Cultural factors make it more difficult for international companies to find the Chinese talent they need, recruiters say.

An example of the challenges in finding the right Chinese talent was given recently by Aida Alice Bayoud, vice president at Value Retail China, which is recruiting for a new shopping village selling luxury brands near Shanghai. Bayoud was speaking at a China Skills recruitment event hosted by Sino-UK networking and cultural and knowledge-sharing organisation Chopsticks Club. 

However in Chinese culture people are reluctant to challenge the status quo, and often say what their boss expects them to say rather than what they actually believe.   

Samantha Barker, head of talent acquisition at Dyson, also at the job fair told Recruiter that questioning was “very much a requirement in all parts of Dyson”. “We look for that and we encourage it,” said Barker. “They have to be able to speak up if something is not working – that is something that we very much ask at the interview stage.”  

Barker said that this might put Chinese candidates at disadvantage, however those who have had “some form of education in the UK” will have “probably learned to express themselves and to challenge”.

Martin Archer, a senior coach at Mandarin Consultant, whose clients include Chinese jobseekers, told a seminar at the job fair that Chinese candidates “need to change their thinking” if they are to land a job in an international company. 

“We find that Chinese candidates struggle with the Western way of selling themselves to employers,” he said. Whereas in China this is done on the basis of their experience and guanxi (their network of personal relationships), international companies are interested in people’s skills, their personality and their motivation, said Archer.

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