Around 2000 graduates packed a Beijing conference hall, eager to hear how to turn their UK qualifications into global careers. All were UK degree-holders from China, some just graduated, others with a few years’ experience. Standing by ready to advise them were speakers from prestigious employers such as Microsoft China, ABB and JP Morgan.

The March 3 event in Beijing kicked off the 2012 British Council China UK Alumni Career Development Workshops and Mini Job Fair - a one-week circuit of four Chinese cities that allowed employers and UK Alumni to mingle in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu exclusively. By the time they finished, these employers in China had met over 4000 UK alumni. The event was tweeted live via Sina microblog and an online audience of over 10,000 was reached.

The 100 companies at the four job fairs were a roster of global giants, including BMW, Standard Chartered Bank, tech sector stalwarts IBM, Ericsson, Lenovo and Epson, and from the construction and engineering industries, ABB and Arup. They brought details of more than 500 vacant jobs needing well-qualified, English-speaking candidates.

JOB FAIR

Employers came to the mini-job fair ready to hire; for strong candidates, things moved fast. “We arranged the first interview for next day, and second-round interviews for 30 candidates within a week,” said Newland International Communications Group’s Jennifer Jiang who received more than 200 applications in an afternoon. Specialist cross-cultural PR firm Newland was seeking people to work in the UK on projects for the 2012 London Olympics

The seriousness of the recruiters reflects a big increase in the number of China-based employers interested in UK graduates, whose top three advantages are seen as creative thinking, global perspectives, and language capacity.

“We have received many high quality applications that actually meet our requirements,” said Subrina Sun of online games developer Beijing Perfect World Network Technology. She arranged interviews for three candidates to take place within a week.

“Employers were very active in directly engaging with candidates,” said He Mu, a graduate who holds bachelors and masters degrees in economics and finance from Birmingham Aston and Bristol universities.

“Employers asked me lots of questions” instead of “taking my CV without a word,” said another applicant, who felt recruiters’ direct reach and interests had helped her understand the vacancies better.

WORKSHOPS

Before swapping resumes with recruiters, UK alumni split into two workshops to glean advice on securing a first job, or career planning. Encouragement and tips came from senior HR executives from companies such as Microsoft China, ABB, JP Morgan, job ads website 58.com, executive consulting firm Golden Top and ChinaHR.com (sponsor of the event). In addition, local government representatives were present to provide information on positive government policies supporting returned Chinese graduates including tax incentives, residency permits as well as entrepreneurship funds.

The first workshop was aimed at fresh graduates who completed UK degrees in 2011. Speakers gave pointers on writing curriculum vitae and interview skills and urged young job seekers to target the approaching “Spring window” created by multinationals which are increasingly hosting Spring recruitment fairs to tap newly-returned graduates with overseas qualifications.

The second workshop was for early-stage professionals, drawn from Alumni UK members in the first four years of their careers. For them, Nevin Xiao, head of human resources at JP Morgan had wise general advice as well as guidance on investment banking. He urged early-stage professionals to strike the right balance as effective generalists in their field, while also strengthening their advantage by cultivating a specialist area.

Sheldon Lin of Golden Top Consulting reinforced the urgency of proactive career management with a snapshot of China’s fast-changing labour market. He highlighted the rapid rise of the service sector. It is forecast to grow from 40 percent of China’s GDP in 2010 to 60 percent by 2020, approaching EU and US levels of 70 percent. Low cost export production is being replaced by a stress on innovation as companies like Novartis chose to base their R&D in China.

Above all, China’s UK alumni face a generational opportunity to become corporate leaders as the role of China offices shifts to realize the potential of the BRIC economies. “Corporations are adjusting talent management strategies to attract, develop and nurture leaders with a new set of global management skills and a multi-cultural mindset”, said Lin.

The workshops were well received, with praise for the speakers’ commitment, preparation and insights. UK alumni appreciated the decision to tailor separate workshops to fresh graduates and early-career professionals, as well as the seniority of the speakers.

UK ALUMNI POSSESS ADVANTAGES

Whatever their concerns, all the alumni heard the heartening message that UK education retains its career-enhancing quality. A survey amongst over 20,000 alumni found that 

  • 95 per cent of the UK alumni found a job within six months of their return to China
  • 75 per cent spent less than 3 months on job seeking
  • 65 per cent of the alumni reported that their first job on returning to China achieved a higher salary than their previous employment

“UK alumni can feel confident they are sought-after and strongly positioned, despite a tough overall labour market still impacted by global uncertainties” Microsoft China’s Human Resources Director Lin Lei said.