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FINANCE, INSURANCE and property companies have the most aggressive recruitment programmes, according to a quarterly report by employment agency Manpower, China.

Buoyant foreign investment and the government's promises to further deregulate the mainland's insurance and finance industries have driven such companies to expand.

The Big Four accountancy firms, for example, have recruited aggressively in the past two years to keep up with customer demand.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) wants about 700 experienced and senior employees and 1,500 university graduates to join the firm in the next 12 months.

The firm is looking for staff globally but applicants need to understand the Chinese market and have excellent Putonghua and English skills. It also helps if they understand the Chinese environment and culture.

National manager of experienced hire recruitment, Georgie Silverwood, said the company needed managers, senior managers and senior associates for its advisory services, tax and audit and assurance services.

Advisory services managers and senior managers should have at least five years of experience in a consultancy company or a Big Four firm. Audit and assurance managers and senior managers should also have a minimum of five years of experience in a Big Four firm or local accounting firm.

Candidates who have postgraduate qualifications, such as being a certified accountant, will have an advantage.

Ms Silverwood said Hong Kong candidates could have an edge over foreign applicants for mainland positions because they had the necessary language skills and understood the Chinese culture better than people from other parts of the world.

Selected candidates will help the company expand operations in Beijing, Chongqing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Tianjin and Xian. Most of the recruits, though, will be absorbed in Beijing and Shanghai.

The new office in Qingdao also needs many employees. The company hopes to double its staff of 60 people at Qingdao in the next year.

Ms Silverwood said a position in a smaller branch such as Qingdao could be as attractive as one in a larger branch such as Beijing.

Managers and senior managers at a larger office would probably work on a few specific accounts or projects in a cosmopolitan environment but they would do a wider variety of jobs in a smaller office. They may meet a new client in the morning and supervise staff training during the afternoon, she said.

'You get direct exposure to a wide variety of tasks, so positions in the small offices are not to be undervalued,' Ms Silverwood said.

She said the firm offered staff a competitive salary and extra training and opportunities to move up the career ladder, regardless of where they were posted.

Besides basic training, employees get technical training in subjects such as the International Financial Reporting Standards. Managers are also trained in skills such as training staff, leadership and writing reports.

The company often offers staff opportunities to work overseas as part of its programme to expose them to a different environment. Staff sometimes can even be sent on secondment for two years or three years to the United States or Europe to keep abreast of international accounting practices, such as the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the US.

Ms Silverwood said such provisions not only offered staff a unique experience to work overseas but also made them valuable assets when they returned to China.

She said that could help staff in two ways. They could use their knowledge for clients who had to comply with overseas accounting standards in the mainland. They could also share their knowledge with people who had not been out of China.

Ms Silverwood said a position on the mainland would not necessarily guarantee candidates a fast-track career, but people who excelled at their jobs in the mainland had better career advancement opportunities than those who did so in Hong Kong.

Staff recruitment and retention could be the biggest challenges for the company in the next three years, especially as the Big Four recruit from a smaller pool of workforce than most other finance companies, she said. However, recruits could expect quality training and an opportunity to work for a multinational that was well-established in China.

'There is a special culture in the firm - one that makes people glad

to come to work,' Ms Silverwood said.

GROWTH PLAN

Managers, senior managers and senior associates needed by the accounting giant for its audit and assurance and advisory units

About 700 senior staff and 1,500 university graduates needed in the next year for mainland operations

Positions open in 10 primary and secondary cities in the mainland,  Hong Kong and Macau



Chance to manage a big deal