More experienced overseas Chinese professionals returning to China: LinkedIn

BEIJING - More experienced overseas-trained Chinese professionals are returning to China as the country's tech-oriented economic transition offers abundant career development opportunities, a recent report showed.

The percentage of overseas Chinese professionals aged between 30 and 40 years old among the total returned overseas Chinese talent, or "haigui," rose from 16.5 percent in 2013 to 30.6 percent in 2017, according to a report released by global employment-oriented social networking platform LinkedIn.

The report attributed the increasing numbers of experienced haigui returning to the ceiling for career development in foreign countries and showed that these professionals enjoy marked title and pay rises as Chinese firms invest big to attract top talent to help drive business growth.

In addition to first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, emerging first-tier cities like Hangzhou and Chengdu are popular destinations for haigui to develop their careers, the report pointed out.

The finance and high-tech sectors have attracted the largest number of haigui, who prefer to work in multi-national and large-and-medium-sized private companies.

A lack of understanding of the working environment in Chinese firms is the top concern for overseas Chinese professionals seeking opportunities in the country, the report showed.

US-headquartered LinkedIn officially entered the Chinese market in 2014 and now has over 41 million Chinese users.

LinkedIn China launched a campaign in 2016 to help Chinese firms like NetEase and DiDi recruit overseas professionals, especially those specializing in artificial intelligence, data analysis and cloud computing.

"Helping match Chinese firms and global professionals as well as business opportunities has become a historical opportunity for us," said David Yu, managing director of LinkedIn China.