Job site layout unveils China recruitment challenges, says TotalJobs’ Booker
15 August 2013
Chinese job boards might look chaotic and cluttered to someone more accustomed to the Western approach, but this is part and parcel of the way recruitment and employer brands works uniquely in the country, recruiter.co.uk is told.
Thu, 15 Aug 2013Chinese job boards might look chaotic and cluttered to someone more accustomed to the Western approach, but this is part and parcel of the way recruitment and employer brands works uniquely in the country, recruiter.co.uk is told.
This is according to Mike Booker, a director of Totaljobs.com and The Network, the global careers site alliance it is part of, speaking ahead of the Global Spotlight on China on p13 of this week's August edition of Recruiter.
Comparing Totaljobs with Zhaopin.com, one of two Chinese job sites making up The Network (the other is ChinaHR.com), Booker notes a “difference in the treatment of the employer brand”.
“UK jobs websites tend to display around 20 job postings per page and tend to drive candidates towards searching for relevant job postings, instead of using the employer brand from the homepage as the predominant attraction factor for jobseekers,” he says.
The latter approach, he adds, “of course works best for companies with a known consumer brand, or those that invest in building their employer brand”.
And that is the more common approach in China, he notes, where sites are “strewn with numerous adverts… with very little initial information about the job role”.
“Much more so than in the UK, it is the brand that is used to hook the jobseeker rather than the details of the role itself,” Booker continues. “This suggests Chinese jobseekers are more concerned about the status of the company and esteem of its brand.”
He also notes that within the trend for targeting Sea Turtles – expatriate professionals wanting to return to their home country – Chinese employers must “be mindful that the way they [candidates] respond to such advertising may have changed”. The next edition of Recruiter also contains analysis of the rising trend for recruiting Sea Turtles across a number of global markets, on p16-17.
For more on recruitment in China via recruiter.co.uk:
This is according to Mike Booker, a director of Totaljobs.com and The Network, the global careers site alliance it is part of, speaking ahead of the Global Spotlight on China on p13 of this week's August edition of Recruiter.
Comparing Totaljobs with Zhaopin.com, one of two Chinese job sites making up The Network (the other is ChinaHR.com), Booker notes a “difference in the treatment of the employer brand”.
“UK jobs websites tend to display around 20 job postings per page and tend to drive candidates towards searching for relevant job postings, instead of using the employer brand from the homepage as the predominant attraction factor for jobseekers,” he says.
The latter approach, he adds, “of course works best for companies with a known consumer brand, or those that invest in building their employer brand”.
And that is the more common approach in China, he notes, where sites are “strewn with numerous adverts… with very little initial information about the job role”.
“Much more so than in the UK, it is the brand that is used to hook the jobseeker rather than the details of the role itself,” Booker continues. “This suggests Chinese jobseekers are more concerned about the status of the company and esteem of its brand.”
He also notes that within the trend for targeting Sea Turtles – expatriate professionals wanting to return to their home country – Chinese employers must “be mindful that the way they [candidates] respond to such advertising may have changed”. The next edition of Recruiter also contains analysis of the rising trend for recruiting Sea Turtles across a number of global markets, on p16-17.
For more on recruitment in China via recruiter.co.uk:
- ‘Money's not too tight to mention in China recruiting’ (recruiter.co.uk, 12 August)
- ‘China sees uptick in demand for downturn-savvy expats’ (recruiter.co.uk, 9 August)
- ‘China considers orphaning one-child policy’ (recruiter.co.uk, 5 August)
