Archives 2008

Global crisis eating up jobs at home

Yang Xiaxi seldom paid attention to the happenings in the US because he thought they had nothing to do with him.

Laid-off workers of bankrupt toy-maker, Smart Union, board a bus on Friday to downtown Dongguan to find a job. [China Daily]

But now he realizes he was wrong because in a globalized world, a financial crisis on the other side of the globe can cause a person his job even in Dongguan, Guangdong province.

Though he describes himself as an experienced and professional art designer, he has been out of a job since his former employer, Smart Union, folded up 10 days ago. The Hong Kong-listed toy-maker cited weakening US orders and rising costs, to file for bankruptcy on Oct 17.

“It’s a cutthroat job market,” he said yesterday. “Some firms are offering a salary just equal to the province’s minimum monthly salary (about 800 yuan, or $120), which I cannot accept, while others have closed their doors to job applicants even if they are not downsizing their existing staff.”

Manufacturers in the Pearl River Delta region, China’s economic engine, are now struggling to keep afloat after the worst Wall Street meltdown since the 1930s has shrunk the demand for Chinese goods.

Universities in Guangdong have seen fewer firms going for campus recruitments.

Huang Yongping, a teacher in the employment guide center of Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University, said several big firms have cited the global financial crisis as a reason for doing away with or deferring their campus recruitment plans. “And fewer small- and medium-sized firms have approached us this year.”

University students are finding it difficult to get a job in the Yangtze River Delta region, China’s other economic powerhouse, too.

Jobs offered to Zhejiang University students have fallen by about 30 percent compared with last year, said Zhou Min, an international commerce major of the university.

Competition for jobs also looks exceptionally fierce in Shanghai, which houses many financial institutions that have been hit hard by the financial crisis.

Xu Wei, 22, has a prestigious university degree, internship with several multinational companies and is fluent in oral and written English. But the English major of Shanghai International Studies University still cannot get an interview call for a job.

“I have applied online for more than 30 jobs and visited various job fairs but have got no reply,” Xu said.

Tang Xiaolin, director of Fudan University’s career development center, said: “There is no doubt the global financial crisis has hurt job growth in China.”

Worsening the situation will be the entry of 6 million fresh graduates into the job market next year – 7 percent more than this year, according to official figures.

Equal job opportunities called for rural and urban residents

Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said on Saturday farmers should share equal job opportunities with urban residents, which was key to realize the government goal of doubling farmer’s income by 2020.

Farmers were encouraged to start their own business and local government should work out more favourable policies including preferential taxation and easier market access to help farmers find jobs and business opportunities, Hui said at a prize award ceremony of the elite rural entrepreneurs.

The reform and innovation of the rural banking system should be pushed forward so as to resolve the rural residents’ problem of cash shortage in starting their own business, Hui said.

China vowed to double rural residents’ income from the current level by the end of 2012 as a part of the plan aimed to revitalize the country’s rural area and agriculture, which was proved on the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Hui said vocational training for rural people should be enhanced to allow more migrant workers to go back to their hometown to run business.

Proposal Engineer (eng085sh)

Job Title: Proposal Engineer
Report To: Proposal Manager
Location: Shanghai & Nan Jing
Company introduction:
The client is an Italy company, which has become the world leader in automotive and machine tool markets during past 50 years, by offering its customers a combination of advanced products, market knowledge, and commitment to long term global partnerships. Building on these foundations, it has created an international organization able to deliver application, design, and service support virtually anywhere in the world. Its growth has been characterized by a strong commitment to research and development and close cooperation with customers in the automotive, machine tool, appliance, compressor, bearing, electric motors, aerospace, computer, and other industries. For the quick development in China, they are now looking for the talents to join them.
Job Description:

Responsibilities:
1. Define the design, list of equipment, services and limit of scope for the proposal according to the Tender Document / Requirements from the Client;
2. Scrutinize the vendors and supervise the enquiries; Estimates the cost price of equipment and services related to the proposal; Prepare and supervise the proposal documents on time;
3. Propose the solution and corresponding price to the customers;
4. Support sales department to making proposal;
5. Connect strongly with the design/production/testing/quality department to finalize the project and follow up the order proceedings to guarantee the customer request has been fulfilled;
6. Work in liaison with Order Administrators to assure clean execution of orders;
7. Maintain the good relationship with customers and perform a “customer satisfaction”;
8. Based on the target of the company, work out the plan for some project;

Qualifications:

1. Degree/background?University degree of Mechanical Engineering or relevant;
2. Experience?
At least 5 years’ experience in Machine tool, automotive or compressor industrial as gauge management or quality control;
3 years experiences of making quotation and proposal;
Working experience at the engineer factory;
Familiar with production working process and heat treatment;
3. Language?Good English in reading, writing and speaking
4. Other requirements?Good skill on Word, Excel, PPT and others office software?
5. Excellent communication and coordination skills; Flexibility, creativity, aggressive attitude to work in team;
6. Responsible, open-mind and willing to learn; Ability to carry out several tasks at the same time;
7. Flexible, Excellent Team-working.
* Please send us your complete resume (both in Chinese and in English to: ‘topjob_eng085sh@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject MUST you plus the position name ?in either En or Ch ?

Recruiting the Best People You Already Have

Everywhere you look today, you see the elements of another “perfect storm” for recruiters. The economy is in a free fall. Companies are looking at ways to reduce headcount. Recruiting budgets are frozen. Those sought-after “passive candidates” are hunkering down to try to weather the storm, so they’re not taking your calls, if you’re even making them.

What’s a recruiter to do?

Focus on retention. It’s at times like these that organizations earn their employees’ loyalty. As the saying goes, this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve seen the market soar and tank. The way companies treat their employees in stressful and frightening economic times goes a long way in determining who comes out of these difficult times better positioned to re-take greater market share.

Kevin Wheeler had a great piece earlier this month about framing the future you want and identifying four things you can do now to make that future more likely. But there’s more that we can do internally. I agree with Kevin that keeping in touch with our best candidates and keeping our pipeline active is critical. The importance of using this time to plan and educate ourselves for our own future success cannot be overstated. But one of the first things I learned as a recruiter is “If you’re not recruiting your best people, someone else is.”

Now is the time to make sure that you are reaching out to your own best people and involving them in conversation. You’ve seen economic downturns before and so have they. We know that we’ll come out of these things, and when we do, the phones will start ringing.

Think about it. When the market starts going up again and senior management is confident that the upswing is for real, you’re going to be asked to go out and get the people you need to sustain your company’s participation in the improving marketplace. But so is your competition — and don’t think they don’t know who the best people in your organization are. They’ve got a list of people in the industry that they covet. They may even have had conversations with your people at conferences or on their own.

You need to be reaching out to your best people now. Not necessarily to reassure them, because you can’t promise anyone anything, but to keep the internal lines of communication open. This is no time for HR to take on a bunker mentality behind closed doors. Hiding in your office is never a good idea. You don’t want to start rumors that could actually stoke people’s fears.

Jim: Where are all the HR people?
Joe: They’re in their offices with the doors closed.
Jim: The economy is real bad. They must be planning a downsizing.
Joe: Uh-oh, you’re right. I’ve heard that a lot of companies in this area are cutting jobs. As soon as things pick up I’m going start looking. Better to do it to them before they do it to me!
Jim: You got that right. Hey Bill, did you hear that there’s going to be a RIF soon?

And that’s how it starts. You don’t want to do is give people one more reason to listen to calls from your competition. The other question that comes to mind goes a little differently, but it’s another reason to be focusing on the positive things you can do when things look bad.

Joe: We’re really taking a hit from this economy. I hear a lot of companies are considering layoffs.
Jim: Yeah, HR is probably making a list right now.
Joe: How come you never see HR people on those lists?
Jim: Yeah! I mean we’re not hiring anyone right now. What are they doing? Why not lay off a few recruiters and save the jobs of the people who do the real work around here?

Doesn’t sound pretty, does it? That’s why you’ve got to get out there and be visible. I’ve heard that nobody wants to see HR walking around during a downturn, because people are afraid that we’re looking to see who’s working, who’s busy, and who’s not. Don’t let that deter you. Get out there. Be open and honest in talking with managers and their best staff to see what you can do to help alleviate people’s fears at a time like this. Encourage managers to have staff or town-hall style meetings with employees to give them a chance to speak openly about their concerns. HR needs to be side-by-side with managers at these meetings.

To be sure, there will be some companies letting people go, and yours may be one of them. But no matter what, no matter how deeply you cut, you’re not going to lay off your best people. These are the most valuable assets your organization has. Unless you’re turning out the lights and rolling up the carpets, as long as your firm is around, you want them working for you. These are the people who make your company successful, and will again in the future. That’s why you need to be re-engaging them now, when things look bleakest. You can’t give them double-digit raises or six-figure bonuses, but give them what you can, and possibly what they crave most: open communication.

Remind them of how valuable they are to the company. Stress that management is exploring options how best to weather this storm. Ask for their best ideas of what the company can or should do right now, six months down the road, or a year from now when things are different. Because things will be different. Maybe better, hopefully not worse, but certainly different. Ask them what they think is going to happen. They are closer to the front lines and therefore may be hearing different things than the people in the executive suite are hearing. Treat them with respect and get their input. After all, these are your best people. The same things that make them good at their jobs may also give them insights about where your industry is going.

I brought ideas like this to one company I was working with when they were considering layoffs. I asked senior management what they were planning to do for those employees who remained after the reductions. One manager said, in all seriousness, “We don’t have to do anything for them. They should be HTHJ. Happy to have jobs.” That organization did survive the setbacks it was going through, but has morphed and merged several times since. Many of the best people from that organization have left for the competition or to start businesses of their own. Sure the superstars made it through that round of downsizing, but as soon as it was over, they started looking.

Treating people with respect when things look worst is not just being nice to people, it’s good for business. These are the kind of people you’d have to pay a fortune to get if they were on the open market. Do everything you can now, while they are inside your doors, to keep them there. People are always less likely to look when the economy is bad, but the good people are just as likely to bolt if they see your company behaving badly in bad times. This is an opportunity for your organization to make its reputation. How many times have you heard companies boast about having been in business “X” number of years and never had a layoff? Companies point with pride at a record like that not because they’re nice but because it’s a recruiting and retention tool. They’re working to retain their best and most valuable employees.

Nucor Steel reduces executive perks and will even shorten the workweek from five days to four but doesn’t lay people off. It runs some of the most profitable and efficient steel mills in the world. Lincoln Electric guarantees jobs to employees with just three years of service and has not had a layoff since the 1950s. Its turnover rate is infinitesimal.

Many of us are recruiters, and our job is to find the best people to fill the vacancies in our organizations. But we are also human resource professionals. When vacancies dry up, we need to focus on other things we can do to add value to our organizations.

Get out there. Be visible. Retention is the most cost-effective form of recruiting. And the time to do it is now.

Ping An Insurance Slammed by Fortis’ Crisis, Exec Salaries

As the global financial fiasco bubbles along, China’s Ping An, its second largest insurance company, has found itself in hot water indeed.

Six months ago Ping An invested big in Fortis, a Belgium-based banking and insurance provider. Fortis now looks to be doing a Bear Stearns and that investment may be gone. Earlier this year, Ping An’s attempted fundraising stock issue worth 160 billion yuan caused a crash on the A-share market. And lately news of the salaries of Ping An executives has investors and the public up in arms.?

On the evening of Sept. 26, China Ping An Insurance (Group) Company, Ltd. (Ping An), announced its investment losses for the drop in Fortis’ share price had reached 10.524 billion yuan.

Ping An announced that based on international capital markets and the stock price volatility of Fortis, it will decide soon whether to make provision for asset impairment in its third quarter financial report, at the same time it will reflect market value losses in its income statement.

The notice said that regardless of any provision for impairment, the company’s capital and solvency remain adequate.

According to a conservative estimate, the provision might amount to as much as 5 billion yuan based on 30% ratio for provision. Ping An’s net profit in the first half was 7.102 billion yuan.

At the same time, Ping An stated that neither it nor its subsidiaries have risk exposure to Lehman Brothers, American International Group (AIG), Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Washington Mutual in the US.

Last November, Ping An invested 1.81 billion euros in the purchase of 4.18% of the shares of Fortis on the secondary market, making Ping An its largest single shareholder. Ping An has gradually increased share holdings to 4.99%, the upper limit agreed on by two sides. This is the Chinese insurance industry’s biggest overseas investment.

On March 19 this year, the two companies separately announced that they will establish a global asset management partnership. Ping An is slated spend 2.15 billion euros (about 24.02 billion yuan) to buy 50% of the shares of Fortis Investment Management, a Fortis subsidiary conducting global asset management business. The deal has not yet been granted regulatory approval, according to Bloomberg Press.

November last year saw Fortis shares selling for around 17 euros, while the latest closing price was 5.20 euros per share, a fall of 21% over the same day. The bank, which is highly important to the regional economy, is on the edge of collapse as seized-up credit markets have made it extremely difficult for it to finance its operations. The governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are scrambling to shore it up.

On September 26, Fortis Group announced it will replace the current CEO Herman Verwilst with 52-year-old Filip Dierckx. Herman Verwilst took the position after the sudden departure of the former CEO.

Fortis’ second quarter financial statement showed that net profit during that period was 830 million euros, down 49% from 1.62 billion euros netted second quarter a year ago.

In July this year, as Fortis shares fell below 10 dollars, institutions begun selling Ping An shares.

In addition to its floundering investment in Fortis, Ping An caused a huge stir this year among the public and investors with its pay-outs. Pre-tax salaries in 2007 of three directors and senior executives topped 40 million yuan. The pre-tax salary of Ma Mingzhe, president and CEO, alone was 66.161 million yuan (almost $10 million), equivalent to 181,200 per day, the highest of any senior executive of an A-share listed company.
Particular resentment over Ma’s compensation may well be related to two things: first Ping An’s try at launching of a 160 billion yuan refinancing plan on January 21 this year was one of the triggers of the subsequent and continuous A-share slide; and second, Ping An’s share price has fallen from last October’s high of 149.28 yuan to its current lowest price of 48.30 yuan, a fall of 67.64%, a source of great pain for Ping An A-share holders. Against this backdrop, Ma’s 66.16 million yuan a year is conspicuous, and investors and the public see cause to be indignant.

On the last trading day before National Day, Ping An closed at 33.27 yuan on the news of Fortis Group, and fell 8.25% at closing, only one step away from its IPO price.

China and Emerging Markets May Draw Talent from Waning Wall Street

Thousands of financial workers on Wall Street are losing their jobs during this financial crisis, leading to a great dislocation of financial talent.

The so-called hot job and hot department in the financial industry will be redefined. Enthusiasm over investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers will wane, and attention will move back to the steadier, more conservative, and less risky financial institutions such as commercial banks. The internal structure of financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies will also change. Some functions such as risk management, which used to be neglected, will be repositioned and revalued. Some financial workers will have to change their professional orientation, since positions related to investment will weakened or even disappear.

Compensation and professional quality in the financial industry will also be redefined. Greed and lack of self-discipline are at the root of the financial crisis. Wall Street, with its high compensation and luxurious life styles, brought too many dreams and too much pride to too many young people, where a graduate could get a high salary fresh out of school. But now things will calm down. Too much risk lies behind irrational success and irrational wealth growth.

In the following years, the former attractiveness of investment banks, mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, and leverage buyout funds is going to fade. With the crazy age coming to an end, compensation levels on Wall Street will no longer be No. 1 in the US. Wall Street will no longer be the only choice of top MBA graduates, as they will once again consider traditional and high-tech industries. High quality professional managers with will also flow to other industries.

Since the crisis, people begin to consider the ethical standards of the financial system. Wall Street and European financial markets are all considering what kind of senior managers, CEOs, and CFOs financial firms need. Further lessons on how to avoid and control risk are being learned by financial institutions. What kind of culture should be admired in financial firms? In the past, the trader, passionate, adventurous and ready to go to extremes, was the admired model. But now, at least for a while, banks are laying off the traders, and risk managers are not only keeping their jobs but being poached and headhunted as banks seek to shore up their internal control departments.

China’s industry will be more attractive to Chinese financiers. Due to downsizing in the US, Chinese employees there will also be looking for jobs. Under the circumstances, coming back to China may become their best choice. At least China’s overall economic and financial situation is still better than the US and Europe. Now many Asians are considering returning to their emerging markets, as they are more likely to find jobs there, even though the financial markets in these countries are far from their expectations. This may trigger a series of talent competitions among domestic financial institutions.

In fact, more and more western professional managers, having faith in opportunities and challenges in China and its neighboring markets, were participating in the domestic financial talent competition before the outbreak of the subprime crisis. But now the requirement for talent in the domestic financial market will include not only professional knowledge and financial management skill, but also the knowledge about China’s local culture and commercial environment, which will be as important as financial tools for some positions.

Chinese Goverment picks up $3.5m wage bill

More than 24 million yuan ($3.5 million) of public funds has been used to compensate 7,000 former employees of collapsed toy maker Smart Union Group, a senior local official said yesterday.

In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency, Xu Hongfei, deputy head of Zhangmutou in Guangdong province, where the Hong Kong listed firm operated two factories, said the town government had agreed to reimburse all those who lost their jobs on October 15.

“The boss is nowhere to be found, so the government is paying the wages owed to the workers,” he said.

Former employee He Ming said yesterday he had been given 1,800 yuan for the 13 days he had worked this month.

“My monthly pay was about 3,000 yuan, so the money I got from the government was about right. I’m satisfied,” he said.

While the government has agreed to cover back pay, it will not, however, finance any redundancy payments owed by the firm, Xu said.

About 1,000 former employees have hired lawyers to help them seek compensation from Smart Union, Xinhua said.

The Zhangmutou government will do all it can to help find new jobs for those who were made redundant, Xu said.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Shenzhen on Tuesday, the city government used 3.7 million yuan of pubic funds to cover back pay owed to some 800 workers left jobless with the demise of Chuangyi Toys Co Ltd, the boss of which has been missing since Oct 14.

A source with the Pingshan community office, where the Hong Kong funded firm was based, told Xinhua that local labor authorities had secured the company’s assets and will auction them off at a later date.

In another development, the government of the Longguan district of Shenzhen is currently deciding what action to take following the closure on Monday of the Hong Kong funded Gangsheng Electronic (Shenzhen) Co Ltd.

“A working group comprising representatives of the police, courts, and the labor and social security bureau, has been set up to investigate the case,” Peng Gang, an official with the district publicity department, told China Daily yesterday.

Also, on Tuesday, the Shenzhen labor and social security bureau publicized the names of 30 companies that owe in excess of 12 million yuan in back pay to their workers, and demanded their executives report to local labor authorities within 30 days.

Yang Baohua, deputy director of the Shenzhen labor bureau said that since June, the city government has paid out more than 10 million yuan to cover wages owed to laid off workers.

China to amend law for smoother state compensation procedures

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — China on Thursday discussed drafting an amendment to the state compensation law, which would guarantee smoother channels and improved procedures for victims seeking compensation from state organs.

State organs under compensatory obligations should decide whether to compensate or not within two months after receiving appeals, according to the amendment, which was being scrutinized by the Fifth Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress.

Those who claimed compensation from state organs but were not satisfied with the result, could complain to the state organs’ superior departments, the amendment said.

If they were still not satisfied or didn’t receive prompt replies, they could appeal to the courts at the same level, according to the draft.

Problems including insufficient law enforcement against state organs under compensatory obligations, delays in making decisions and delivering compensation and a shortage of financing support had made it difficult for victims to protect their rights and interests, said Li Shishi, head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

“The amendment tackles those problems and will provide a quicker and easier way for them to seek compensation.”

Apart from those changes, the draft amendment would also increase an article about both victims and state organs’ obligations in providing evidence for their claims. It also, for the first time, added compensation for psychic injury.

To help victims get paid promptly, the amendment said state organs had to deliver compensation applications to the relevant financial departments within seven days of receiving a compensation invoices from the victims. The relevant financial departments should in turn pay the victims within 15 days.

The state compensation law was approved by the National People’s Congress in May 1994 and was put into effect starting in 1995.

It plays an important role in solving conflict between citizens and state organs, and to sustain social stabilities, Li said.

Shanghai companies eye Wall Street talent

Financial institutions in Shanghai are likely to start snapping up jobless Wall Street professionals by the end of this year.

Some local fund and securities companies, led by Shanghai financial working commission, may go to Wall Street later this year to hunt for possible recruits, according to a top executive from Shanghai-based fund company Huaan Fund.

“Although the city is becoming more of a player in the global financial market, we have a dearth of employees with global financial expertise,” said a senior official at the firm surnamed Xie.

He added that the company recently received a notice from the local financial working commission, but a detailed schedule has yet to be arranged.

Huaan started recruiting foreign talents for top positions in 1999. “Investment managers and legal talents from Wall Street investment banks would be our major targets. Talents with overseas backgrounds would help boost our competition in the market,” Xie said.

Some fund managers also said that the salary expectations of top Wall Street professionals may fall given the current global financial turmoil.

The local financial working commission could not be immediately reached for comment.

“Operational efficiency is critical to support portfolio realization in the financial sector, and Wall Street talent has experience of the ups and downs in financial sector business,” said Jenny Li, managing director of Hewitt Greater China, a human resources consulting firm.

Domestic companies are short of talents with leadership who can compete in a globalized economy.

“The introduction of Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors along with the opening up of renminbi business to foreign banks has provoked a huge demand for financial talents in product development and risk control,” said Christine Cheng, practice head of accounting and finance at a staffing sources firm Manpower China.

But Li warned Chinese financial players that they have to align their business strategies when hunting for various talents on Wall Street.

Nokia Siemens to Ramp Up Chinese 3G Staffing Numbers

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has announced that it is to increase its TD-SCDMA trained engineers to over 1,200 staff, over an undefined timeframe. The company recently obtained the official approvals for deployment of its TD-SCDMA equipment from Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

NSN was the major solution supplier for China Mobile Shen Zhen TD-SCDMA network’s planning, construction and optimization.

Adds Steven Shaw, head of Services in Greater China region of NSN, “We have gained invaluable experience in working with China Mobile in the Shen Zhen TD-SCDMA network. With our strong base in 2G and rich global experience in 3G deployment, comprehensive TD-SCDMA portfolio, strong local service support and clear evolution path to LTE, we are confident in helping operator customers to fulfill their goals.”

NSN shareholder, Nokia is a 49% holder in a Chinese joint venture, Potevio with China Putian to develop network infrastructure based on the Chinese 3G standard. Potevio was set up in 2005 and has also been the major supplier of equipment to China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA trial networks in Tianjin and Qinhuangdao.

Last month, Nokia’s vice-president of Greater China sales, David Tang said that the firm would launch a range of handsets based on the Chinese 3G standard.