The country's major job fairs for foreigners have featured increasingly more high-tech and management-oriented positions than the formerly dominant teaching posts, said a senior official with the department that oversees attracting and managing international professionals.
Between 2005 and 2008, the majority of positions offered at top job fairs for foreigners were for language teachers, but the post-financial-crisis period has seen more enterprises seeking professionals with other expertise, Zhong Yanguang, deputy director of the Information Research Center of International Talent under the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, said on the sidelines of a job fair on Saturday.
"In the past many enterprises hired foreigners mainly to show that they have international staff, but now as more and more Chinese enterprises are eyeing the global market, they tend to employ and efficiently use those international human resources," he said.
Zhong's organization has held major job fairs for expats every year in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou since 2005.
In Beijing, most jobs at the fair tend to go to high-tech and management-oriented professionals; in Shanghai, financial talent is tops in demand; and in Guangzhou, enterprises need marketing professionals, according to Zhong.
At the Beijing job fair on Saturday, language-teaching posts accounted for less than 50 percent, which marked a major change.
Nearly 70 enterprises and organizations participated in the fair, posting more than 1,000 jobs.
China International Chamber of Commerce for the Private Sector looked for eight professionals to fill marketing and management positions provided by six private enterprises.
"Privately owned businesses, especially medium-sized ones, are thirsty for foreign professionals to help them explore the overseas market," said Qi Tao, a spokesperson for the chamber.
The CICCPS has more than 140 members, and they have participated in the job fair for five years.
At the fair, the foreign experts affairs bureau in Rizhao city, Shandong province, was organizing local enterprises to seek foreign talent.
"The city's high-tech industry is developing fast and we urgently need talent in fields such as agricultural-machinery manufacturing, biological medicine, environmental protection and seawater desalination," said Li Jianyun, who was in charge of the recruitment for the bureau at the fair.
Li's organization offered 70 positions in those fields.
Also at the fair, Hebei-based Great Wall Motor Co was looking for talent to manage overseas programs.
"We want to hire professionals from India and Thailand to manage our future projects in those two countries because we plan to set up factories there, and we need people who know local markets well," a staff member with the company said on condition of anonymity.
More than 1,500 job seekers were expected to pass through the fair by the end of Saturday, according to Zhong Yanguang.
Natalia Pozdeeva, from Russia, has been working in Beijing for four years and now works at a Russian logistics firm, but she wants to change jobs.
"I hope to find a job at a Chinese logistics company in Beijing, and the reason I want to stay in the industry is because trade between China and Russia continues to be prosperous," she said.
Pedro Hernandez, from Spain, studies computer science at the University of Alcala in Madrid.
Hernandez will graduate in July and he will end his exchange-student program in China's Shandong University in months.
"China's IT industry develops fast and there are many more job opportunities here than in Spain," he said.
The 30-year-old said he wants to find a software-development job in Beijing.
Reve Tardivel is from Cameroon, and he will complete his master's degree in economics and business management from a school in Beijing in July.
"I enjoy my life in China and I'm going to marry a Chinese next month. I also notice a lot of job opportunities here," said the 27-year-old.
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