Han Ximin

A RECRUITMENT area at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, set aside specially for foreign jobseekers, is expected to attract hundreds of expatriate professionals tomorrow, the first day of the 2007 Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (CIEP 2007).

Foreign professionals

in demand

A total of 23 companies, including multinationals, will offer more than 200 vacancies for foreigners in the fields of marketing, manufacturing and training.

“The designation of this area is to meet the increasing need of foreigner employees in the city,” said Peng Jing, executive marketing director of WesternHR, the organizer of the fair.

A veteran HR specialist, Peng pointed out many companies, especially fast-growing ones, are more likely to recruit foreign employees as they plan to expand globally, especially in the sphere of international marketing.

Han’s Laser Technology Co., which was established in Shenzhen 10 years ago, is the largest laser machining equipment manufacturer in Asia. At the fair, the company will offer posts like international investment manager, marketing manager and laser engineers for the company’s global expansion. With 10 subsidiaries overseas, the company sells laser manufacturing machines to international brands such as Sony and Panasonic.

“It will be more desirable to send a foreign employee to work overseas than a Chinese employee because he can easily adapted to the life there,” said Peng.

Although opening for foreigners is a relatively small part of the CIEP, which will offer 30,000 vacancies in total and is expected to draw 300 overseas experts and more than 2,000 overseas-educated Chinese, the job fair shows Shenzhen organizations are open to recruiting foreigners.

“Compared with government recruitment of foreign experts that is generally in a small scale and takes long time in negotiation and high cost, the job fair provides opportunities for direct interview for both employers and employees,” said Peng.

Shenzhen has more than 10,000 registered overseas-returned Chinese and 13,000 expatriates.

HR expert explains career survey

An recent online career survey, jointly conducted by WesternHR and the Shenzhen Daily, showed that among 50 respondents, 33 landed their jobs through online search or friends, and 10 through job fairs, with only five getting their current positions through corporate assignment.

“This could explain that foreign jobseekers are more accustomed to finding a position through Internet, in comparison with Chinese jobseekers who prefer job fairs. Besides, some professionals at senior managerial levels tend to perform in a low key,” Peng said.

“Meanwhile, the result could also explain that Shenzhen is still insufficient in means of introducing foreign professionals to work here. In comparision, the HR market in Beijing and Zhejiang are a lot more mature,” he added.

In terms of the variety of professions, more than one third of them are teachers, and another one third hi-tech professionals.

“It’s natural for schools and training agencies to recruit native-language speakers as English teachers. As locals are keen on learning English, foreign teachers are in great demand. Also many hi-tech enterprises tend to employ foreign technicians because of their expertise in science, technology and innovation. In contrast, foreign banking services in Shenzhen prefer to recruit local staff for the purpose of localizaion in management and business network,” Peng noted.

The result also shows that the majority of them, around 70 percent of the total, earn more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,355) per month. More than 90 percent are satisfied with their companies and 80 percent are confident about their future prospects.