[GELORA45] Fwd: Chinese recruitment

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*Chinese recruiters are scouring Western firms*

By CECILY LIU | China Daily UK | Updated: 2017-04-13 17:25 [image:
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Seven years ago, Weichai Group, a leading Chinese manufacturer of engines
for heavy-duty trucks and construction machinery, recruited a promising
young engineer from Caterpillar, a United States rival. Weichai made him
the head of its electric control unit leading a research and development
team of more than 130 people.

Within a few years, 48-year-old Li Daming had helped Weichai develop its
own ECU technology, the engine's brain, and put an end to the company's
reliance on overseas ECU technology. The change has significantly helped
the company reduce its production costs.

Li's career path highlights a growing trend among Chinese companies to grab
talented people from international rivals and use them as they globalize.

Wechai, Hainan Airlines, Eastern Airlines and many other Chinese companies
have sent human resources teams overseas to hunt for talent in recent
years. Their targets range from fresh graduates to experienced managers.

"We are hunting for Chinese talents with overseas experience who can
contribute toward our team their valuable skills, international mindsets
and understanding of overseas markets as we expand abroad," said Lyu
Shousheng, vice-general manager of Weichai, who led a team of recruiters to
a job fair at Queen Mary University in London on Sunday.

In recent years, Weichai has made equity investments in Western companies,
including Germany's Kion, Linde Hydraulics, and Dematic, Italy's Ferretti,
and France's Moteurs Baudouin.

Recruiting people whose technical skills and cultural understanding can
bridge between Weichai and its overseas subsidiaries is crucial, Lyu said.

Both Hainan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have also participated in
job fairs at institutions including University College London, Imperial
College, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Manchester.
Meanwhile Tianjin Airlines held its own recruitment event last month at
London's Gatwick Airport with the intention of attracting talent from rival
Western airlines.

Gao Leqi, general manager of the Manchester branch of Hainan Airlines, was
surprised by the level of interest he encountered when his team staged a
recruitment day at the University of Manchester last year.

"From morning to late afternoon, our team met over a thousand Chinese
students coming from universities in the English Midlands and Northern
England. I was so impressed by their eagerness and enthusiasm," said Gao.

The companies' overseas recruitment drives are supported by Chinese
government policies, such as the Thousand Talents Plan that started in
2008. So far, it has attracted more than 40,000 talented individuals back
to China, through financial rewards and visa privileges. Such initiatives
reduce the cost to companies of recruiting people from overseas.

Fast career progression thanks to China's tremendous economic growth is
attractive to many talented Chinese people working overseas, but some still
hesitate.

"Some graduates initially hoped that we were recruiting for our UK team,
and felt disappointed when they realized the jobs were in China," Gao said.
He said some graduates were worried about lower salaries in China and about
not being able to pick the Chinese city of their choice after their return.