Recruitment goes social in China
The rapid growth of Chinese social networking sites, in addition to inadequate recruitment platforms has led to more companies turning to social media as a hiring strategy.
"Traditional recruitment processes, as they are understood in the West, only really started to be used in China after 1978, with the gradual liberalising of China's economy," said Mike Tims, the president of Asia, Middle East and Africa for global HR consultancy SHL Group, in a report by the Wall Street Journal. "This has made it easier for China to 'leapfrog' these traditional approaches and embrace new recruitment methods more easily."
The impetus for China to try new recruiting methods comes from the challenges companies face there. Recruiting experts say online job boards in China often attract many unqualified candidates for well-known companies and none for smaller firms. There are also too many headhunters with varying degrees of credibility, making the market chaotic.
"In China we are jealous of our HR co-workers in the US where online recruiting platforms are more mature and can attract qualified candidates,” Willa Wang, talent acquisition director at Lenovo China, was quoted as saying.
Making the environment tougher, both MNCs and local companies with global ambitions tend to fight for the same small pool of talent.
"There is intense competition for what turns out to be a narrow segment that has the skills we are looking for," said Jim Pilarski, the head of HR for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for hotel chain operator Marriot International.
One company that is utilising social media in China is Marriott, which launched a promotional campaign in China using Sina's Weibo, a Twitter-like web messaging service. More than 30 of its Chinese hotels made videos about them, and shortlisted videos were featured on the company's Weibo page. By July, the company had received about 1,000 more applications for Chinese jobs than it does in a normal month, said Bill Lu, Marriott's director of talent acquisition.
"Traditional recruitment processes, as they are understood in the West, only really started to be used in China after 1978, with the gradual liberalising of China's economy," said Mike Tims, the president of Asia, Middle East and Africa for global HR consultancy SHL Group, in a report by the Wall Street Journal. "This has made it easier for China to 'leapfrog' these traditional approaches and embrace new recruitment methods more easily."
The impetus for China to try new recruiting methods comes from the challenges companies face there. Recruiting experts say online job boards in China often attract many unqualified candidates for well-known companies and none for smaller firms. There are also too many headhunters with varying degrees of credibility, making the market chaotic.
"In China we are jealous of our HR co-workers in the US where online recruiting platforms are more mature and can attract qualified candidates,” Willa Wang, talent acquisition director at Lenovo China, was quoted as saying.
Making the environment tougher, both MNCs and local companies with global ambitions tend to fight for the same small pool of talent.
"There is intense competition for what turns out to be a narrow segment that has the skills we are looking for," said Jim Pilarski, the head of HR for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for hotel chain operator Marriot International.
One company that is utilising social media in China is Marriott, which launched a promotional campaign in China using Sina's Weibo, a Twitter-like web messaging service. More than 30 of its Chinese hotels made videos about them, and shortlisted videos were featured on the company's Weibo page. By July, the company had received about 1,000 more applications for Chinese jobs than it does in a normal month, said Bill Lu, Marriott's director of talent acquisition.
