The right path to finding, and keeping, staff

As more and more Chinese companies look to move into all kinds of markets, expanding recruitment will be their key to building and sustaining a strong workforce.

To effectively deliver goods and services globally, companies will need to adopt new recruitment models that focus on delivering excellence and added value and return on investment.

As the economies of East Asia grow - even if slowly - unlike their Western counterparts, it has become clear that problems in one or two corners of the globe have affected the whole world.

In the last quarter of this year, 64 percent of executives have forecast employment growth, compared with 72 percent in the previous quarter, and an overwhelming majority of Chinese companies are looking for more effective ways to recruit and retain the best talent.

It has become clear that companies, Chinese ones included, need to become more proactive and more innovative in the way they recruit to take account of present economic risks. This includes investing in university recruitment, career fair recruitment, increasing executive search capabilities and adopting an additional method known as recruitment process outsourcing.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security says China will have 6.6 million college graduates this year. Those graduates will be searching for job opportunities right now, and launching recruitment efforts at college fairs is an important tool for companies that want to expand their talent pool.

In such a competitive market, where all employers are recruiting from the same pool, it will be important for Chinese companies to develop and maintain relations with universities.

Gaining talented, fresh, career-driven individuals can obviously be a real winner for any company, one that could even put them a nose ahead in a highly competitive market.

The estimated 4.1 percent of the urban Chinese unemployed span all demographics, including age, experience, and socio-economic levels, which makes career fairs a particularly useful recruitment tool.

According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management and Career Journal, more than 70 percent of human resources departments rely on job fairs to recruit employees. As a result, their hiring pool is more varied and better equipped to compete internationally.

Importantly, career fairs also give companies the invaluable opportunity to meet potential employees. The days of simply flipping through piles of resumes and e-mails without having the slightest idea of how a candidate presents himself or herself are well and truly over.

Hiring and keeping people whose goals and expectations align with those of the company has never been more important.

When searching for middle to senior level potential hires, using headhunters is an ideal option. These third-party entities work with companies to best place the ideal candidate. Using executive search firms that specialize in particular sectors and disciplines ensures you are hiring an individual who is the best fit for your company, not just one who matches the job description.

Choosing a firm that offers consultants with a wealth of knowledge about a particular sector and the skill sets required in it guarantees company efficiency and increased productivity.

Finding a company that uses not only orthodox headhunting techniques to attract clients but that also uses candidate databases and websites, including social networking ones, not to mention more traditional advertising, can be particularly fruitful.

Gaining the services of recruitment companies that can in turn find potential recruiters, ideally those with a global network, can also be invaluable.

One other recruitment method has sprung from the needs of businesses that lack recruiting expertise but that want a complete business-to-business solution.

That method, recruitment process outsourcing, looks at the specific requirements of a client's human capital needs. Providers of recruitment process outsourcing supply employers with a broad range of recruitment solutions from strategic consulting to benchmarking and surveying.

With recruitment process outsourcing, businesses can use their time and energy more efficiently and effectively.

The author is a Recruitment & English Trainer with Antal International China. Antal is a HR consulting company with 100 offices in 33 countries. The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.