back
interviews
ANDY BENTOTE
Managing Director, Norther & Eastern China
MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL
2010-02-01, China International Business (CIB) www.cibmagazine.com.cn
By Mina Choi | From CIB February 2010 Print & Web Edition
FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW
NAME:
Andy Bentote
POSITION: Managing director, Northern and Eastern China, Michael Page
International
EDUCATION: BA German and French, University of Birmingham, UK
WHAT'S IN HIS POCKET: Passport, Mulberry wallet, Blackberry, ID badge,
key chain
When British-born Andy Bentote joined Michael Page International, one of the world's leading recruitment agencies, straight out of university in 1994, he had to shrug off unfriendly comments from his family about not being in a "real" industry. The company, started above a London laundromat in 1976 and now traded on the London Stock Exchange, was part of an industry that few understood the need for. Yet, looking out over the bustling Shanghai business district on Nanjing Road from his office 15 years later, Bentote has no doubts about the importance of his industry and the growing position of Michael Page International within it: the company has grown from 20 offices in 1994, to an international powerhouse with more than 140 offices worldwide today.
However, the market was not kind in 2009 and since Bentote arrived in Shanghai in March 2009 as the managing director of the Northern and Eastern China division the business has been uneven at best, with Michael Page International announcing an almost unprecedented drop of 36.4% in annual gross profit for the year. But, with a huge upturn in the fourth quarter of 2009, a cautious smile has returned to Bentote's face.
Bentote sat down with CIB in his Shanghai office to discuss, among other things, the challenges of finding a good candidate and why getting an MBA is not so important in China.
What is the state of the job market and is it really better in China than elsewhere?
I definitely think so. It's the only region in the world that demonstrated
resilience over the summer [of 2009]. We noticed things getting better
last year. The recovery started out in Singapore, then moved to Hong
Kong. Late in September and October we noticed it in Shanghai, and finally
we saw it in Beijing as of January this year.
Why did the recovery start out in Singapore?
I'm not really an expert, but it seems that overall the recovery started
in South Asia and came up. Developed economies [like Singapore] dropped
a lot so they picked up much more once the market climate changed.
How does this compare to other markets?
Right now the UK is okay, but is pretty flat in terms of growth and
it seems that China is coming out of the recession very quickly. The
US and China are two key markets for Michael Page post recession, so,
for us, China's recovery is exciting because Michael Page has a relatively
small presence relative to the size of the market in both these countries.
The phrase at the moment is ‘cautious optimism.' The number of
inquiries and available jobs has gone up in the last few months. Many
job openings that had been put on hold a year ago have come back on.
We had more inquiries from our international offices in the fourth quarter
of last year than the previous nine months combined. So we think that,
in the last quarter, confidence picked up and companies that were afraid
to sign on the dotted line are willing to now. We're getting more optimistic
every week.
Can you talk about some of the overall trends you've been seeing in terms of job openings and candidate types?
We mostly work with multinational companies; although we do some work
with local companies and hope that this will evolve and change as we
start to do more business with local sectors in the future. Generally,
the market has improved across all sectors in China, but if I were to
name a sector that has been doing much better than others, it would
be Fast Moving Consumer Goods (low cost food and cosmetic items) and
retail.
Chinese people love to shop and shops have fared better than some of
the other businesses. What this translates into in terms of job openings
is that many property developers and retail chains are looking for expansion
managers for their retail businesses and property developments.
One trend we are noticing is that now the [company's] head office will
increasingly want to be involved in the final stages of the interview.
Candidates will often be flown overseas and, to us, that demonstrates
how important the China market has become to our clients.
Are there much better job candidates entering the market?
Not necessarily. During the recession most companies cut back,
but they really cut out the bottom 10-20% of underperformers. Companies
work hard to look after their best employees. As the economy is picking
up, these companies might have to further convince the top employees
to buy into what they are doing and demonstrate that they have a very
well-developed career path. But overall China has been a hard place
to find a good candidate.
What is the make up of your target job seekers?
A vast majority of our clients are looking to localize. So for Michael
Page International I would say that 95% of the roles we fill are local
hires.
Are the days of the decadent expat packages now over in China?
In terms of expatriates being hired, we don't tend to handle them as
they are generally hired internally. By that I mean that most top expats
are brought in from the head office or another country to oversee China
businesses because they know the business and can continue the company
culture. We do get a lot of calls from expatriate candidates, but we
find that it's very difficult to help them.
The top, top guys still get packages that pay for [children's] schooling,
cars with drivers, housing etc, but many companies are only offering
half-pat packages that offer some benefits such as housing and car.
There's also a huge change in that there are many expats who enjoy living
in China and want to stay after their current job has ended. For those
candidates we have to ask two questions: 1) How good is your Putonghua?
(the Chinese Mandarin dialect) 2) Are they flexible with the benefits
package?
You stress the importance of Putonghua and yet only arrived in China to head up the Shanghai office in March 2009. What is your Chinese level?
I studied Chinese for two months before coming to China and now have
lessons every week. I think it is vital that any expat and business
leader show a commitment to learning the language. It is tough, but
I studied French and German at university so languages are in my blood.
Has there been a big change in the managerial job market from,
say, five years ago?
It has changed. I wouldn't say it's a dramatic change, but more of
a gradual one. Over the last four or five years, many companies made
a decision to localize their personnel and replace the expatriates to
cut costs.
Moving forward, however, as companies look to expand again, can they
really find the talent locally? We have found that the supply of local
talent at a managerial level is improving. Generally, if it's a purely
China role, it's difficult to find people but it's possible. But if
it's an Asia role or an Asia/Pacific role then finding people with that
broader experience is much more difficult. As companies relocate their
headquarters to somewhere like Shanghai, to demonstrate China's importance,
they are looking for regional managers who are also local, and it becomes
very difficult to find these candidates. That's where perhaps an expat
from Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia will be a better candidate.
How about returnees? Have you seen an upturn in the number of returnees?
We've seen about 25% increase in the last six months. Returnees are
well-educated and often have experience with multinationals, but many
of them don't have strong China experience. They often want to return
as expats, but my advice to them would be, be as flexible as possible.
How about China as a hardship post? Has that changed?
China has become significantly less of a hardship posting. For some
of the less desirable cities there might be a better package offered,
but on the whole, for the second and third-tier cities, companies are
looking to hire local people who are from that city.
With the proliferation of MBA and EMBA programs in China, how important are post graduate qualifications?
Very few of our clients ever say that they are looking for someone with
an MBA. Our clients are looking for people with experience. An MBA is
not valuable without practical experience. It is a useful degree if
you have practical experience and it does add value, but an MBA alone
is not enough to get a job.
What sort of processes do you go through to evaluate job candidates
for your clients?
We interview all our candidates here in Chinese. We are also very careful to check information on our candidates' CVs and use [an outside] company to run background checks.
What has changed in the last few years, if anything?
Loyalty has become more important. Eighteen months ago no one had any
qualms about leaving a job. That is changing. Companies are getting
very fussy about candidates and want people who will contribute to the
business and have a track record of staying two-three years at one place.
The recession has made candidates more realistic about annual pay rises
and they too are seeking stability over a higher compensation package.
How long will this last? Everybody out there is wondering when the war
for talent will start again.
Why is it so difficult to find good candidates?
It's simply supply and demand. From 2003 to 2008, China had a lot of
opportunities for top candidates. Then in 2009 the market became client-driven.
I think in 2010 we will see more of a balance between the two. When
the market is candidate-driven, it is good for us.
Have you noticed an upswing in the number of foreigners looking to find jobs in China?
I've noticed a rise of applications from foreigners. But, again, the
questions are ‘do you have experience' and ‘can you speak
Putonghua?'
In recent times how have pay and compensation packages changed for local recruits?
Anecdotally, the pay rise has been about 10% per annum, and that would
be just within the same company – it is much more if a person
was moving companies. This year it's more modest. I would say it's about
5%. Candidates are more realistic now. Still, we wonder whether we'll
get back to those days again when candidates were demanding much more.
Can you describe the ideal job candidate? The type of person who would be hired in two-seconds flat with dozens of companies vying for their signature.
I'll give you several hot, key candidates that are in demand at the
moment. The first one would be a good quality financial controller.
This person would have some management role with international company
experience, with ideally some overseas exposure – like having
worked for an international business. This person can expect to make
RMB 50-60,000 a month.
A second candidate would be a marketing manager. Again, someone who
has worked with international big brands and names. This person can
expect to make about RMB 40-50,000 a month. A third candidate would
be someone with LEAN manufacturing experience, a qualified manager who's
worked at an international management level. While a fourth candidate
would be a quality expansion manager for retailers and developers. He
or she can expect to make about RMB 30,000 a month or above. Roles much
more in demand than before are internal auditors and quality-control
managers.
Recruitment is a highly competitive field. How do you compete?
First of all, we don't do headhunting at Michael Page. We never cold
call anyone. We have a database of candidates we maintain and once someone
has entered our database, we keep track of them, but Michael Page is
solely a recruitment company.
As a recruitment company we compete by training the best people in our
own offices, giving them day-to-day training which translates into the
best service levels for our clients and our candidates. This is the
way we can attract the best candidates.
Has the fee structure changed for your business?
No, not really. The industry standard fee is 25-30% of the first year's salary.
Are there any unique elements to running a recruitment business
in China?
There aren't any elements unique to China, but there are some things
that tend to happen more often in China than elsewhere and these are
loyalty and integrity issues. Candidates might accept a job and join
a company, but suddenly change their mind at the last minute.
To deal with these issues, we at Michael Page try to keep in contact
with the candidates throughout the process. We also do a careful reference
check, background check and qualification check. We often get a situation
where on Wednesday a candidate is happy, and then by Friday the candidate
doesn't want to start the job that is to begin on Monday. These situations
happen with more frequency here in China.
How do you deal with this?
Obviously it affects the way we look at these candidates in the future.
We also offer our client companies a two-month guarantee; that we will
replace all [no-show] candidates within a two-month period free of charge.
How about language-skills? You mentioned that Chinese proficiency is now absolutely necessary for top-level job candidates.
There are very few management jobs for foreigners who speak no Putonghua.
It doesn't have to be perfect, but you have to be able to speak it conversationally
and at least show that you're trying to learn it.
How important are English language skills?
English is very, very important. It's a basic requirement. There are
cases where French or German might be helpful because of the company
hiring, but for any professional management position, English is a key
skill. Recently we've also been seeing a demand for local dialects.
For example, we now have roles open for those who speak Shanghainese,
for managers who need to oversee a manufacturing company or a supply
chain where the local team mostly speaks Shanghainese.
How do you find suitable candidates?
We rely on word-of-mouth. If we give our people good service then that
person will often recommend a friend or two. In China, we have a website
that works very well for us for candidate-generation. We do advertise
on some of the Internet job search sites, but we take out very few ads
in magazines or any other medium. A vast majority of our candidates
come through our website so we spend a lot of time inspecting and managing
our website traffic.
What advice would you give today's job seekers?
Be very well-prepared for the interview. Know your experience and be
able to sell it and your achievements during the interview. Be realistic
on the salary expectations, and remember that the best jobs are always
competitive.