Universum just released the 2011 Ideal Employer of China!

Based on the responses of over 58 000 students from Mainland China, UNIVERSUM just presented the 2011 data. Here are some of the major findings:

- China mobile is no longer the most attractive employer among engineering students: after leading the engineering ranking since 2008, China mobile loses its number one position to SGCC. In the business ranking, China Mobile also loses its #2 position to Procter & Gamble.

- State-owned vs international employers: The differences in employer brand image between international employers and state-owned companies are huge. State-owned companies are highly associated with secure employment and  good work/life balance, whereas international companies are highly associated with an international career, challenging and varied workas well as attractive and innovative products.

- International career: a “must have” for Chinese female students: For Chinese female students having an international career is more important than for male students. This doesn’t refer only to interacting with international colleagues and clients, Chinese female students also give more importance to opportunities for relocation abroad and international travel than male students. Male students, on the other hand, prioritize leadership opportunities much more than women.

- Almost 50% of the Chinese business and engineering students are optimistic about finding a job with their favourite employer within 6 months after graduation.

- Over 65% of the business and engineering students want to work for medium or big employers (100-1000 employees).

You can see the full rankings on the website and stay tuned: more analysis will be coming during the next weeks.

The Economist published another fantastic article, this time about how Asian firms are prefering local talent to western expats.

According to the article (and David Zweig of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) “graduates are flooding on to Asia’s job market from local universities, and Asians with degrees from Western ones are returning home. Since 2003 roughly 325,000 Chinese have returned after studying overseas—more than three times as many as in the entire two decades before”. Adding to this positive change in talent supply, companies are looking for ready-made guanxi (business and political relationships) and people committed to stay in the countries.

What does this mean for the employer branding industry?

- Companies with a strong appeal for Asian talent returning home will be winners in this war for talent

- Asian companies with low employer brand awareness will most likely fail to attract the returning Asian talent and will have to focus almost exclusively on local talent

- Western companies will have to increase their efforts to be able to attract this group. However, by having operations on the markets where Asian are currently pursuing their studies, they will have the possibility of tapping into this talent pool before anyone else

- The need to focus on diverse talent groups will force companies to have EVPs that can be adjustable to the different audiences

With the Asian markets being some of the fastest growth sales markets, my advice is straightforward: Invest in your EVP asap!

Less than a month ago, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop sent an internal memo to all employees with a dramatic analysis of Nokia’s current situation.

While yours truly is a subscriber of direct communication, in certain situations I have to wonder what’s the real impact of such a harsh message in Nokia’s employer branding internally and externally, especially if you take into account how much in Asia we don’t like to lose face.

For a long time Nokia has been Finland’s #1 ideal employer as well as one of the World’s most attractive employers. With this message I believe Mr. Elop wanted to moralize and wake-up Nokia’s employees. The question of whether this will end-up by eroding Nokia’s attractiveness will be answered soon (the 2011 Universum rankings are about to be revealed).

My perception is that it might be harmful unless it gets tied up to a challenge/reward  – young talent wants companies with innovative products/ services, that offer job security, that help them developed and allows them to have a brighter future. Under the current circumstances, I’m not sure if Nokia offers this. On the other hand – taking the challenge of bringing Nokia to what it used to be and face Apple on the market that they now own will be one of the best achievements one can ever have on their cv.

Time will tell!

Recently several companies have engaged Universum about the question of taking or not their employer branding into moving media.  My answer would be yes!

Today’s talent lives in the digital world (facebook, renren, twitter, tudou, youtube, youku …) and expects to receive information via digital channels. Any information available online can then be accessible to a wider audience than the typical communication materials / efforts. Furthermore, a video gives companies the opportunity to show the real company environment and how it is to work there. It becomes a great tool for clear communication, enabling employer brands to be better understood by the target audience – something critical to ensure you have a proper talent relationship management strategy in place.

Some companies have also been facing the complexity of adding moving media into their communication portfolio, but creating a video doesn’t need to be complicated: interview or follow an employee during a day, show the company environment and also present basic information that students want to know (i.e., career path, mentoring programs, …). Communicate what the audience wants to know – easy to do if you have access to research data. Finally, use the videos during events (career fairs, open days, company days, …) and make it available on your online channels (website, social media pages). It will help people understanding better your employer brand and your offerings – critical to ensure you attract the people with the right personality and skills.

To sum up, creating a set of employer branding videos is a must have – it’s the same as thinking that marketing could only live with print adverts or fliers… not in this decade!

Recently, during the State of the Union address, the US President asked the US for a new Sputnik moment. Mr. Obama was referring back to the moment when the late USSR managed to beat the US in launching the first satellite – an event that triggered a fast technological development from the US side.

But can the US sustain a new technological leap forward? My answer is no! Reality check: with a huge debt crisis and with only one in four youngsters going to university, there will be neither financial capacity nor human capital to deliver on this aspiration.

The technological leap forward will most likely come from China: 1) the human capital is there – 400 000 engineers being turned out every year (against 250 000 from India or 35 000 from Brazil) against the existing 1,6 million engineers working in the US; 2) the financial capacity is on the rise – a huge trade surplus making money available for R&D.

History might repeat itself… but this time, it seems that the roles have reversed – the US is in a similar situation to what the USSR was, and China is in the driver’s seat. I look forward to this new technology race – in the end, we’ll all win no matter wheter the new products / solutions are “made in China” or “made in USA”.

Asia’s booming economy has created a special need for natives with Western experience
By Fred Cohn in Universum Quarterly 4/2010

The boom in Asia’s economy has created a corresponding growth in its job market. Companies are hiring not just in established business centres like Hong Kong and Singapore, but in the second- and third-tier cities that are now flourishing throughout the area. But whilst top professionals, even those without native language and cultural skills, have traditionally been able to flourish in the continent’s more cosmopolitan cities, employers in Asia now increasingly need – and demand – candidates who demonstrate cultural fluency. The situation has put a special premium on native Asians who have developed international cultural skills. Because of this, Asian expatriates – natives who are now studying or working abroad – are particularly desirable subgroup.

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As Japan’s demographics go from pyramid to kite (see The Economist graph here – from “Into the Unknown” article), companies will face an increased challenge for talent attraction.  In the five decades after the second world war, Japan’s working population grew by 37 million people.  This demographic growth, together with an increase in productivity, took Japan from ruins to become the second largest economy in the world (now third, after China’s GDP surpassed Japan’s).

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