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!

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 Chinese companies continue to dominate the indexes of employer attractiveness (rankings here), it is with some dismay that I notice only a few western companies getting ready to address the challenge of talent attraction in the medium term.

Furthermore, looking at the business plans of some top western-world companies, a major growth is expected to come from BRIC; but how these companies are expecting to deliver in such big markets remains partially a mystery. What I know is that attracting talent will be a major challenge and without human capital, how are the companies going to deliver on such different markets?

Long gone are the days where being an international company represented a competitive advantage in the talent market. Nowadays, Asian talent has career expectations that they perceive only achievable in local companies. If western companies want to achieve success in Asia, the time to start building their talent pipeline is… right… now!