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SCMP Reporter

Shanghai's campaign to attract overseas talent  to support the city's  economic expansion has a sentimental ring to it because it echoes  Deng Xiaoping Theory.
It was the late  paramount leader who first disregarded the  view of the time that Chinese youngsters who had fled the mainland should stay away, instead calling on them to return to the motherland,  said Fang Xinghai, the director general of the Shanghai Financial Service Office.
Mr Fang  said the city's massive recruitment plan  was now itself  facing the same doubts that had surrounded Deng's controversial move.
'But it is a move to help Shanghai build itself into an international financial centre,'  Mr Fang said. 'It is also going to benefit the whole country since the hiring also brings financial expertise to China.'
He and his agency focused their recruitment drive offshore after expectations were raised that the layoffs and closures of foreign financial  firms  offered largely unscathed mainland banks and brokerages an opportunity to  draw out-of-work professionals, particularly  overseas Chinese.
Shanghai unveiled a plan to hire 170 people from overseas  to fill  posts including chief actuaries and risk-control managers at 27 financial institutions.
The domestic financial system remains almost intact  amid the global credit crisis. Consequently, the country  showed its aspiration to wield its financial power in the world  through a series of high-profile recruitment campaigns.
Shanghai, the mainland's economic locomotive, organised three job fairs - one each in London, Chicago and New York - to fill the 170 posts, offering annual salaries ranging from 200,000 yuan (HK$226,620) to 1.5 million yuan.
Though the fairs appeared to be a great success, attracting 2,176 applicants,  the campaign stirred some top city officials and analysts.
The 27 financial institutions including banks, insurers, brokerages, trust firms and fund houses  had picked 840 candidates and  would hold further talks with them, the Shanghai Financial Service Office said.
But officials and companies have remained  tight-lipped on whether any  offers  have been given to  the job seekers, leading to criticism that the exercise has been hyped up.
In the meantime, Shanghai's action has spawned at least one imitator. Guangzhou has announced it will create a 200 million yuan fund to help recruit overseas financial talent. A qualified professional could receive a government sponsorship worth  as much as 5 million yuan, the city government said.
Some local recruiters were sceptical. 'There are no signs that  financial talent really wants to take a shot at China's financial sector,' said Hong Lingyun, a manager at head hunter Join Link Consulting.
Several other local head hunters also said few overseas Chinese  were looking for jobs at the mainland-based financial institutions including  foreign-funded banks and insurers.
First, the employee perks offered by mainland companies fall short of expectations.
In Shanghai, a 1.5 million yuan annual salary translates into an after-tax income of one million yuan, not enough to attract bankers and analysts employed by foreign financial companies.
Secondly, the mainland financial sector is tightly regulated, making it difficult for the overseas talent to flex their muscles, they said.
The global financial woes, meanwhile, have also  weighed on  mainland regulators, who are more cautious on liberalising the finance sector and capital market on par with international practices.
Ken Cui, an accountant at a New Zealand electronics maker,  returned to his hometown Shanghai upon hearing the news that local financial institutions  were scrambling for overseas talent.
He is now ruing his 'spur of the moment decision'.
'I spent two months  looking for a job with expectations of a higher salary. I was wrong. Maybe the local firms think expertise from  [New Zealand] is not advanced enough to propel their growth.'
Local recruiters warn that the ripple effect of the global financial  crisis will also spread to  the mainland, where layoffs and closures might eventually happen too.
Mainland banks are falling prey to  narrowed net interest-rate margins and a slowing economy that will increase the amount of non-performing loans, and securities firms have taken a beating  from a more than 60 per cent fall of the market  and shrinking brokerage fee income.
'Overseas experience is therefore of no use on the mainland  at the moment,' said a banking source. 'The banks, insurers and brokerages are not in urgent need of any foreign expertise.'
Zhou Bin, the chief of China Pacific Insurance Group's human resources department, said the insurer  would not recruit specialists for innovative products such as derivatives trading.
It remains to be seen whether the mainland financial institutions will be able to fill the posts earmarked for the overseas professionals.
At least one overseas-returned Chinese analyst said working in the motherland  did not necessarily mean more happiness.
Du Zhenping, who was with Lehman Brothers, found a job at a Changzhou investment firm before the collapse of the US financial giant.
'It all comes down to  whether the new job fits you well and pays you well,' he said.
'I am lucky to have found a decent job at home. As far as I know, many of those Chinese who are out of a job  because of the financial  crisis are still struggling to hunt for jobs at home.'



Shanghai looks overseas to boost talent pool