« Penser au potentiel des villes secondaires » - Spécial Chine

Cadrexport : Can you introduce your mission within your company?

Paul Zhang : As HR head, be responsible for closely working with general manager to improve organization capability and employee effectiveness to support achievement of business goal and strategies.
 
Cadrexport : What would you say about the actual job market in China?

Paul Zhang : In the coming 10 years, China will plan to develop and support innovation and service industries a lot such as high tech, car, construction of highroad, railroad and airport, financial, power saving, education, biologic pharmaceutical, environment, city innovation, culture and art etc. I believe such industries will offer abundant jobs for labor market. 

Cadrexport : What advice would you give those who would like to work in China?

Paul Zhang : China is big and dedicated into city development like theme of 2010 expo, besides working in the 1st tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, working in the 2nd or 3rd tier cities will still have good opportunities such as Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Chengdu, Chongqing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Nanning, Baotou, Wuhan and Changsha etc.  

Cadrexport : According to you, do French firms meet particular difficulties while recruiting in China?

Paul Zhang :  Comparing with US firms in China, French firms are not good for salary; Comparing with Japan and Korea, French firms are not good for working process which can make staff feeling safe; Comparing with Chinese national owned companies, French firms workload is too much; Comparing with Chinese private companies, French firms are too business and hardly make staff feeling like a family. But, as French firms, we need to pay more attention and promotion to our strong points such as competitive products development, creation and innovation, personal freedom in your territory but result oriented, less political culture, know how to enjoy life etc, I believe there are still lot of talents who would like to be attracted by such points.

At the same time, French firms can also learn from practices of other firms especially combine local situation with your own goals which will help you to keep advanced all the time.     

Cadrexport : We would like to understand what are opportunities in China for western expatriates and for the Asians with a work experience or having been studying in Occident.  The western expatriates occupy what places? in what areas? Is it useful for an Asian to have a professional experience in Occident ?

Paul Zhang : With development of globalization, bi-culture and bilingual, talents are keys for a company.

For western expatriates, on the one hand, they process advanced knowledge and tools, on the other hand, they need to be very smart for localization, if you don’t understand local customers with their ways and their tones, you can’t drive them. The bad examples are like Clear Channel, Yahoo and eBay, the good examples are Jcdecaux, Loreal and LV.

For Asians with a work experience or having been studying in Occident, same logic, be sure you really get something advanced, not only your English communication and your certificate. Even if you understand local customers very well, but you have left local market for several years, if you don’t possess skills and knowledge to help you to catch up very quickly, you will sink your money and time in Occident.

For areas and positions, I already mentioned it as above, for any company, the key roles are always R&D, sales&marketing and production, don’t focus on leadership position only, if you don’t have real ability to develop business, you will lose your leader position very soon.    

Interviews réalisées par Diane Pinelli en décembre 2009
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Paul Zhang
Human Resources Director
JCDecaux Airport China
Address: 8/F, Erdos Int'l Plaza, Pudong South Road 1118, Shanghai, 200122
http://www.samdecaux.com

JC Decaux China
The Company’s businesses span 34 cities in Greater China, including Hong Kong and Macau, creating the largest and most diversified outdoor edia network in Greater China, covering metro, bus, airport, street urniture and campus advertising.