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August 8, 2009

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Candidates face testing benchmark

Local branches of multinational companies seeking to trim costs amid the economic slowdown have raised the bar on staff recruitment, according to a human resources expert.

"The hiring process of multinational companies has become more deliberate and selective in assessing the capabilities of employees," Larry Wang, founder and CEO of Wang & Li Asia Resources, told Shanghai Daily.

Established in 1994, Wang & Li was named China's Recruitment Firm of the Year in 2008 by the bilingual journal China STAFF.

"Candidates need to be more impressive. They need to convince employers they have top-notch skills to help companies deliver good results," Wang said.

Since most companies have reduced or even frozen hiring during the global recession, the business for Wang & Li, as well as other headhunters, has fallen off by more than half.

Problems abound

The Shanghai Personnel Bureau and Shanghai Financial Services Office worked as an intermediate for local financial institutions and fund management companies to hold recruitment drives in London, Chicago and New York last December and attracted several thousand applicants.

Many domestic companies are hoping to attract Chinese who studied and worked in the United States and other Western countries but now find themselves out of work. They are also seeking talent, whether Chinese or not, to fill experience gaps in their organizations.

Problems abound. Domestic financial institutions seeking to hire overseas talent may not be willing to pay the high salaries candidates are used to earning; at the same time, many recently laid off workers overseas aren't at the stage where they are willing to lower their pay expectations, Wang noted.

With China's financial market opening up under a central government strategy to help advance development of sectors important to the domestic economy, more talents will come and work here, he added.




 

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