Archives 2008

Cost Analyst (fi197nj)

Job Title: COST ANALYST
Job Description:
Company introduction: The client is an Italy company, which has become the world leader in automotive and machine tool markets during past 50 years. There are three manufacturing bases in Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuxi. Now a professional team is providing technology support and customer services for their customers in China. They are looking for talents to join them.
Report To: Analysis Mgr.
Location: Nan Jing

Responsibilities:

1. ? Assist to prepare Cost Budget on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis
2. ? Assist in production cost estimation
3. ? Assist in inventory analysis and fixed asset tracking
4. ? Develop and maintain the cost models to project product costs
5. ? Responsible for maintaining and updating the cost database on a timely basis
6. ? Cooperate with senior cost analyst to carry out other tasks from Financial Manager and HQ Finance group as required

Qualifications:

1. Degree/ background – Bachelor Degree or above. Major in Accounting or Finance.
2. 3-5 years experience in Costing area, 2 years relevant working experience in WOFE company. Manufacturing company working experience;
3. Performs at an international skill level, have strong analytical and problem-solving skills
4. Strong interest in growing up with the company; Self-motivated and good personality;
5. Excellent communication, interpersonal as well as problem solving skills;
6. Good computer skills (especially with Excel, Word, PowerPoint);
7. Fluent in English, both in written and oral.
8. Willing to work independently and under pressure. Highly responsible and careful.
* Please send us your complete resume (in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_fi197nj@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject please include the position name and job #

Financial Manager (fi196nj)

Job Title: Financial Manager
Job Description:
Company introduction: The client is an Italy company, which has become the world leader in automotive and machine tool markets during past 50 years. There are three manufacturing bases in Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuxi. Now a professional team is providing technology support and customer services for their customers in China. They are looking for talents to join them.
Report To: FD
Location: Nan Jing

Responsibilities:

1. To manage Accounting Processes on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis;
2. To coordinate the strategic financial planning & analysis;
3. To be fully responsible for the maintenance of general ledger, major in taking charge of costing;
4. To ensure books of accounts accurately as required;
5. To set up Internal Control System;
6. To be responsible for PRC financial reports to local authorities;
7. To be responsible for inter-co management reports;
8. To lead the financial team members offer constant and valuable support to Director and Italy HQ.
9. To keep good communication and relations with Italy Financial Group and local authorities;

Qualifications:

1. Bachelor Graduated or above. Majored in Finance or Accounting.
2. 5-10 years experience in Finance/Accounting area, at lease 5 years at Senior/Manager level. Over 3 years WOFE Company working experience. Manufacturing company working experience
3. Strong interest in growing up with the company;
4. Ability to look/control the whole picture of Accounting;
5. Maturity, flexibility, creativity, attitude to work hard
6. Self-motivated and good personality;
7. Excellent communication, interpersonal as well as problem solving skills;
8. Good computer skills (especially with Excel, Word, PowerPoint);
9. Fluent in English, both in written and oral.
10. Able to always meet deadline of different tasks. Ability to carry out several tasks at the same time.
11. Highly responsible and careful, Good personality;
* Please send us your complete resume (in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_fi196nj@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject please include the position name and job #

Recruiting Strategies — Proximity Recruiting Using a Taco Truck

During tough economic times there is intense pressure on all functions within the business to re-think their current approach in an effort to become more competitive and aggressive all while containing cost.

Unfortunately, many recruiters and recruiting leaders choose an opposite path, becoming more conservative in their approach. When markets head south and fear about economic issues grip the populace, consider a counter-cyclical recruiting strategy that sends a clear message to everyone inside and outside your organization that talent truly means something to your organization.

One controversial yet extremely public, effective outside-the-box recruiting approach you might consider is “proximity recruiting.”

You Must Do Internet and Physical Recruiting
Even with the tremendous growth of Internet recruiting, not everyone is actively surfing the Internet looking for a job or combing through their email in anticipation of your generic form letter introduction.

Reaching a greater percentage of the population relevant to your job searches often requires using at least three channels to reach them, one of which should be physical. The underlying concept of physical recruiting is a simple one, just as robbers target banks because that’s where the money is! Recruiters need to target physical locations where a large number of potential hires can be found.

While nearly everyone in recruiting is familiar with the dreaded job fair, there are numerous other approaches to physical recruiting that are far more effective and fun. One such approach is “proximity” or event recruiting. Proximity recruiting at professional events (tradeshows and seminars) is clearly becoming more mainstream, but one location in particular really elevates the visibility of your efforts and qualifies as “outrageous.” The location? Across the street or in the parking lot of talent-competing firms in trouble.

Proximity Recruiting with a Taco Truck
If you have been paying attention to the business press lately, you are probably aware that Internet giant Yahoo! was planning to lay off approximately 1,000 employees worldwide, the greatest percentage of which would come from its Silicon Valley headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.

What you may not know is that despite a multi-year trend of notable voluntary exits by key employees, Yahoo! is still considered by many to employ some of the greatest engineering talent in the industry. This talent is extremely valuable to hundreds of upstarts working on next-generation technologies.

Yahoo!, like many organizations planning a reduction in force, kept its plans secret until the day when the axe actually swung. Because employees knew pink slips were coming, but no real guidance was offered as to who would be impacted, more people were concerned than would actually be cut.

Seizing on that fear and the actual swinging of the axe, Tokbox, an upstart enabling free voice and video calling over the Internet without any software download, engaged a proximity recruiting strategy that some may consider outrageous.

While pink slips were being handed out, Tokbox executives were setting up a taco truck across the street from Yahoo’s corporate campus, offering employees affected (and anyone else that wanted to chat) a hot lunch and information about employment opportunities.

Their approach was a simple one. They leased a taco truck and driver for the day, set up across the street in plain view, and offered a hot lunch to any Yahoo! employee who wanted to talk. Company executives were on hand and the atmosphere was light.

In order not to make anyone overly nervous, the conversations were kept short. While proximity recruiting has become more common in the Silicon Valley, Tokbox’s efforts still garnered a great deal of press both on the Internet and via the mainstream news media, earning them hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free PR and employment advertising.

Other Proximity or Event Recruiting Opportunities
If you are not ready to offer free food or display a banner, consider additional proximity recruiting approaches:

A van with a recruiting banner. If there was a most commonly used form of outrageous proximity recruiting, it would have to be the use of the recruiting van (usually with a large banner) that is parked within easy view of a large corporate site or a commuter site frequented by target talent. The “banner van” parked across the street approach has been used both in high-tech and healthcare to target firms that are currently going through acquisitions, union problems, and workforce reductions.
The “across the street” bar, restaurant, or gym. Almost any firm with a large number of employees has a bar or restaurant close by where a significant number of the site’s employees go for a drink or meal with a colleague. These locations are packed with employees wearing IDs, who incidentally, often have their guard down. Health clubs and gyms are also great spots to target.
Award events. You’re almost guaranteed to meet the best and brightest at events that offer awards or prizes for excellence and innovation. Not only should the recipients be targets but you should also look at award presenters as both potential targets and as referral sources.
College recruiting approaches. Because college students love to attend events, proximity recruiting should be a major part of your university recruiting effort. Place a “banner van” key across the street from college campuses. Consider recruiting at campus club meetings, at college sports events, at music concerts, on the beach during spring break, and even at both on- and off-campus college poker events.
Conventions. If you’re trying to hire a nurse, it only makes sense to recruit at a bar inside or outside a nursing-related convention, or where nursing continuing education is being offered. Here again you have the advantage of almost everyone having a name tag with their own and their company name on it.
Clubs and groups. If you are seeking individuals with certain skills or attributes, consider recruiting at clubs, societies, or organizations where individuals with these attributes are common. For example, if you’re looking for risk-takers, target rock-climbing clubs. If your search includes disciplined individuals, consider military groups, math societies, and music groups.
Hotels where company events are held. When you think about it, companies do send their very best people to meetings, seminars, and events. Occasionally, corporate events are announced on the hotels marquis for everyone to see, making it easy to schedule your next pub crawl. This time of year, immediately before a firm’s holiday party gets underway, is another time to begin building relationships with potential targets.
Corporate training centers. Many firms send their best employees to corporate training. Because a good deal of corporate training can be long and dull, there is a high likelihood that a large group will go out for cocktails in the host hotel or at a nearby bar. So, if you have large corporate training centers near you, consider them prime targets.
Shareholder meetings. The bar across the street from the location of the annual shareholders meeting will almost always include a number of company employees and leaders. Go before or after the event to make contacts and build relationships.
Miscellaneous. Firms have practiced “proximity recruiting” at other events and sites including wine festivals, home shows, in shopping malls, and at charity events.
Final Thoughts
If you are put off by the concept of boldly “raiding” other firms, you should realize that “stealing” another firm’s customers is already an accepted and common practice. Both sales and recruiting are competitive functions where the most desirable targets have already been captured by your competitors. As a recruiter, your job is to provide your coworkers with the best teammates that can be found anywhere, period.

No matter what you do, you can never successfully recruit a firm’s employees unless the firm that the employee currently works at has already failed to offer them opportunities that are superior to yours. If you are even slightly hesitant about raiding firms like GM, Ford, Chrysler, Citigroup etc. that have clearly failed their current employees, don’t be surprised when you are replaced by a recruiter who is more aggressive, bolder, and more willing to try something new.

Overseas Chinese return home to seek jobs

An increasing number of overseas-educated Chinese are returning home in search of jobs after graduation.

According to the Ministry of Education, more than 50,000 Chinese students will come back to the country this year, up from 25,000 in 2004.

The World Journal, a Chinese newspaper based in the United States, reported in late November, more overseas-educated Chinese were trying to find jobs back in China, as unemployment rates in other countries increased during the global financial crisis.

A senior state leader said Tuesday the Party and government will try its best to create a favorable working and living environment for them.

“When faced with the tough task of reform and development and fierce international competition in science and technology development, talent is the most important resource we must have,” said Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at the first meeting of a newly elected council of the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA) and Chinese Overseas-Educated Scholars Association.

In the past three decades since China’s economic reform and opening-up, an increasing number of Chinese, receiving higher educations abroad, have come back and contributed a lot to the country’s modernization, Jia said.

He said he expected them to also contribute to helping the nation survive international financial turmoil and to maintain moderate economic growth and social stability.

The WRSA, founded in 1913, has 13 branches across the world with more than 11,000 members.

It should play a better role as a bridge among overseas-educated scholars and the government, Jia said.

2009 China Holiday Schedule

Ok folks, it’s official! Now that the State Council has released its 2009 holiday schedule, we can start our planning and make full use of the precious vacation time for the coming year.

The intricacies of slapping on an extra day or two to really stretch out that 3-day weekend can sometimes be tricky. Stay local or jaunt to the near abroad? How does one overcome the teaming mass of humanity clustered at the airports and train stations? More importantly, How mad would your boss really be if you stuck ALL your vacation time right after that very meaty 8-day break in October? We’ll leave that to the tricky dicks out there.

It’s been rather common for office workers to start the work week on a Sunday after 3 continuous public holidays. Of course, not all companies abide by this schedule, and not everyone gets to take Saturdays or any time off at all.

New Year: January 1st (Thu) – 3rd (Sat). Back to work on January 4th (Sun.).

Lunar New Year: January 25th (Sun) – 31st (Sat). Back to work on February 1st (Sun).

Qing Ming Festival: April 4th (Sat) – 6th (Mon).

Labor Day: May 1st (Fri) – 3rd (Sun).

Dragon Boat Festival: May 28th (Thu) – 30th (Sat). Back to work on May 31st (Sun).

National Day and Mid-Autumn: October 1st (Tue) – 8th (Thu). Back to work on October 9th (Fri)

As you can see, there are no public holidays from June to September. This means if you have no planned vacation during this time, it will be a very long (and hot) summer.

Source: “Red Sea of Tourists” by stelzer

Labor arbitration cases soaring in Guangzhou

GUANGZHOU – High numbers of company closures and large-scale redundancies have led to a surge in labor arbitration cases in Guangzhou, a senior official said on Monday.

Xie Yingjian, director of the arbitration office of the Guangzhou labor and social security bureau, said that by the end of last month, more than 60,000 applications had been made for arbitration this year.

The figure is about the same as the combined total for the previous two years, he said.

“There has been a sharp increase in the number of cases since May,” he said.

“About 60 percent of them are claims for back pay, with most of the rest being appeals for compensation from people who have been made redundant.”

In the past few months, the number of applications has been at least double the total for the same period of last year, he said.

“The global economic crisis has led to the closure of many firms, especially labor-intensive ones, and pushed dozens of others to the brink of bankruptcy. Downsizing and lay offs were inevitable,” Xie said.

“Also, because arbitration services are now provided free of charge, more people are pursuing labor disputes.”

Labor arbitration became a free service across the country on May 1, with the implementation of the labor dispute intermediation law.

Because of the massive increase in demand for arbitration services, Guangzhou currently has a backlog of more than 9,600 cases, some of which might not be completely settled until next September, Xie said.

Peng Peng, a researcher with the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said it is no surprise to see labor authorities struggling to cope with the heavy workload.

“Guangdong handles about 25 percent of all labor disputes in China each year, yet the province is home to less than 7 percent of the country’s arbitrators,” he said.

“It’s hardly surprising that they have been struggling to cope since the service became free.”

Both trade unions and the government should play an active role in trying to prevent problems from escalating into full-scale labor disputes, Peng said.

“If arbitration is necessary, however, the process should be simplified,” he said.

“Under the current economic circumstances, the number of labor disputes is likely to keep rising next year, but people who have been made redundant can’t afford to wait around for arbitration,” he said.

Jobless rate should be kept below 5% for stability

Social stability could be threatened if the registered urban unemployment rate rises above 5 percent next year, a senior lawmaker warned on Tuesday.

Zheng Gongcheng, a member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, told China Daily the jobless rate could rise next year from the current 4 percent because of massive job cuts.

His remarks come as policymakers are holding a three-day Central Economic Work Conference to discuss measures to create new jobs and keep the present unemployment level in the face of the global financial crisis.

“If the government can keep the registered urban jobless rate around 4.5 percent, everything would be okay,” said Zheng, also a leading scholar in social security at Renmin University of China.

But if the rate – which excludes migrant workers – rises above 5 percent, “it will lead to a series of negative consequences”. The number of poor urban residents will increase and living conditions in cities will be compromised, he said.

In such a situation, local governments would be prompted to hire more urban residents instead of migrant workers to keep the jobless rate low. It would leave millions of migrant workers without jobs and force them to return to the countryside.

That is the “last thing we want to see”, he said, because a drastic increase in the number of jobless migrant workers could pose a threat to social stability.

The job market in the labor-intensive exports sector shrank in the third quarter of this year because falling overseas demand has forced the closure of many factories.

The job market will reach a two-year low in the first quarter of next year as the global financial crisis takes its toll, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Conducted by Manpower Inc, a leading global employment services provider, the survey shows the intention of employers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for new recruits is the weakest.

“The global economic downturn and decline in exports have made employers more cautious about hiring new staff,” said Lucille Wu, managing director of Manpower Greater China.

Late last month, Zhang Xiaojian, vice-minister of human resources and social security said the government would be able to keep the urban registered unemployment rate below 4.5 percent this year, but the figure could rise in 2009.

The ministry, which said 24 million people would be competing for 12 million jobs next year, has submitted a job stimulus package to the State Council, or the country’s Cabinet, for approval.

The highlight of the package is the introduction of a special nationwide vocational training program, especially for laid-off and migrant workers, to help ease the pressure on the job market.

Local governments will provide most of the finance for the package by making full use of special employment and unemployment insurance funds, sources said.

“The unemployment insurance fund has topped 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion), and it’s high time it is used,” Zheng said.

The country has more than 230 million migrant workers, with about half of them working away from their provinces. About 60 to 70 percent of them are below 28 and lack basic agricultural skills, Zheng said.

“The social trend shows more and more surplus laborers will migrate from rural areas to cities and become industrial workers. We should not drive them back to the countryside,” he said.

Growth for jobs high on agenda

Top policymarkers will convene today to discuss how to grapple with the challenge of ensuring at least 8 percent economic growth next year while at the same time pushing forward with the nation’s economic restructuring, economists have said.

The annual Central Economic Work Conference, to be held from today to Wednesday in Beijing, will set the tone for next year’s economic policy. The three-day event is expected to shed more light on how the government will use fiscal and monetary measures to bolster employment and domestic demand, while reducing excessive dependence on exports.

“The meeting will detail measures for achieving at least 8 percent growth in 2009, the minimum required to keep the unemployment situation under control,” said Song Hong, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Song was one of the two economists who attended a Nov 28 meeting with top Party officials to discuss economic priorities for 2009.

The nation’s economic growth dropped to 9 percent in the third quarter, compared with 11.4 percent for 2007. The global economic slowdown may even drag down China’s growth to 7.5 percent in 2009, the lowest in two decades, the World Bank forecast earlier.

Such growth, considered high for many economies, is however not deemed enough for a nation that needs to churn out 10 million jobs for fresh job seekers each year. Over the past months, a number of factories in the costal export bases have closed down, leading to the layoffs of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

The bleak situation has led the government to unveil a host of measures such as a $586-billion stimulus package and hefty cuts in interest rates to jack up domestic demand.

Analysts said the government may elaborate at the conference on how it plans to finance the massive stimulus package, which is critical to make up for declining foreign demand.

Zhang Ping, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said earlier that the package could bolster annual GDP growth by 1 percentage point by 2010. Previous statistics show 1 percentage point in GDP growth could create about 1 million jobs.

“Policymakers may put forward further fiscal and monetary stimulus measures,” Song said. “The $586 billion package may prove insufficient, given the worsening world economy.”

It was reported earlier that policymakers would also discuss raising the threshold of personal income tax from 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan a month. The move, combined with tax cuts already announced for local businesses, is expected to boost domestic consumption and corporate investment.

Some analysts also expect the yuan to start to depreciate after the conference, which could benefit the nation’s struggling exporters.

While most analysts are looking at the conference for more pro-growth measures, some say policymakers will also reiterate the message that they have no intention of delaying the transformation of the country’s development pattern.

“The current crisis could be an opportunity to reduce the economy’s excessive reliance on exports,” Zhao Tao, deputy secretary-general of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, wrote in commentary published on Saturday in Outlook Weekly, a publication of the Xinhua News Agency.

According to Zhao, the nation’s polices will be directed at boosting domestic demand, consumption in particular, rather than low-end manufacturing for exports.

And the nation will strive to reduce its dependence on foreign trade, as a share of GDP, from 60 percent last year to 40 percent by 2020 and eventually to less than 25 percent.

The government will also unveil more measures to encourage consumption, which should account for about 75-80 percent of the GDP by 2020, Zhang said.

Final consumption, which includes household and community spending, now makes up about a half of the nation’s economy, compared with an average of 70 percent in developing countries and 80 percent in developed economies. This forces China to rely heavily on foreign demand, which also makes it vulnerable to economic downturns abroad.

“Policymakers should make clear that growth should not come at the expense of a delay of the nation’s economic restructuring,” said Zhang Xiaojing, an economist with the CASS, the country’s top think tank. “Or we risk repeating today’s plight in a few years.”

Food firm hires top students

GUANGZHOU – Sun Xiaogang is more familiar with studying the works of famous Chinese writers such as Lu Xun, but now he is swotting up on how to make the best cuts of pork.

Chen Sheng, chairman of Guangdong Tiandi Food Group, gives postgraduates tips on how to sell pork on Thursday in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [China Daily]

Sun was one of 35 postgraduates hired by Guangdong Tiandi Food Group who worked in markets throughout the city.

The postgraduate student majoring in Chinese literature at Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University, will graduate from the school in the summer of next year.

“We do not have specific requirements regarding what they learn, but our one requirement is that all applicants are postgraduates,” a manager at the company surnamed Lin told China Daily.

To win the post, Sun sold pork in the market for three days.

The 35 successful applicants signed agreements with the company on Thursday, meaning that they can formally start working as soon as they complete their studies.

After they start work, they still need to sell pork in markets for at least two months, Lin said.

“This is training for all of our new employees,” she said.

After the two months, they will be appointed to managerial posts, earning between 80,000 yuan ($12,000) and 100,000 yuan a year, she said.

“The job market is very tough this year. Among all of the students of the Chinese literature postgraduate department at our school, I am the first one to get a job,” Sun said.

In contrast, most of last year’s batch of postgraduates had no problem finding jobs, he said.

Sun said he did not mind having to work in the market as a pork seller, given the current poor state of the job market. In addition, the firm has offered him a great opportunity, he said.

Li Xiaolu, director of Guangdong education department last month warned students who are going to graduate from college and graduate school next year that the job market they will face will be the toughest in three decades.

He encouraged students not to set their sights too high, adding that working in less-developed areas or setting up their own businesses were two options open to them.

Zhejiang on recruitment drive

While Shanghai tries to lure top overseas professionals, representatives of 247 companies in Zhejiang will be visiting the city to attract some its workers to the province.

Zhejiang is offering more than 5,000 jobs at a fair to be held in Shanghai on Saturday.

The province is seeking managers, administrative directors, executive vice-presidents and vice-presidents.

“There are 50 to 60 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Wenzhou participating at this job fair, with several hundred positions available,” Zhou Dewen, chairman of the Wenzhou SMEs development promotion federation, said yesterday.

“Wenzhou is keen on attracting professionals from Shanghai,” Zhou said.

He said it is part of an overall plan to attract 600,000 mid- to high-level professionals.

“Although many SMEs have been hit by a drop in overseas orders due to the current financial crisis, it is still of vital importance to recruit and retain good people,” Zhou said.

Zhejiang is offering a number of perks in its recruit drive – granting of residential status, subsidized education for children, and spouse employment. “We are offering a salary package 10 to 15 percent higher than anywhere else in China,” Zhou said.

The Shanghai University of Finance & Economics (SUFE) has urged its students to attend the job fair.

Ruan Shan, a second-year SUFE student majoring in tourism management, said that her schoolmates, mostly finance majors, are suffering greatly from the global financial crisis.

“Even those few corporations that are continuing to recruit, have drastically cut down on numbers,” she said.

Although there is still more than six months to go before graduation, Ruan and her classmates have attended many job interviews, but have received no offers.

Ruan said she will attend the job fair. “I have lowered my expectations. All I want is just a job here, so long as it pays about 3,000 yuan, ($440) after tax,” she said.