China:Foreign banks need to be ‘local’

RULES that require foreign banks to incorporate locally before they can offer bankcards and yuan-denominated deposit service will be implemented by December 11, an official of the banking regulator said.

Passing the rule should be no problem by that date, Xu Feng, director of the banking supervision department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, told a conference in Beijing yesterday.

The regulator has reached “more consensus” with foreign banks on the draft regulations, Xu said.

China is set to open its retail yuan business to overseas banks on December 11 under its World Trade Organization commitment.

The banking regulator has held two meetings in Shanghai and Beijing to get responses from overseas institutions about the draft.

Some of them have said it’s hard to meet the requirement of having a deposit-to-loan ratio of 75 percent.

The regulator is likely to grant overseas banks a transition period to allow them to take in deposits to meet the requirement, earlier media reports said.

Overseas banks that don’t incorporate locally will need three times more capital to offer yuan services to local individuals in the country, under draft rules given to Shanghai Daily in August.

Overseas banks which are not locally incorporated can only take fixed deposits of more than one million yuan (US$125,000), the draft noted.

China’s US$1.9 trillion household savings are like the icing on the cake that most overseas banks can’t easily overlook.

Overseas banks have 214 outlets nationwide now. The figure is the tip of the iceberg when compared with more than 70,000 run by their Chinese rivals.

Xiang Junbo, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said in September that international experience has shown that a “too fast” and “too much” opening up of the banking sector will do harm, rather than benefit, a country’s economy.

RMB becomes more powerful in regional finance system

Chinese central bank announced on Tuesday that the amount of swapped currency included in the bilateral currency swap agreement between China and Indonesia has increased to about 4 billion US dollars, doubling the previous figure. Analysts say this shows that China has played a more important role in maintaining the stability of the regional finance system. It is expected that Renminbi will become a more powerful currency in regional finance system in future.

In December 2003, China and Indonesia signed a bilateral currency swap arrangement, and the total amount of swapped currency included in that agreement was 1 billion US dollars. In October 2005, when the two countries re-signed the agreement, the amount of swapped currency had increased to 2 billion US dollars.

Economists have suggested that Asian countries should establish a regional financial cooperative scheme possibly in four ways: The first is to establish a regional currency fund system; the second is to set up an exchange rate administrative system in the Asian region; the third is to set up a regional trade settlement system. Some experts also suggest that a regional currency system should be set up that takes a specific currency as the core currency in the system. Under this system, most people think that Japanese yen and Chinese yuan are the two most probable currencies to take the role.

Previously, when talking about the basket of currencies to which Renminbi refers, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan encouraged businesspeople to use more local currencies, not US dollar, for bilateral trade settlement.

Pushed by the central banks of China and Russia, the two countries started to use local currencies for bilateral trade settlement since January 1, 2005. Previously, China and Russia had only accepted US dollar for their bilateral trade deals.

At present, Renminbi has already become the major currency for border trade deals in countries such as Mongolia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal, etc.

When Renminbi is greatly needed by neighboring countries, its influence in Asia is also greatly increased.

Staff hiring in China: Passion is key!

While the international hotel giants battle to expand their empires in China and mull over branding and marketing strategies, there is something critical they can never ignore – staff.

“Talents are given priority in Marriott, their potential, loyalty, interest and team spirit matters,” says J. Willard Marriott, the founder of US-based Marriott International. “Take good care of your associates and they will take good care of customers, who will then return.”

As one of the leading international hotel groups, Marriott began operations in China in 1989. Now, its local presence is represented by 26 hotels, and by 2008, the portfolio will grow to 35.

Marriott is not alone in its rapid growth. By 2008, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia-Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, will add 17 more to its local list which already numbers 19; UK-based InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), a worldwide hotel group, has a portfolio of 51 hotels, and plans to develop 74 more by 2008. Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, the world’s leading high-end hotel brand, plans to have nine projects by 2009.

The aggressive expansion can be attributed to the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics and the development of China’s economy.

“But how to attract and retain staff remains a pressing task,” says Michael Malik, general manager with Beijing Marriott Hotel West, considered one of the best hotels in the Marriott chain.

Generally, academic credentials, work experience and English skills are the basic requirements on hotel recruitment lists. However, for most hotels, there are two things even more important personality and potential.

“We hire people for their attitudes,” Malik says. “Passion is the key.”

The recruitment policy of Portman Ritz-Carlton Shanghai (PRC), which has been ranked as the best employer in Asia and China for three consecutive years by Hewitt Associates, is simple. “We only get highly-talented people,” says Ralph Grippo, vice-president area general manager.

The group has developed a quality selection process known across the world when recruiting staff, to test whether candidates fit its culture. “It really works and helps us find suitable staff,” says Grippo.

Usually, high-level management aside, most hotel employees are local. The sources are various, including graduates from hotel-related training schools, talents from other industries or hotels, and internal recommendation.

At PRC, people through recommendation from its own staff compose the major source, accounting for 50 per cent of its total workforce.

“It is an efficient way, as our staff know who would be the most appropriate for PRC, and we reward those who succeed in any matchmaking with 500 yuan (US$62),” says Grippo.

Germany-based Kempinski looks for graduates majoring in hotel management abroad, such as France and the UK. “They have better English skills and more knowledge about Western nations,” says Li Bo, deputy managing director with Kempinski Hotel Beijing.

However, some people’s wariness of working in the hospitality industry remains a stumbling block to recruitment.

“Some people don’t think highly of hospitality they believe they need to work longer and harder in hotels than in other jobs,” says Winnie N.G, director of human resources at IHG China.

As more hotel groups expand into China’s secondary cities, recruiting suitable employees in the smaller cities is not as easy as it is in Beijing and Shanghai, she adds.

Getting the right person is the first step, but it all proves futile in the end if hotels fail to treat them properly.

Employment turnover is a reflection of whether hotels have done a good job in retaining staff. In Beijing and Shanghai’s four and five-star hotels, the average turnover is above 30 per cent.

“PRC enjoys the lowest turnover of 17 per cent annually,” says Grippo.

Hotels use a number of methods to achieve a lower turnover.

For Malik, the main one is to engage with workers and seek their opinions.

Staff, except for those at management level, annually receive a questionnaire on how they feel about their benefits, managers and salary. A third party from the US then conducts all-round analysis and eventually presents a final report, indicating how employees rate the general managers and whether they are doing a good job.

“This is successful, and shows Marriott shares everything with associates and is proud to gain satisfaction from them,” says Malik.

Cheong Waimeng, director of human resources with Grand Hyatt Beijing, says: “We listen to workers’ opinions, making them feel they are part of the Hyatt family, instead of just being labour.”

For international hotel group giants, being a powerful brand helps a lot. “A brand is in itself advertising, and can attract people automatically,” says Malik.

“A strong employer brand encourages people to stay with us,” agrees Winnie N.G. IHG often conducts brand promotions in China’s major universities, gaining more access to potential candidates.

Training and appropriate rewards are also important tools to help people stay.

But training is not only time-consuming but also expensive. Grand Hyatt Beijing under Hyatt International Corporation annually invests 800,000-1 million yuan (US$97,561-121,951) in training. At Kempinski Beijing, training costs account for 2.5 per cent of revenue. PRC Shanghai puts 1 million yuan (US$121,951) into training every year. Staff at all levels in Marriott can get 40 hours of training.

Cross-department training is an especially powerful method for the international hotel groups. Thanks to their huge networks, staff can be transferred to different departments or hotels within the chain, which can help them to realize their full potential and creates opportunities for promotion.

At IHG, the Assessment Centre Programme aims to provide a talent pool of potential candidates for promotion. “This is a good way to retain,” says Winnie N.G.

As for rewards, different hotels have different ideas.

Those who get annual best-performance certificates at PRC can bring their families to have a free dinner in the hotel. Every three months, the best five staff over the period are also given cash bonuses.

At Kempinski, monthly and annually-rated best staff get the chance to study or travel abroad for free.

“To become the best hotel, we will stick to the principle of taking care of our associates, handed down by Marriot’s founder,” says Malik. “We know the hotel would be in great trouble if our associates such as chefs and cleaners cannot come to work.”

Sr. Software Engineer, WLS Web Services, R&D

Company Introduction:
XXX is a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, delivering powerful standards-based platforms for building enterprise applications and managing Service-Oriented Architectures even in heterogeneous IT environments.

Job responsibilities:
1.Be a major contributor to the Web Services core runtime;
2.Implement infrastructure that will support thousands of concurrent users and transactions;
3.Participate in Web Service standards and specifications;
4.Design and implement Web Service specifications;
5.Work closely with product management and QA to ensure that our customers are able to work with our platform and that their feedback is incorporated into the product.
6.Experience with J2EE technologies particularly EJBS, SERVLETS and JMS
7.Experience with Ant and JUNIT
8.Experience with Agile Software Development practices ex. XP
9.Understanding of SOAP
10.Experience with Web Services implementation or SOA Architecture

Applicant requirements:
1.5+ years overall development experience;
2.2+ years enterprise software experience in Java;
3.Strong systems level programming skills in Java;
4.Excellent Object Oriented Programming and Design (OOP/OOD) skills;
5.Proficient in XML parsing and processing;
6.Excellent communication skills.

Education:
1.B.S. in Computer Science or a related field
2.M.S. in Computer Science or a related field is strongly preferred

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_it078bj@dacare.com’

Software Engineer, Test Developer, WebLogic Server

Company Introduction:
XXX is a world leader in enterprise infrastructure software, delivering powerful standards-based platforms for building enterprise applications and managing Service-Oriented Architectures even in heterogeneous IT environments.

Job responsibilities:
1.Strong technical skills and experience in system testing and quality assurance;
2.Solid experience with Java in the industry with the ability to write elegant and clean code. 2 – 4 years of product and/or QA development in JAVA/J2EE/EJB/JDBC/JMS technologies;
3.Extensive working knowledge in J2EE SERVLETS/EJB specs;
4.2-4 years of working knowledge of XML technologies including SAX and DOM parsers;
5.Deep understanding of Web services technologies including SOAP, WSDL and UDDI;
6.Strong shell script programming skills, familiar with Apache Ant and JUNIT;
7.Skills of UNIX and/or Windows development and debugging;
8.Some system testing background with knowledge of basic testing techniques. Extensive testing of project features and development of automated testing environments for future regression testing;
9.Experience with troubleshooting product problems;
10.Must have excellent communication and writing skills in English.

Applicant requirements:
1.Strong desire to innovate, strong sense of software quality assurance;
2.Experience with network and multi-threaded programming;
3.Familiar with HTML, HTTP, HTTPS, JSP and Java Security;
4.Experience with development of automated test tools;
5.Knows Perl programming;
6.Has used Http Unit, Apache Jakarta Commons library, especially for its sub-components Http Client and Net;
7.Strong Object Oriented product design and development concepts;
8.Experience of WebLogic Server or web server such as Apache, Microsoft IIS, Netscape Server.

Education: BS or MS in Computer Science or related field of education

* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_it077bj@dacare.com’

China encourages hiring top-notch foreign scientists

At the 2006 Biological Economy Summit held in Beijing last Saturday, Wu Zhongze, a senior official from the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that in order to build China into a nation with advanced biological technologies and a large biological industry, China encourages companies and research institutes to directly hire top-notch scientists and engineers from overseas. In this way, China can gradually build up a world first-class research team and upgrade researchers¡¯ general strength in biotechnological field.

He said that to this end China needs to take a series of important measures. Among them, personnel strategy would stand out as the most important one. This strategy covers three aspects: first, to directly hire high-grade scientific researchers from overseas and attract senior Chinese scientific personnel to come back to make their contributions; second, to apply an open recruiting system to some key work posts, such as laboratory directors, heads of key research institutes, and other senior posts in scientific field; third, through the national 863 program (the National High Technology Research and Development Program), and the national 973 program (the Major State Basic Research Development Program), to train some excellent scientific personnel and some internationally recognized team researchers.

China¡¯s general biological strength is at the forefront among developing countries. China now has over 200 biotechnological research institutes and over 30,000 researchers working in biological field. In recent years, while traditional biological industry is still in the leading position, modern biological industry is emerging rapidly and new biological technologies are mushrooming. According to a rough calculation, China has over 7,300 companies working in biotechnological field. Among them, 3,000 have grown to become the key companies in modern biological field, generating 60 billion yuan worth of output every year.

How to Create a Resume For Foreign Markets

By Myriam-Rose Kohn

If you’re applying for an overseas job with an international company, you might consider translating your resume as a courtesy to hiring managers. But unless you’re fluent in the company’s primary language, translating education, work experience and other details of your life can be tricky.

The streamlined resume format that’s popular in the U.S. these days may not work abroad. For instance, recruiters in Europe, Asia and the Middle East typically look for requirements you wouldn’t normally include on a concise American resume, such as citizenship and passport data, your date and place of birth and your marital status.

Curricula Vitae (what resumes are called in most countries) that are created for a foreign market should be understated to the point of being self-effacing, and should contain substantive rather than active verbs. Using the same word more than once on a page is considered poor form, since repeating a word is a sign that you don’t know the language well. Good language skills are weighed heavily by hiring managers and are a prerequisite for just about any managerial job overseas.

Another difference between resumes created for the U.S. and foreign markets is that your experience should be listed chronologically, starting with your first job and ending with your most recent position. This is exactly the opposite approach used by most U.S. candidates.

European employers often request that your resume be written in your own handwriting. This allows them to judge you for neatness and proper use of language (assuming that you wrote it yourself). The letter also can be submitted for handwriting analysis, which supposedly would reveal the type of person you are, thus eliminating the need for you to send a profile of your personal attributes.

Candidates sending their credentials to staffing agencies via e-mail are urged to keep their documents as short as possible: Include only where you’ve worked, for how long and just a few lines describing what you did. Personal information is still required.

Higher-level candidates should adhere to the traditional format described above. Executive recruiters still want to see as much information as possible.

Educational Achievements

In Asia, the schools you’ve attended are critically important, so if you’re applying for a job there, list your alma maters under the “education” heading, starting with kindergarten and elementary school. The thinking is that if you’re fortunate enough to have been born into a wealthy family, you would have attended more prestigious schools than those with lesser means. This attitude perpetuates the region’s caste system. Competition is so fierce that children often are enrolled prior to their birth to ensure a place on the roster of a “prestigious” nursery school and kindergarten.

Schools typically provide letters of reference, as do former employers, and you should include those that you feel would be most relevant with your curriculum vitae.

Translation Help

If you decide to seek help translating your resume, be sure the work is handled by an accredited translator. Remember, a simple word such as president can be translated as president (French) or presidente (Spanish) to indicate the president of a country, but in a European company, that title indicates an executive two ranks lower on the corporate ladder than the U.S. equivalent.

Since you’re providing a translation to be courteous and create goodwill, image is everything, and a reputable translation agency can become a powerful ally. Make sure your translator uses a three-check system — a translator, editor and proofreader — and employs accredited translators. This approach assures quality control, since a translated text could have variations. If the translator and editor don’t agree on your intent, then the meaning of your text isn’t clear and could be misinterpreted. Once your resume is completed, the proofreader will verify proper spelling, grammar and punctuation, which eliminates misunderstandings and minimizes errors.

Translators are accredited only after passing a rigorous three-hour exam administered by the American Translators Association in Alexandria, Va. (703-683-6100). The test is so exacting that only 20% to 30% of all candidates have passed in the last five years, ATA reports.

Equally important is that your work be translated by someone who works in the same discipline or industry as you, especially if you’re in a scientific field. To stay current, most translators have a niche in which they become expert. Thus, an excellent legal translator will know the laws of the country your resume is going to and from.

If you would like to work overseas, the same rules apply as for a foreigner wishing to work in the U.S. First you must find an employer willing to sponsor you. The U.S. demands just as much appropriate documentation as Europe does. Workers and employees can move around freely from one European nation country to another and obtain employment, but someone from the U.S. would have to find an employer who would be willing to fill out all the required paperwork prior to the employee or executive arriving over there. Once all documents are completed, the recruited person must first of all check in with the municipality where he or she will be settling in before actual employment can begin.

Get It Right

You should determine exactly where your resume will be sent before enlisting a translator’s help. If you request a Spanish translation, do you want Castilian Spanish or another variation? Your answer depends on whether you’re mailing your resume to Spain, Mexico, El Salvador or Argentina, to name a few countries where Spanish vocabularies differ.

The same applies to French: Canadian and Guyanese French differ in many ways from standard French. Good translators don’t translate just words, but their meaning and intent, so they must know the cultural (and sometimes even historical) context of the area where your translated resume will be sent.

An illustration of this point can be found in “A Consumer’s Guide to Good Translation” published by the ATA: “L’ingresso e vietato ai non addetti ai lavori.” If you focus on the words in this Italian sentence, you might produce this baffling translation: “The entry is forbidden to those not associated with the works.” An experienced translator understands that the task isn’t to change words, but to offer the right meaning. How would this sentence be expressed best in an American context? “Unauthorized entry prohibited.”

Now visualize this process in reverse and you’ll have an idea of what’s involved when trying to create a resume that makes sense and sells your skills effectively in another language. Three years of foreign-language instruction in high school might help you order in a foreign restaurant, but it probably isn’t enough background for you to translate your resume successfully.

A Good Career Move Means a Job in Asia

By Erin White

From The Wall Street Journal Online

During the dot-com boom, ambitious U.S. business-school students looked West to Silicon Valley for opportunities. Now some are looking East to Asia for full-time jobs as well as summer internships.

China, where there has been rapid economic growth in the past few years, has the most allure. But other markets, including India and Singapore, also are drawing M.B.A. job candidates.

They’re attracted by the adventure of working in Asia as well as the chance to gain experience in a region that is increasingly important to U.S. companies. Knowledge of Asia, especially China, could help propel their careers, they believe. Another draw, especially for entrepreneurial types, is the chance to get in on the ground floor of new businesses and potentially earn big sums or quickly move up the ranks.

A February career fair for international jobs held by seven top U.S. business schools attracted 337 applications for 48 jobs in Asia, says Bilal Ojjeh, chief executive of MBA-Exchange.com, the service that helped organize the fair, which included Harvard, Stanford and Columbia universities, the University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Last year, a similar career fair had 26 Asian job postings, and drew only 212 applications.

“There’s just this tremendous interest,” says Joseph Kauffman, a 27-year-old first year student at Harvard Business School who is co-president of its Asia Business Club. With 160 members, it’s one of the biggest clubs there. Mr. Kauffman figures he’s gotten about 20 emails from classmates he doesn’t know who want to talk with him about working in Asia. Mr. Kauffman himself is headed to Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong this summer.

Risha Bond, a 26-year-old first-year student at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, has her sights on India. A native Midwesterner, she isn’t ethnically Indian, is fluent only in English and has never even visited India. But this summer, she wants to land an internship doing biotech work at a big energy company there.

She could find similar work in the U.S., but she’s more excited by India. “The growth in India is so hot,” she says. She likes the business challenges, and thinks that ultimately, it could pay off financially. “It could be a very lucrative play,” she says. “You establish yourself early and in a young industry…that’s potentially big business.”

The companies that are hiring U.S.-educated M.B.A.s for posts in Asia are often the same ones recruiting lots of M.B.A.s for American jobs: investment banks, consulting firms, and big multinational corporations in areas such as consumer products, technology and health care. But although many of these companies are expanding their Asian operations, these jobs aren’t always easy for Americans to get.

For many Asian posts, language skills are a must, which knocks most Americans out of the running. What’s more, American M.B.A.s face growing competition from Asian M.B.A.s, either ones who are educated at Asian business schools, or U.S.-educated Asians returning home. Since Sept. 11, 2001, it’s gotten harder for these international students to find jobs in the U.S., so even though many would prefer to land jobs here, they often return home, says Phil Han, a career counselor at the University of California at Los Angeles’s Anderson School of Management. Harvard’s Mr. Kauffman encountered tough competition for his Hong Kong summer internship, despite impressive credentials. He grew up in rural Pennsylvania, but is a fluent Mandarin speaker after studying it in college and working at Coca-Cola Co. in China for four and a half years after graduation.

Many of his English-only classmates wouldn’t have passed an early-round interview: a half-hour phone conversation conducted entirely in Mandarin with two employees in Hong Kong. In further interviews, he had to push hard to demonstrate his serious interest in Asia. “Competition was extremely stiff,” he says.

Lower salaries deter some American students. It’s not a big issue with investment banks and top consulting firms, which generally pay M.B.A.s comparable or just somewhat lower salaries for Asian posts. “There is a differential but it’s not a show-stopper,” says Christopher Morris, director of M.B.A. career management at Wharton.

But for other jobs, the pay difference can be significant. A consumer-products or pharmaceutical company, for instance, might pay roughly half the U.S. salary of $85,000 to $95,000 to a “local hire,” says Mr. Morris. Students can negotiate to get closer to the U.S. salary, but their pre-M.B.A. experience makes a big difference. That’s why many M.B.A.s hope to work in the U.S. for a few years, pay off their loans, and get some experience in Asia later on in a cushier expat assignment.

Still, despite the hurdles, the numbers of Asia-bound students are growing at some campuses. At Wharton, Mr. Morris estimates that at least 7.5% of second-year students will take jobs in Asia on graduation, up from 6.3% last year. At Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, it looks like at least 20 first-year students will take internships in Asia, about double the number from last year, estimates Richard McNulty, director of the career development office at Tuck.

Kevin Widlansky, a 30-year-old Detroit native, took a job with McKinsey & Co. in Singapore after graduating from Wharton in December. He found salaries in the region to be somewhat less than similar jobs in the U.S. But with the lower cost of living and lower taxes, “I would say we’re at least even,” if not saving more in Singapore, he says. Plus, he loves the challenge of working in such a dynamic place. He already speaks fluent Mandarin and has started studying Burmese. “Excellent teak,” he says of the wood the country is known for. And who knows, he jokes: In 10 to 15 years, Myanmar could be the next big thing.

Shanghai Top Marques earn 500 million yuan

Chinanews, Shanghai, Oct. 19 ¨C The four-day Shanghai Top Marques 2006 was closed yesterday, earning 500 million yuan (US$63 million). Currently luxuries are easily found in Chinese mainland. Extravagant merchandises popular in the Western world have also become fashionable in China.

Yang Qingshan, General Secretary of China Brand Strategy Research Association, reveals that 13% of total population in Chinese mainland can afford to buy luxuries. But numbers of rich people in China are actually increasing slowly compared with the West. However, many investors earn regard China as the most important luxury market in the world.

Luxuries such as 50-million-yuan painting, 20-million-yuan jade, 10-million-yuan racing car and 5-million-yuan article of furniture will never be considered as astonishing gadgets.

But who bought these luxuries at the Top Marques? According to its organizers, buyers are those billionaires listed in Forbes, people who never show off their real wealth, and managers from Chinese private or foreign owned enterprises.

Billionaires from cities like Yiwu, Wenzhou, and Ningbo, in Zhejiang Province enjoy collecting expensive limousines. They are not social celebrities, but they can allocate large sum of money. Some 80% of trade volume of the Top Marques last year were contributed by these people. A staff assistant from the exhibition says these billionaires are frequenters of the Top Marques.

How to get to grips with the dragon

China’s ultimate evolution as a fully-formed commercial market has been fuelling many pound and dollar-filled fantasies ever since the country opened its doors to foreign investment.

But while numerous Western companies have already set up shop in the world’s most populous country, employment issues continue to puzzle and confound many a corporate transplant, and none more so than than the issue of recruitment.

Recruiters who expect to do business in China will need to adopt a new mindset about pay and benefits packages, social concerns, status issues and even old national rivalries as local values colour candidates’ perspectives about job opportunities.

Students are sought after

The UK provides fertile ground for recruiting educated Chinese who plan to return to their homeland, says Ting Zhang, chief executive of Cambridge-based China Business Solutions (CBS). As many as 50,000 students from China are currently studying in the UK. Recruiting a UK-educated Chinese person for a job with a UK company operating in China will generally mean getting a person who speaks good English and is familiar with British culture.

Employment costs are typically 30-50% higher in China’s coastal area, where many of the major cities are located, than in its inland regions. But with mid-level engineers only earning an estimated £400 per month in coastal regions, pay levels are generally lower in China than in the UK. However, companies should expect to pay 13-month salaries, annual increases of 8-10%, and up to 50% of a person’s salary in benefits, says Ling Ling Bravo-Escos, also of CBS.

Since the 1990s, social insurance benefits will include money for housing (to buy, renovate or build a house), pension, medical and heating, among others.

The ‘one child per household’ rule in mainland China also means a special consideration for women employees where time off is concerned. As well as maternity leave, women also must be given time off to end pregnancies, Bravo-Escos says.

To recruit top candidates, the points having most impact, according to CBS, are a company’s brand and local awareness of that brand, the job description, job title, a pleasant working environment, a competitive salary and benefits. High emphasis is also placed on long-term career opportunities.

That emphasis on the long-term means that permanent work is still the favoured form of employment in China. Contracting as an employment choice has yet to catch on, says Patricia Leech, sales director for SAP recruitment specialist Portland Resourcing, London.

Foreign contractors

Leech says that most of the contractors her company recruits to work on multinational projects in China come from Malaysia and Australia. So far, the company has recruited but one local hire, for the position of functional team lead consultant.

One unique aspect Leech has discovered to recruiting in the Chinese marketplace is the strength of consultant networks. “Consultants’ networks are very strong,” she says. “What you tend to find is that they’re all asking each other if they know someone for a particular job.”

Lacking in market awareness

She has also found a certain naivete among local candidates as to their market worth. “People within China aren’t aware of what they could be getting. They aren’t very savvy to the market,” she says.

The world of online recruitment in China is growing steadily but online analysts believe the market is still years off achieving its full potential. US job board operator CareerBuilder.com last month signed an exclusive agreement with Chinese job board www.51job.com that will give the US operator access to the Chinese online recruitment market.

The American giant has begun to expand its global reach with its own country-specific job boards, but company leaders felt that the Chinese market has not yet evolved sufficiently to install its own branded site. CareerBuilder wanted entry to China, nevertheless.

“We spent the last year looking at the Chinese marketplace,” says Farhan Yasin, president of CareerBuilder’s international group. “Our estimate is that online recruitment there is worth $150m, and it’s growing at 43-48% a year.”

The greatest hurdle in China, Yasin told Recruiter, is “first and foremost, the country’s infrastructure”. While major cities have embraced the internet, most Chinese live in rural areas where internet access may be limited.

It’s a cliche that China’s economic potential is as vast as its landscape. But equally as vast as the landscape is the labyrinth of cultural idiosyncrasies, regulation and growth challenges that will require years of manoeuvring and optimising before China’s economic potential can be realised.