What are Mainland China’s Top Ten talent trends for 2019?

Mainland China’s talent market in 2019 will be centred on industrial automation in the face of rising costs of manufacturing. A major shift in talent requirements will, therefore, ensue in order to improve efficiencies. This is just one of the top ten talent trends for 2019, according to recruiting experts Hays.

“Mainland China is relentless in its endeavour to be the leading authority of quality, innovation and new technology. This is driving employers to consider the technical expertise of a candidate to be of paramount importance, above other factors such as leadership qualities or salary expectations,” says Simon Lance, Managing Director at Hays Greater China.

“Talents who are able to utilise new technologies that contribute to a company’s productivity will, therefore, enjoy heightened leverage in this candidate short market. Companies will also continue to invest in product development, quality control and supply chain management, so talents in these areas will also be highly sought after in the coming year,” he adds.

The Hays Top Ten Talent Trends in 2019 also reveals Mainland China’s shift to domestic consumption as a key driver of economic growth.

“Businesses in Mainland China will focus on selling within the nation in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business settings. As such, business development, sales and marketing professionals will be critical in such an endeavour. In particular, as Mainland China’s internet penetration reaches a new high at 57.7 per cent of its 802 million population, online marketing and big data activity will only swell with the vast potential that these numbers suggest. E-commerce and supply chain are also booming sectors, in which there is a dearth of talents to support the bustling commercial activity.”

“As employers face a challenge in filling an increasing rate of job vacancies, they have been ramping up their efforts in attracting and retaining talents through methods beyond competitive salary packages. This can be seen in the greater emphasis placed on gender diversity in the workplace compared to previous years and the mapping of identifiable career paths for employees,” says Simon.

Hays Top Ten Talent Trends for 2019 in Mainland China are:

1. Industrial automation

With the soaring costs of manufacturing in Mainland China, businesses have started to move out of what was once known as “The World’s Factory”. Alternative to relocation, companies are increasingly turning to industrial automation to enhance cost efficiencies. To ramp up efforts in product design, engineers and R&D experts with the knowledge and skills to adapt products to local standards are critical in this process. R&D managers and directors are expected to have strong people management skills to work with clients for the purpose of understanding requirements and specifications.

2. Domestic consumption

As the Sino-USA trade war intensifies, companies in Mainland China are moving away from an export business model to one that relies mostly on domestic consumption of both consumer goods and industrial products. For this reason, to develop their businesses within Mainland China, employers are ramping up their efforts in building their sales and marketing teams. Candidates in this area, coupled with strong product knowledge, are therefore highly sought after.

3. Digital transformation

Mainland China has initiated a number of innovative strategies to future-proof their position as a global leader of innovation and technology. The biggest initiative is ‘Made in China 2025’, which aims to transform the nation into a global high-tech manufacturing base. At the heart of this initiative is digital transformation. Businesses are therefore on the lookout for
Digital Transformation leaders to bring this vision to fruition, especially so in 2019.

4. Supply Chain

The rapid infrastructural improvements within Mainland China and the easier access to trading partners from across the region are boosting commercial activity, especially in e-commerce. To improve connectivity, there is a growing demand for supply chain candidates by domestic manufacturers, and telecommunications, infrastructure, and transportation companies. Notwithstanding, with the high volume of vacancies in this candidate short market, businesses located in unattractive locations can stand to benefit from offering competitive salary packages.

5. E-commerce, Data Marketing, and CRM

As businesses leverage on increasingly sophisticated Internet technologies to delight and retain customers, digital marketing, e-commerce and CRM remain as core tactics to their marketing functions. While there is an abundance in the supply of generalists in these areas, employers are finding it a challenge to secure talents who are highly skilled in the technical aspects of such roles. Candidates who actively upskill themselves, especially in the face of rapid advancements in digital solutions and the growing eminence of the myriad of Chinese social media platforms, are likely to enjoy leverage in the employment market.

6. Big Data

To obtain invaluable consumer information and sales data, Java Developers, Big Data experts and Data Analysts are increasingly critical to organisations. In particular, we see a rising trend in Online to Offline (O2O) business models where the consumer behaviour related to products and services remain critical. The digital boom also calls for new breeds of IT professionals such as Algorithm Engineers, Machine Learning Specialists and NLP Engineers, who are short in supply. Candidates in these roles with a strong background in statistics, computer science, applied mathematics or information technology, or technical knowledge in python, SQL and deep learning, will be at an advantage in this talent scarce market.

7. Economic cooperation in The Greater Bay Area (GBA)

The GBA, which is considered the third largest trading area in the world and an up-and-coming technology hub, is opening doors for a highly mobile workforce. For instance, employers from Hong Kong are asking candidates to move to Shenzhen and other parts of Guangdong, and vice versa. It is a huge investment destination for many organisations across most industries and will remain attractive to top talent through 2019. Multilingual candidates who are proficient in Cantonese, Mandarin and English are highly coveted by employers.

8. Gender diversity

Businesses in Mainland China are placing a higher emphasis on gender diversity as part of their talent strategies. Employees now find themselves increasingly accustomed to having female bosses as compared to previous years. In our 2018 Asia Diversity & Inclusion report, 44 per cent of respondents in Mainland China report to a female line manager, a marked improvement of 32 per cent in 2017.

9. Clearer career progression

In response to the revelation that having a clear career progression is the main motivator for job seekers in Mainland China, employers have been progressively open and transparent when it comes to employee appraisal. In the aforementioned report, a majority of respondents in Mainland China have reported having clear development conversations with their line managers.

10. Local candidates preferred

Employers in Mainland China are welcoming with open arms the growing number of Chinese returnees, and in turn, less reliant on foreign talent. In our recent salary guide report, when asked whether international candidates would be considered, employers responded with a 45 per cent resounding ‘no’, while 46 per cent favour returning Chinese, and only a total of 10 per cent of respondents stay open to considering foreign candidates.