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!

Business week, in a December article entitled “China Business Schools Hit Their Stride“, explains that Chinese business schools increasingly match the Western quality of education. It’s been an arduous journey, since the first business programmes in 1991, but results are now starting to show.

Although much has been done, the demand for talent is still high in China – 20,000 MBA students graduate each year, whereas 75,000 graduates are needed. Truly, the market cries out for business professionals, with international companies and Chinese employers (having operations abroad) being the neediest.

In terms of quality, schools in China succeed in two ways: 1) capture the domestic talent that once preferred to study abroad and 2) attract Western talent that is interested in knowing more about the world’s second largest economy. With this approach, allied to the networking possibilities offered by the programmes (40% international students, 60% Chinese students), China will keep talent inflowing.

Seems like the next smart thing to do is take an MBA in China…