Life

Many expats lack the necessary experience

By Wang Wen and Todd Balazovic (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-02 07:50

A woman inquires about a vacancy at a job fair for expats in Beijing last year. Candidates from more than 30 countries attended the fair which featured 800 positions offered by 60 enterprises. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the increasing number of expats flooding into Beijing looking for jobs are discovering, companies are setting stricter criteria for recruitment these days.

More than 46,000 foreign nationals were working in Beijing during 2010, according to data from the exit and entry administration of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

However, 30 percent had less than two years' working experience, an increase of almost 20 percentage points on recent years, said Xie Zheng, China partner of Antal International, a British-based recruitment company.

But most firms in Beijing are looking to hire foreign employees for their international experience and Western business concepts.

"Experienced foreign staff can help us train local staff with international vision," said Ruby Lam, director of human resources for Kempinski Hotel Beijing.

The five-star hotel has about 20 to 22 foreign employees. Although the majority of positions with the hotel are not open to expats with less than two years' working experience. Lam said that the number of inexperienced applicants had significantly increased in recent years.

Work permits are one method used to deter inexperienced workers. Foreigners applying for work permits need more than two years' experience, as well as a bachelor's degree or above.

The conditions pose a difficult problem for hotels since most foreign chiefs have different professional diplomas.

"We did our best to communicate with the government and help them understand the problem," said Lam.

Lam told METRO that the hotel is extremely cautious about choosing the right candidates, as it is so difficult to get work permits for them. The Kempinski has six foreign chefs to maintain the hotel's focus on European dishes.

However, Xie at Antal said the work permits help the government ensure "that every position taken by a foreigner cannot be filled by local staff".

Meanwhile, the difficulty in finding a job back home is prompting many college graduates in the West to turn to China in the hope of finding more opportunities.

A report from the Economic Policy Institute illustrates that the unemployment rate for college graduates under 25 in the United States rose to 9 percent in only one year from 2009-2010, double the number in 2007.

Drawn by the prospect of Beijing's flourishing economy, thousands of expat jobseekers have flocked to China's capital.

Briton Matthew Four has lived in Beijing since 2007. Having studied and worked as an English teacher in the capital, he said jobs are far more abundant than back home.

Given the choice between Beijing and London, he said that in terms of lifestyle he would gladly stick around in Asia.

"When I go home, everyone seems miserable. When I come to Beijing everyone's happy," he said.

However, expats majoring in the Chinese language or other non-job-specific majors may also face difficulty in finding employment in Beijing.

Xie suggested that with the average starting monthly salary for foreign workers fresh from school between 8,000 to 15,000 yuan those fresh to the workplace should reduce their expectations and broaden their vision to include locations away from first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Opportunities in some second- and third-tier cities are plentiful, she said.

She also advised jobseekers to learn about Chinese culture, including the language, and to focus on those industries, such as hotels and luxury goods retailers, that require expats because they deal with a more globalized clientele.

She also said that the city needs more expats in emerging industries, "such as the pharmaceutical and new energy".