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CHINA'S ECONOMY has continued to grow rapidly this year, with foreign investors   moving quickly to take advantage of the momentum.

Multinational accountancy firms have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of this continuing trend, and all the Big Four firms are recruiting extensively to meet rising demand.

Professional services firm Ernst & Young is offering Hong Kong job seekers training and career advancement opportunities as part of a major recruitment drive to fill its mainland positions.

Ernst & Young wants 1,000 recruits this year. HR partner Catherine Yen Ka-shun said this was just the 'tip of the iceberg' as the firm had a much larger recruitment goal later in the year.

It needs audit managers, business risk service managers and transaction advisory division managers, and is also looking for finance and administration staff.

The company is expanding operations at its main branches in Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Wuhan.

It also wants staff for branches that it plans to open in other parts of the mainland.

Candidates should have the necessary qualifications along with relevant experience. They also need to have good written and spoken English and Putonghua skills, and be willing to travel in the region.

Managerial staff should ideally have at least five years of experience, while recruits for junior positions need less.

Ms Yen said recruits should have energy, enthusiasm and the courage to lead.

She said they were also required to work well in teams and have good interpersonal skills.

'They need to have a commitment to building relationships,' she said.

The firm has been in Hong Kong since 1973 and in Beijing since 1981. It employs about 5,000 staff at its offices in the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.

Ms Yen said the firm hoped to double its size in the next five years to meet the growing demand for accounting services.

For recruits, the biggest attraction in moving to the mainland was the opportunity to have a fast-track career. Ms Yen said Ernst & Young hoped to attract recruits with its people-first culture, which involved  continuous training and professional staff development.

Staff can undergo further professional training and the firm promises to focus on the development of employees' careers. The company will also  evaluate staff performance.

'We believe that by creating value and confidence for our people, we create value and confidence for our clients,' Ms Yen said.

Ernst & Young has a six-month internship programme for undergraduates and  Ms Yen said it was an excellent chance for them to boost their accounting careers.

The firm also has a comprehensive training system to help graduates and its more experienced staff build their skills while working in the organisation.

More experienced staff could even get to go overseas.

'Our global exchange programme provides our professionals with overseas experience in a specific technical or industry area or on a global account,' Ms Yen said.

The Ernst & Young learning and development system also creates many opportunities for job seekers in the corporate education sector.

The firm is in search of full-time staff for its training programme and needs them to have the relevant qualifications. Trainers need six years to eight years of audit experience.

Ernst & Young uses its training and development programme as a way to provide the best service to clients and stay ahead in an aggressive recruitment market.

The market became particularly competitive recently when the Big Four accountancy firms went on a large recruitment drive. This almost caused the pool of talent willing to work in the mainland to dry up.

Ms Yen said the firm managed to find enough staff to fill vacancies but getting suitable candidates remained a challenge.

'In this war for talent, recruiting volumes of exceptional candidates to grow our business in China and internationally is never an easy job.'

Ms Yen said Asia's economic growth meant there had never been a better time to join the firm.

'Ernst & Young's China practice is growing to serve international organisations who have invested in Asia and there are faster promotions for staff as a result,' she said.

ON THE TABLE

Auditors, trainers and administration staff needed

Candidates with good written and spoken English and Putonghua wanted

Continuous training and monitoring offered to build recruits' careers

About 5,000 staff to be hired in the next five years



Accounting giant is hiring