Hundreds of jobs offered to expats at state job fair

The job fair attracts 1,200 foreigners.

By Zhao Hongyi

 

 

Are you in despair over ever finding a job in Beijing or China? The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) held its annual job fair in the city last weekend in which 70 corporations, institutes and agencies participated,  both Chinese and foreign.

The event, Chinajob.com Job Fair, listed 800 available positions for foreigners. Big-name domestic recruiters included China Daily, China Radio International, Capital Steel Group and Tsinghua University.

Some were groups based in other cities, like the Dalian Commodity Exchange, Shangqiu Normal University and Tianjin Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.
Foreign firms also participated, like the British Council, Reuters news agency and Japanese broadcaster NHK.

Over 1,200 expats visited the job fair held at Swissotel, according to SAFEA. Most of them said they were satisfied with the jobs they found, either at this year’s fair or in previous years. “In China, the jobs are generally speaking quite stable,” said James Harold, from the US, who has been working in Beijing for three years at a US-owned call center. “You can get the salary and benefits you’re looking for,” he said.

Dominique Vennon from Quebec, Canada, who has been in China for three years, hopes to find a spot at China Radio International. “I hope I can win,” he said after handing in his resume at the radio broadcaster’s booth.

Interestingly, many of the visitors and applicants were Chinese youngsters who studied overseas. They were driven back home by the global economic downturn, and tried their luck at the fair.

“I believe that I fulfill all the criteria listed by many companies,” Zhang Hai, a Beijinger who obtained his bachelor’s degree in the US, said.

“We prefer foreigners even if you have the same language ability,” Yang Jingwen, from the Shenyang Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, said.

“Considering the need to deal with foreign counterparts in the future, 80 percent of recruiters prefer foreigners,” said Zhong Yanguang, chief of the Feign Experts Information and Study Center, the job fair’s co-organizer.

But Zhong said they plan to lower the criteria for applicants to give opportunities to more people.

SAFEA holds annual job fairs in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, where the demand for expats is high. The fair in Shanghai is set for next Saturday at the Shanghai Ever bright Convention & Exhibition Center International Hotel.

The list of job vacancies is available on chinajob.com, safea.gov.cn and this week’s edition of Beijing Review. For more information about the fairs and vacancies, call 6894 8899, or email jobfair@chinajob.com.