Winning the Talent War in China

As stated in my last post, I was quite disappointed with McKinsey Quarterly’s article on employer branding in China.

As this subject seems to be quite relevant to managers today, I intend to share some of our findings in the Chinese talent market in order for managers to make up more concrete thoughts of what they need to be aware of when entering such an emerging market.

To illustrate the importance and the differences to more “common” markets, I will compare the Chinese market with [at least according to Hofstede] a completely opposite market.

According to our annual ranking in China, traditional strong employers such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Accenture and the “Big Four” all drop considerably from last year’s ranking. The company who dropped the most was KPMG who fell 36 places and is ranked as the 75^th most attractive employer among business professionals. As we can see from our Global Ranking below, this differs significantly from other markets.

In Europe, and maybe particularly in Scandinavia, employers often emphasize the development opportunities available within the company when communicating with talents. According to our survey, this seems to be even more important in China! Therefore, when winning the talent war in China, you have to think about how your company is structured in order to give the talents personal development opportunities. In Norway, a large amount of employers have done this by developing trainee programs. Does your company offer such opportunities in China?

Furthermore, while Scandinavian talents seem to call for leaders who support their development, the Chinese talents seem to neglect having a supportive leader and instead appreciate a good future prospect for future earnings (hence the McKinsey interview that talents in China does not come cheap). Potential future earning is even more important than a competitive base salary which suggests that they are more receptive to reward system linked to company performance.

There is a tremendous difference between China and Norway and this could very well be the case in your main market as well. In order to give a simple overview, I would like to finish off with the thirty most attractive employers in China according to the Universum Professional Survey. If you have any questions regarding employer branding in China, I suggest you contact Johan Ramel as this market is far from my expertise.

China Mobile	1
Google	2
Procter & Gamble	3
SGCC	4
China Development Bank	5
PetroChina Company	6
Bank of China	7
Apple	8
CICC	9
ChinaTelecom	10
China Merchants Bank	11
Sinopec	12
HSBC	13
ICBC	14
Citi	15
Morgan Stanley	16
Baidu	17
L'Oréal	18
Alibaba	19
Air China	20
McKinsey & Company	21
China Construction Bank	22
TENCENT	23
IBM	24
The Coca-Cola Company	25
IKEA	26
BMW	27
CITIC	28
CNOOC	28
Nokia	30

Employer Branding in China

For those of you who are subscribing to McKinsey Quarterly, I am sure you have read the article “Winning the talent war in China” where Emmanuel Hemmerle, a principal with executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles is being interviewed.

If not, here is a link to the article; http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/links/36562

Although he makes some good points about how you need to take risks when recruiting – especially seniors – as the market economy is relative new compared to Western markets, I must say I am surprised that a prestigious business review such as McKinsey Quarterly actually publish following recommendations when thinking of recruiting and building your employer brand in China:

-          Have confidence in mainland Chinese talent

-          Look for the best talent

-          Create a culture that is attractive

For me, these are all pretty obvious things you have to think about when building a strategy. I would much rather read about what these talents are looking for and how to build such a culture – this is what I will reveal in my next blog post.

Universum Global Top 50: the World's Most Attractive Employers

Recently we published our very first “Global Ranking”. We surveyed over 100,000 students from the 11 largest economies in the world which companies they find attractive. These rankings receive much attention – often because people disagree with it. I’m sure a lot of people have been surprised to find that their company is not on the list.

Business			Engineering
Google	1		Google
PricewaterhouseCoopers	2		Microsoft
Microsoft	3		IBM
Goldman Sachs	4		BMW
Ernst & Young	5		Intel
Procter & Gamble	6		General Electric
J.P. Morgan	7		Sony
KPMG	8		Siemens
McKinsey & Company	9		Shell
Deloitte	10		Procter & Gamble
The Boston Consulting Group	11		Johnson & Johnson
BMW	12		Hewlett-Packard
Coca-Cola	13		Cisco
L'Oréal	14		Esso/ExxonMobil
Morgan Stanley	15		McKinsey & Company
Sony	16		Schlumberger
IBM	17		BP
Johnson & Johnson	18		L'Oréal
Deutsche Bank	19		Nokia
General Electric	20		Accenture
Citigroup	21		Coca-Cola
HSBC	22		Philips
Accenture	23		Goldman Sachs
Nestlé	24		Nestlé
Credit Suisse	25		Pfizer
Bain & Company	26		Bosch
Unilever	27		The Boston Consulting Group
UBS	28		J.P. Morgan
Nokia	29		Deloitte
Intel	30		Morgan Stanley
Esso/ExxonMobil	31		GlaxoSmithKline
Kraft Foods	32		Ericsson
Shell	33		Ernst & Young
Hewlett-Packard	34		ABB
Mars (Masterfoods)	35		Bayer
Pfizer	36		Unilever
Siemens	37		PricewaterhouseCoopers
Philips	38		Deutsche Bank
Oracle	39		HSBC
Bayer	40		Kraft Foods
Philip Morris	41		Bain & Company
DHL	42		Citigroup
BP	43		Alcatel-Lucent
Bosch	44		Daimler
Cisco	45		Novartis
Daimler	46		Mars (Masterfoods)
Ericsson	47		KPMG
ABB	48		Credit Suisse
Novartis	49		DHL
Schlumberger	50		UBS

These companies have clearly succeeded in their work with employer branding – this is not to say that companies not included in the list have not, but what does these companies have in common?

First of all, they have a global strategy for their employer brand that supersedes geographical borders. 

Furthermore, their work is focused and long term.

And at last, the work is spread across many different departments; HR, marketing, communications and the top management are all involved.

In three years we will have three people leaving the job market for every one person entering it - is your company ready for such a battle?