auto, for the partnership.

However, Chrysler LLC has not decided yet on which local automaker to team up with in China, the world’s second largest auto market. Recently the U.S. auto company announced that its deal with Chery Auto has been put on hold until the two sides sort out their individual financial futures. And Chery has said that its talks and discussions with Chrysler are still going according to plan.

Great Wall Motor is developing an A-class car along with Chrysler. In mid-August, Great Wall revealed that the company’s cooperation with Chrysler was making progress. Since then, Chrysler has sent dozens of technicians to assist Great Wall Motor in developing the new car model. The latter’s former designs have been given up or totally changed.

Sooner or later, Chrysler will form its joint venture in China for its expansion in this fast-growing market. The company has been recruiting auto professionals in the country for this purpose. Chrysler has planned an extensive product lineup for the Chinese buyers and more positive operation pattern for its recovery in the China market by 2010.

By George Gao

China Taps Wall Street’s Chinese Talent Pool

by CSC staff, Shanghai

Lin Kaiqing, a Ph.D. from the UCLA Department of Mathematics, was once a mathematical researcher working on such problems as Goldbach’s Conjecture. In 1997 he moved over to the financial industry and worked for Washington Mutual, JP Morgan Chase, and Credit Suisse before joining Duff & Phelps, an independent financial consulting and investment banking firm.

Born in Taiwan, Lin Kaiqing has always considered Mainland China his home. Now his biggest wish is to return to Shanghai and set up a team to operate the company’s Asian business.

The financial crisis has pushed the unemployment rate in the US to 6.7%. Wall Street may cut as many as 200,000 employees in the financial and related IT areas. Chen Xunyong, founder and chairman of Wall Street Ren, an organization of Chinese Wall Street professionals, says nearly 10% of Chinese working on Wall Street have lost their jobs.

“I have several friends that have been recently laid off. They can find a new job within months, but during this time they have begun to notice work opportunities in China that they didn’t pay much attention to in the past,” Chen said. “Our group began to pay attention to the Chinese market and job opportunities in China. I went to China last month during my vacation and met senior managers of many securities and fund companies.”

Seizing opportunities in China

Chen was surprised at Chinese investment companies’ overseas strategies and eagerness to invest overseas, and sees great opportunities in China

“Originally we founded this group to offer Chinese working on Wall Street a communication platform and to assist domestic governments and organizations recruiting in the US. But it’s the first time for us to go back to learn about China and form a dialogue mechanism.

After taking the first steps, Wall Street Ren began to contact Chinese organizations and recruiters more frequently and introduce China to its members. For many Wall Street professionals who having been working in the US for many years, going back to China would be a “great leap”.

“In the past, many Chinese went back home soon after finishing financial courses in the US and didn’t have rich working experience. Now it’s different. Those returning or who have already returned are often senior professionals above manager level.

Chinese companies, including the China Investment Company, have been issuing recruiting advertisements in overseas media such as The Wall Street Journal. Overseas Chinese professionals are beginning to realize Chinese financial firms’ determination to expand overseas business and recruit overseas talents.

Among talent going back, 50% choose to work in Hong Kong, and the rest come back to Mainland China. “According to our figures, of the senior positions in Wall Street financial institutions occupied by Chinese, 90% are by Mainlanders.

Worries still exist

“Of course we still have concerns. I never drink wine, and I’m afraid I can’t get used to the working environment in Mainland China,” Lin Kaiqing told China Business News, adding that some possible returnees worried if they’ll be able to accommodate themselves to the Chinese working environment, which requires high sociability.

Lin Kaiqing’s biggest concern is whether his 11-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter can accommodate themselves to a pure Chinese teaching environment.

Lin Kaiqing has always planned to return to China when his children are grown. “I first planned to go back to LA after retirement, but now, although I think LA is good, it’s not my home. I must go back to China, my real home.”

Some of Lin’s friends have already returned to China, and one of them is now working for Everbright Bank. They all say their life in China is very pleasant. Lin is considering a return to China after his company is licensed to establishment a Shanghai branch.

High salary

In December, recruiters from Shanghai, Beijing, and Nanjing will fly to New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston to recruit Wall Street talent. The Mayor of Nanjing even flew to New York himself. Positions open to Chinese Wall Street talent include international financial market investment, financial and economic research, asset management, risk control, financial derivatives development, industry risk analysis, and creative supervision.

Nanjing also wants to bring in expertise in electronic and biological technology from the San Francisco Bay Area. Recruiters from Shanghai include the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the government of Pudong District, Shenyin Wanguo Securities Company, Guotai Junan Securities Company, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and Citic Bank.

“Salaries will be lower back in China. In the US an annual salary for a senior manager in an investment firm can amount to millions of dollars, and domestic institutions can’t pay so much. But money is not the reason they go back,” said Chen Xunyong. “And of course the salary gap is narrowing some.”

Lin Kaiqing also said he was surprised when he heard domestic companies are willing to pay four or five million yuan per year to Wall Street talent. For him, this is really a big move, as big as the 4 trillion yuan economic relief package.

Chinese see opening to recruit western staff

Out-of-work finance professionals in the UK and US have a new reason for optimism about their employment prospects – especially if they speak Mandarin.

Chinese financial institutions are set to exploit the widespread job losses in western financial centres as a result of the credit crunch by next month embarking on a hunt for financial experts willing to relocate.

The Shanghai Financial Service Office has told state media the city is sending a delegation to New York, Chicago and London to recruit specialists in risk management, asset management, product research and development, macro-economics and policy analysis.

The head of human resources at the office said at least 27 financial institutions in Shanghai, China’s commercial and financial hub, had listed more than 170 vacancies specifically targeting foreigners.

The global financial turmoil has led to tens of thousands of job losses in financial services.

London and New York have been hit especially hard, while many of those still in employment fear for their future.

However, the salaries on offer in China are unlikely to meet international standards and a preference for those who understand and speak Mandarin Chinese will probably rule out many potential candidates.

In addition, China’s unique political environment, in which the Communist party exercises ultimate control over all aspects of the financial, legal and commercial systems, means foreign passport-holders are unlikely to be given senior positions in state-run institutions.

China Investment Corp, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, launched a global recruitment drive earlier this year but it was unable to match the salaries on offer in the City or on Wall Street.

Shanghai officials said organisations interested in recruiting in the UK and US included the nascent China Financial Futures Exchange, the Pudong financial district government, and state-run securities agencies, insurance companies and also banks.

The delegation will also try to recruit an assistant to the president of Shanghai Financial University, a chief economist for the SFU’s International Finance Research Institute and a dean for its International Finance and Insurance School.

Academic posts are more likely to be offered to

foreigners as such positions are considered less politically sensitive.

China’s state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has said it encourages the country’s largest state companies to recruit internationally, but the number of foreign employees at those companies is still negligible.

All senior managers above a certain level at state companies are appointed by the secretive Communist party personnel department, regardless of the wishes of board directors or share-holders.

Shanghai recruitment fairs hot on Wall Street

A number of Shanghai financial institutions hunting overseas to recruit high-end talent recently came back with their bags packed with resumes.

From Dec 5 to Dec 13, the Shanghai team held a series of recruitment fairs in the US and Britain, which lured thousands of local talents.

“The recruitment is quite hot. For a five minute interview, some applicants even take planes or drive more than 10 hours to attend the fairs,” said a manager with a Shanghai-based financial institution.

According to statistics, more than 1,000 people attended the recruitment fair in New York, 300 joined the fair in London, and 200 visited the fair held in Chicago. People who attend the fairs were laid-off workers, those who worried about losing their jobs and prepared in advance, and several graduates.

“Some applicants have been the senior managers of financial institutions with more than 10 years, even 20 years, of work experience. It’s a pity to see them standing in a queue to wait for a time-limited interview,” the manager said.

Shanghai overseas recruitment offers about 170 high-end posts related to banking, funds, insurance and securities investment, including chief economists for financial institutions, senior managers charging financial derivatives and senior managers responsible for market risks. The annual salaries range from 100,000 yuan ($14,600) to 1.5 million yuan.

Most jobs require applicants with more than five years of work experience in multinational financial institutions, and a master’s degree. Furthermore, some posts only recruit people with doctorate degrees and prefer to employ those with professional certificates, such as a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst), an ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), and a CFP (Certified Financial Planner).

For the posts related to risk management, the requirement is even higher. Applicants must have 5 years of work experience in financial institutions and 10 years in strategic research.

Public concern over jobs, pay gap

Rising unemployment and a widening income gap are the two issues of most concern to Chinese people, an annual report released on Monday by the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) said.

Graduates from the Shandong Institute of Light Industry learn flower arranging at a florist’s in Jinan, Shandong province on Monday. The bleak employment situation has forced many graduates to consider setting up their own businesses. [Xinhua]

The document, entitled The Analysis of and Forecasts for Social Development (or the Blue Book on Chinese Society), said 38.4 percent of the 7,000 families interviewed had been affected by the unstable employment situation.

The figure is 8.4 percentage points higher than in 2006.

In urban areas, the unemployment rate is now 9.4 percent, twice the registered rate of 4.5 percent released by the Human Resources and Society Security Ministry, the report said.

Central and western parts of the country, which have less-developed economies, are facing a more severe unemployment situation than wealthy coastal areas, while big cities have a higher unemployment rate than small towns, it said.

Natural disasters and rising operational costs due to the global economic slowdown have caused thousands of small and medium-sized labor-intensive firms to close down this year, leaving millions of migrant workers jobless, the report said.

“The global financial crisis has had a profound effect on the Chinese economy and society,” Li Peilin, director of the CASS Institute of Sociology, said at a ceremony to release the report.

“The effects may go beyond our expectations and we have no clear idea how they will change society,” he said.

The report also said that the number of people graduating from college rose to a new high of 5.6 million this year. But as of August, just 70 percent of them had found work, it said.

By the end of the year, more than 1.5 million fresh graduates will be without a job, while 6.1 million others will enter the jobs market next year, it said.

“The unemployment rate for new graduates is over 12 percent, three times the urban registered unemployment rate,” Chen Guangjin, a professor with the Institute of Sociology, said.

“We should pay more attention to the problem,” he said.

Sociologists have also warned that the widening income gap between rich and poor will restrict the consumption power of middle and low-income families, especially during the economic recession.

The average income of 20 percent of the richest families is 17 times higher than that of 20 percent of the poorest ones, the report said.

The rich also own far more durable home appliances, such as refrigerators, mobile phones and computers, it said.

Just 4 percent of poor families have a computer, compared with 66 of rich families, it said.

“It is very important to improve the income situation in China in order to boost domestic demand,” Li Wei, a CASS researcher and one of the writers of the report, said.