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Is Asia at a Talent Tipping Point?

The Asia Pacific HR scene continues at a frenetic pace. Despite concern about an economic slowdown in China, we are not seeing a slowdown in HR hiring in the region. It’s also worth remembering that China’s ‘slowed down’ economic projections are actually very good growth numbers by global standards! In any case, macro-economic cycles tend not to always be in synch with movements in the senior HR community in Asia. For this reason we recommend also looking at company situations and cycles versus purely taking ‘the economy’ at face value.

Many multinationals in Asia are on steep growth curves and have been hiring HR talent aggressively. Of those that are not growing as rapidly, many are still asking for more from their HR teams. Either they are going through a global, regional or local transformation process, or they are upgrading their HR bench strength. For this reason, we are continuing to see more churn and hiring activity in the region than even pure economics would suggest.

One question we are frequently asked is whether the region is at a ‘tipping point’ regarding talent. Will companies now start to bring in more foreigners since local talent is in such short supply and is getting very expensive? Salaries for top local HR talent in “hot” markets like China, India and Singapore are now at or above U.S. and European levels. We would suggest generally no, but we do anticipate that locally hired foreigners will continue to be in demand as they have much to offer-often at no added cost versus locals and with less risk than bringing in professionals from outside the region. There is continual demand from HR professionals from around the world wanting Asian exposure, however hiring organisations continue to place a great deal of emphasis and value on hiring locally.

In 90 percent of cases (for external searches as opposed to internal transfers), we find that the client priority ‘pecking order’ for hiring is:

  1. Local nationals
  2. Other Asians with the necessary language skills
  3. Other Asians without local language skills
  4. Locally hired foreigners (non-Asian)
  5. Overseas foreigners who are internationally experienced, preferably with previous Asia experience and who will work on a local or ‘local plus’ package
  6. Overseas foreigners who require an expatriate package (for this category to be considered they need to be exceptionally well qualified)

For situations where talent supply is very short, locally hired foreigners, with previous global experience, make an excellent choice. They can bring ‘best practice’ to an organisation; they are no more expensive than senior local hires these days; they know the region and are experienced in dealing with local cultures so they are a ‘safe bet’. And they can ‘hit the ground running’ and deliver immediately – with little or no learning curve.

For HR professionals from around the world wanting Asian exposure, we would generally advise the following:

  1. Persist.
  2. Spend time in the region and network heavily. It’s very difficult to get a job from thousands of miles away.
  3. Be flexible on compensation and expectations.
  4. If possible, learn an Asian language.
  5. Finally, It’s equally important to think about your own ’employment proposition’ – how to position yourself in the market versus what locally available HR talent has to offer.

We live, without doubt, in fascinating times, where the rate of change within international HR is moving at break neck speed. Asia Pacific remains one of the most and perhaps THE most exciting and dynamic employment markets for the HR profession.

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