Finding The Right China Talent

My firm seems to have two kinds of clients when it comes to finding talent in China. Those at the beginning of the process who pronounce the exact kind of person they are going to hire and those farther into the process who vociferously complain about not being able to find that person.

Kent Kedl over at the Technomic Asia blog recently posted a podcast interview with Lee Brantingham, partner at Strategic Executive Search.

Technomic Asia summarizes its interview as follows:

Kent and Lee discuss HR issues in China, particularly the opportunities and challenges in finding the right talent to lead business operations in China.

There was a time when expats who spoke English and knew about Western business practices “had it easy,” but now the local competition for jobs has intensified. Additionally, while it’s intuitive to look for native “PRC Chinese” candidates for top positions in your China operations, not all situations lend themselves to that common-sense solution.

For example, Lee says, if you’re looking for native Chinese CPA with 30 years of experience, that person simply doesn’t exist. Positions like this have only existed in China for a relatively short period of time.

If you have any interest in China HR, check out this interview.