The Asia Pacific Headhunter

Friday Links

Some great articles for you to take in over the weekend:

Evidence from Japan that companies that offshore operations are more successful at maintaining and growing their domestic workforce. This is worth a read for all the anti-offshoring types. Offshoring has been a big issue in Japan since the 80's thanks to all the manufacturing done there. And while the study can't say what type of employees are hired in the domestic operations, the results do show that perhaps not offshoring is a bigger risk to the growth of a company in their country of origin.

Immigrants Fuel Workforce Growth in Canada - Canada's foreign-born population has reached it's highest point in 75 years with 20% of the population born overseas. They have given a much needed boost to an ageing workforce.

South Asian Blood Sweat and Tears in the Middle East - A damning article on the treatment of nearly 600,000 Sri Lankan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the UAE. The Sri Lankan government reports that 50 domestic workers return to Sri Lanka "in distress" every day! More needs to be said about this, it's disgusting that this type of abuse of workers continues.

Indonesian Economy on The Rise But Jobs Scarce - Quick article on economy growth in Indonesia but also how that growth has been confined to certain parts of the country. In some cases people can make more money offering themselves as passengers to commuters so they can use the car pool lane, than they can from working near their homes.

Dow Chemical cuts 1000 jobs - Includes leaving the automotive sealers business in Asia. Hardly even causes a blip on the share price which always seems to be the case when there are layoffs.

UK Investment Bankers Predict Doom in 2008 - But they still think they'll personally get bigger bonuses!  You've gotta love their optimism. Not that those bonuses weren't bad last year either.

Indians and Filipinos Happiest People in Asia - Who would of thunk it? Filipinos in particular are happy about their career prospects and families but are most of all happy about their health. Unfortunately they came last in "preparedness for retirement". Still at least they aren't unhappy about it.

Where Do The Highest Paid Executives Live?

We really live in a mobile world nowadays. In particular many people will consider working not only different careers but also in many different countries during their career. There is no doubt that Asia is seen as an excellent area to move to and work for many people, at the same time many people in Asia are very interested in working in other parts of the world. The spirit of adventure drives many but if you are also interested in the power of money you might want to check out the Hay Group's 2007 World Pay Report available here (beware the link goes to a PDF download).

I like this report because it doesn't just show salary levels, it takes into account the cost of living and tax in each country to reveal disposable income levels - the true purchasing power of executive salaries for 46 countries in North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific. The results might really surprise a lot of people. The USA is 24th while countries like Russia, Turkey and Thailand are all in the top 10. From within Asia Hong Kong is 3rd while Thailand is 8th, Singapore 9th and China 14th. If you've been thinking hard about taking your executive skills off the beaten track then this might make you even more interested. While you might take a pay cut to go to many places your purchasing power may make up for that cut.

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Experience.com provides information on internships and entry level jobs.

How To Find a Career in Asia

I'm often asked by people who want to move into the Asia Pacific region, especially those with training in Asian languages, "How do I get a job there?". There are also a lot of people who find themselves in Asia, gain good local language skills and knowledge who also want to leverage that into a corporate position. Now as a Headhunter I can rarely help these people directly. But I have seen a lot of people in the past use the following method to get their footstep in the door in the Asia Pacific and not just get a job, but build a career.

Firstly, remember this: you are in a very lucky position! It's unlikely that at many other times in your career will you have such a clean slate to work with on where, and what you want to do. Next, try the following steps to thoroughly to really give yourself some choice.

1. Establish the skills and experiences that make you valuable for companies. By this I mean analyzing your experience and finding great stories of how you can help others from your recent experience. Make sure you are convinced of the validity of these stories of your experience and that you can back them up with both referees and if necessary hard numbers.

2. Choose a group of 10 companies through online research where YOU think these stories will really resonate.

3. Find someone in these companies to try your story out on. Anyone will do but ideally someone who has been with the company or in the industry for more than 5 years. When you approach them ask them if you can do a quick, "information interview" on their company. Ask them what is valuable to them in an employee etc. Finally tell them one of your stories and ask them, "honestly do you think my experience is useful for your kind of company".

4. Go back to your original list of 10, from what you've learned from the people you spoke to, is your experience still valuable to them or should you look at another industry or position? If the group is right then congratulate yourself. You now have a real world understanding of where you can add value quickly. That is what companies care about, knowing this point is CRITICAL to selling yourself.

5. Now that you know the industries that will benefit from you start researching which companies you want to work for in the region. Once you have that list it's time to approach them and actually see if they have a need for you now. Often the people you spoke to in your first calls will recommend someone as long your original value and personality has resonated with them.

This may sound a little difficult but it should give you more choice that YOU want. The fact is there are many jobs for good people, if you are a good person you won't have a problem finding a job. But finding a career you love is a different story and I think the process above can help with achieving that.

Checkout Austin jobs at itzbig.com.

The Emerging Indian Semiconductor Economy

When you think of India as the offshoring capital for IT services, you think of the financial services industry, call center industry and software development. Another one to soon add to that list is chip design. In Forbes Asia, Elizabeth Corcoran gives some insight to the emerging Indian semiconductor economy by following Michael Fister of Cadence Design Systems, a major provider of software and systems for chip design and testing. Cadence, based in Silicon Valley, is set to take offshoring from help desk and software development to chip design. His vision:

Offshoring chip design promises to turbocharge business, letting companies produce more products quicker than ever, and at low prices.  Imagine it and India's tech wizard will design it, Chinese factories will churn out the chips for it: It's just-in-time invention. Every new chip is the basis for a score of devices; every device sparks ideas for a host of software applications. "You build a foundation around semiconductors," notes Fister. "Then you can build industries around it."

By working closely with Indian companies and training engineers on Cadence tools for designing chips, Cadence is getting in on the ground-floor with cutting-edge work that Cadence feel will become the next new trends in electronics equipment and consumer technology. The India Semiconductor Association estimates the chip design industry will grow by 5 times to $14.4 billion with 286,000 employees by 2010.

Recruiting in the Semiconductor industry in Asia Pacific is one of the toughest areas I work. There are a myriad of dynamic smaller firms who need Field Application and Sales Engineers as well as Sales Managers. Not to mention the larger players also require a highly intelligent and bilingual workforce! Tough requirements for an extremely exciting and demanding industry. I  am currently working on Sales Positions in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong for major semiconductor companies who are clear market leaders in their niches. If you are an Engineer or Sales Professional in the semiconductor industry in Tokyo or anywhere in Greater China, feel free to email me if you have any questions about where to go next in your career.

It's exciting to see India moving ahead in the semicon industry. My experience in Silicon Valley is that there are a great number of Indian Engineers in the semiconductor industry there and I don't doubt that those ties are helping to push the growth within India itself.

This Year's Hottest Job in China

Forbes magazine has announced that the hottest job in China right now is... (drum-roll please) HR! (see Forbes - Get Me Personnel! By Russell Flannery). That's right, often wrongly maligned and considered a cushy job. Human Resource management in China is both critical and insanely difficult. One VP of HR listed some of their problems including employees selling company technology, sales staff working for rivals, and nepotism.

My own contacts say it has never been so difficult. That being said, the challenge of the position is being reflected in the growth in salaries. In 2004 and 2005 wage growth for HR executives was 20%, with typical salary for a top HR executive in a multinational in China now US$97,000. Not too shabby at all.

One major issue that companies are facing is how difficult it is to conduct background checks on candidates and new employees. Often references are also forged or referees are loathe to provide negative references for fear of repercussions. This is one factor that drives the Recruitment and Headhunting industries in the region. It is often safer and easier to headhunt from a competitor than it is to consider candidates who aren't currently working within a multinational competitor. The fact that they are sourced from one of your competitors gives a (albeit sometimes false) sense of security.

Is China the way to Boost your Career?

Apparently, more and more Executives see China as place to boost their career.  There definitely is value in gaining overseas experience, especially of being in a new and uncertain environment where you're outside your comfort zone and are constantly being stretched. In a growing market and/or new foreign branch, more often than not you're given more responsibilities and face a whole different set of challenges.  If you're good, you become more nimble, adaptable, and innovative - simply because you can't rely on things that you'd expect from your home culture. And good candidates are always nimble, adaptable and innovative.

It's no wonder that top performers in top US corporate boardrooms (see previous post Who are America's Top Corporate Stars?) most likely have global work experience - especially in Asia.

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