Asia Hiring on the Upswing

Since the first of the year, companies that put increased revenues from Asia in their annual plans have stepped up hiring this year. Our phones started ringing in early January and have not stopped. It is not possible to generalize about the most sought after roles. Companies are hiring at all levels for all positions. DHR offices in China, India and Japan are particularly busy.

Bigger Roles: As the Asia economy picks up steam again, we see a new trend: job requirements are getting bigger. Companies which may have had only manufacturing or regional offices here are centralizing more of their business management and operations in Asia. In some cases, companies are moving global functional responsibility for Supply Chain or Research and Development to Asia. In other cases companies are acknowledging the pivotal role that Asia is playing in their commercial business and designating China or Singapore as their main business headquarters. The new Asia hubs require managers based in Asia who can handle regional and even global roles. We are being asked to fill positions for much larger roles than we have seen in the past: Procurement roles with spends over half a billion dollars, Human Resource professionals with regional accountability and 60 or more reports, Finance executives with fiscal oversight for multi-billion dollar global businesses. Executives who can manage large complex roles and understand how to drive businesses strategically – and speak Mandarin and English – are in demand.

Salary Benchmarking: India General Managers