Jobs, Job sites and Recruitment Agencies

Recently, I have been receiving quite some mails from our readers relating to recommendations for job sites and recruitment agencies.

While there are numerous Shanghai / China job sites around, these are the few more reputable ones I would recommend, for reasons of database quality, ease of search and language options between Chinese and English:

1) www.zhaopin.com
2) www.chinahr.com
3) www.51jobs.com

For executive search and recruitment, you can try these 2 agencies:
1) www.wang-li.com
2) http://china.hudson.com/

(If anyone know of better ones, please let me know or post them in the comments sections. This might help some of our readers out there looking for a job in China)

Wang Li is the only executive agency in Shanghai I had prior contact with.

Some time back, I was approached by them for a senior position in a Fortune 100 US MNC in Southern China. My bio with them was one from 2 years ago, but they still managed to locate me. Subsequently, I cleared 5 rounds of interviews with the company, only to have them pull the plug due to a headcount freeze. No big deal I thought, cos I wasnt looking to move to the south anyway. Nonetheless, shortly after the recruiters in Wang Li knew about this, they came back to me with another prospective job and handled everything thoroughly.

Overall, I would say, throughout the entire arrangements, the Wang Li headhunters had been very responsive and professional. They gave some pretty useful tips and advices throughout the interview processes too.

And if you have to know, I didnt accept the other job due to the smaller scale level. Anyway, thats another matter altogether.

There is another category of that of readers as well that asked for tips on securing jobs in Shanghai. They want to relocate to Shanghai but at the same time, speak little / no Chinese and doesnt have considerable work experience.

For these readers, my advices are:

1) Dont give up, keep looking.  I have seen many cases of people with no Chinese language skills or work experience find good jobs in Shanghai.

2) Present your value proposition to the hiring manager clearly during the interview. Tell him how your "foreign skills" can help the company.

3) You might want to start the job search with with MNCs, embassies and companies from your country of origin. Generally, chances are better.

4) Never underestimate the power of networking in China. Word of mouth recommendations from friends can go a long way.

Happy job hunting!

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Comments

[johnson]

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www.sidecar-shanghai.com
mobile 13524051655

[braian]

I like to have your website link to my website
cheers
http://www.travels4.com

[George]

The information included on finding a job in China I think will do justice to anyone earnestly looking for a job.

[ozdude]

The zhaopin.com link is a good one. Looks like 51jobs has been bought by a domain squatter/spammer though :(

[Peter]

Hi I've recently created a site dedicated to helping people find a job in Shanghai. The site contains hundreds of resources all in one helpful site to get people started working in Shanghai. It uses a collection of RSS feeds, direct links, and a wikipedia like community to provide one of the most comprehensive job search sites. I hope you find the site as beneficial to your readers as I do. The site is: www.workinshanghai.com . Good luck to everyone!

[Bob Gorden]

Please email me for my current Resume/ CV. I have 23 years in manufacturing in various industries, 17 years in Quality Management and 7 years as General Manager in China including start up of factories and Representative offices.

I am positive that I will be an asset to your company.
Thank you,
Bob Gorden
bob_L_gorden@hotmail.com

[Amanda Chasteen]

I am graduating college this May with degrees in Marketing and Finance. Is there any advice you would have as to finding entry level jobs in Shanghai?

[David]

Hi Amanda,

I am not sure about your language skills.If you do not speak Mandarin, it may be a bit difficult for a fresh grad from overseas to find a job but it is not impossible.

One suggestion is to look for jobs in bigger MNCs with regional HQs in Shanghai. eg Asia Pacfic, Asia Office etc. In this case, they would appreciate your skills set more as regional HQs generally would already have a diverse set up or diversity policy in place.

And if you speak Mandarin, another way is to start with a English language teaching job first, which you can probably easily find in Shanghai, establish the network here before looking for a job in your preferred industry.

Lastly, you can check out other useful forums like http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum.phtml . You may see some good advice from people that has gone through a similar scenarios like yours.

Happy job hunting!

[Chin]

I have tried several years to secure a job in China by sending resume to agent and employer. However it was unsuccessful despite I am a ethnic Chinese.
I have an established working experience, which I strongly believe would be a valuable asset to MNC operating in China.
Any advice ?

[David]

Hi Chin,

Perhaps you can tell me about

1) Current occupation
2) Number of years of working experience
3) Nature of jobs applied

I can perhaps offer some personal suggestions.

[Chin]

I am a Director/GM of a MNC, has more than 14 years of experience. Looking for expat role that responsible for business entity with a MNC, similar to what I am doing now.

[David]

Hi Chin,

At your level, I dont think you need advices at the ground level.

Only thing is I can suggest is for you to network and make yourself known to some good headhunters in Shanghai. When such positions become available, they would have you first in mind.

[Patrick]

Hi, thank you for an entertaining and informative website. My wife and I are considering relocating from Johannesburg to Shanghai, she will be able to get a position with the IT multinational she now works for. We are in our 50's, I have 30 years experience in the bearing industry in South Africa and the US (sales, distributor management, regional management and latterly operating my own import and distribution company). Question: will my age (55) count against me in seeking employment in China? BTW, Wang-Li's site is infected with a virus.

[David Tan]

Hi Patrick,

personally, I wont be too worried about this. Most company would value experience.

[Comrade]

Hi David,

I came to your site while searching for a "recruitment agency" in Shanghai.

I tried to do so, because after years of looking around on classifieds and job boards online, I can't settled in a good job.

Most offers here are targeted at locals and in the end, about 4 years ago, I had to accept a very local pay of just a few thousand yuan.

Since I'm ethnic Chinese, I speak Chinese (both cantonese+mandarin), with a couple of years of work experience in Shanghai.

In your post, you mentioned that you know some people still managed to get a decent job without/or little Chinese skills and work experience.

I shall be grateful if you can give some examples. Did they manage to get it because they're Caucasians? Or?

Finally, as a rather entry-level (perhaps a bit better than that) employee, I wonder if agencies like Wang&Li will help. They usually target at mid/senior level managers......

[Comrade]

And yes, I missed out this important part in my comment. I tried even to attend networking a few times, mainly those so-called career development night etc....but in the end, these organizers managed to attract nothing except a few dozens of fresh local graduates (as well as a few busybody expats). NO "headhunters" around.

My word here for fellow newcomers. Don't waste your time and money (they charge a small entrance fee) to attend those silly events.

[David Tan]

Hi Comrade,

Yes, while its true that many foreigners take up jobs in China based on local terms, there are professionals in China that manage to get expat terms despite not knowing a word of Chinese or have very little experience in China.

These people are those that take up regional jobs within MNCs. Shanghai is fast becoming the Asia Pacific HQ. Handling the China market is just part of the job, not the entire job thus there is no exact need to be able to know the language. For these jobs, there could be skill sets required that are very lacking in China for example digital marketing.

In this kind of circumstances, the company is more willing to provide a better pay package.

It makes no sense for a company to give expat pay to a job scope that handles purely the local market when that are plenty of equivalent resources available in country.

Examples I know of:

MNC job in Xiamen, APAC role, no China experience or language experience needed.

GM job in Shanghai. Little local experience needed but need international outlook.

Personally, I dont think those networking sessions are useful. I would reommend you linking up with a good headhunter that can keep a good look out for you.

Happy job hunting!

[May]

Hi, I'm looking for a job in Shanghai. Anyway you can help. I have 8 yeast working experience in MNC company. Thanks

[David]

Hi May,

This site would be helpful.

http://china.recruit.net/

Best of all, its in English.

[Kevin Shieh]

Hi, I have worked as a computer programmer in US for more than 20 years . I am interested in working for a company in Shanghai, who need fluent Chinese language as good English skills. Does anyone have any good websites or resources that I can post my resume to ? Thanks.

[gayle megan]

I am a british fashion designer working in Italy since 2000, now looking to collaborate with interested fashion companies in Shanghai on a contractual basis. I deal with high-quality ready-to-wear or luxury womenswear and leather outerwear for men too.
How may I contact the right client looking for a designer with an Italian touch?

[Mika]

Hi Kevin,

You could try http://www.uniland.net.cn/en/b1.htm

Good luck.

[Mac]

Hi, my wife looking for a job in Shanghai. She having 3 years of experience in AS400, COBOL/400 and DB2/400. She worked with one of India's most reputed Life Insurance Company as a Information System Analyst.
Can you help me to suggest the way to find the job in shanghai? Any placement office or any agency to help me to find a job?

Thank You.

[David Tan]

Hi Mac,

try this site: http://china.recruit.net/

[Mac]

Thank You David.

Do you know any placement office in Shanghai so she can directly visits there office?

Because daily she send 10 to 15 mails to respective job Email IDs but hardly they reply.