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Wednesday, April 22, 2020, 18:33
A silver lining in the midst of the storm
By Chai Hua in Shenzhen
Wednesday, April 22, 2020, 18:33 By Chai Hua in Shenzhen

Hema Fresh, a fresh food chain backed by Alibaba, plans to recruit 30,000 new employees this year. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

With the labor market bearing brunt of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Luo Yi considers himself fortunate to have been offered an alternative job by a company that has been drastically recruiting staff before and after the health crisis.

Luo, in his twenties, was previously hired by a beverage store, which shut down at the height of the outbreak. At the same time, the concept of “shared staff” emerged as a way to bring idle workers of eateries and brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce platforms, delivery firms and supermarkets, where the demand for labor was booming.

Early last month, Luo started working for Hema Fresh — a fresh-food chain backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba — on a temporary basis. But, he later decided to stay on although his former employer had resumed operations.

The pandemic may have eased off on the mainland, but has had a long-standing impact on the employment market

“I was attracted by the Hema brand, and the coronavirus crisis has shown how important internet-based fresh food stores and deliveries are for everyone,” said Luo, adding he now relishes an even bigger take-home pay.

His job is to collect and package products ordered by customers and he decided to take the plunge into the business for long-term development. “The firm offers many training sessions and I plan to become manager of a Hema store someday,” he said.

The pandemic may have eased off on the mainland, but has had a long-standing impact on the employment market.

Some industries, such as e-commerce stores, food delivery and livestreaming, are proactively expanding their labor pool and the trend is continuing even after quarantine measures in various provinces have been relaxed, while some domains have to accept shrinking recruitment plans.

In addition, people are changing their habit of stereotyping some industries and are more willing to accept new undertakings, while employers’ brand image is playing a bigger role in their new career decisions.

Hema plans to recruit 30,000 workers and open up 100 new stores this year across the mainland.  “In Guangdong province, our target is to hire 5,000 employees and, so far, we have brought in about 900 people,” said Guo Jingyao, Hema’s human resources manager for Guangdong.

She said the demand is focused on storage management and deliveries, which have added more than 900 new positions compared to last year, and the salaries for these positions have gone up by 10 to 20 percent.

Zhao Yu is another worker who has embarked on a new career path this year. He recently switched from a foreign trading firm to property managing service provider Vanke Service in Guangzhou.

He said a property manager’s job used to be seen as simple as collecting management fees. But, he has now realized the job involves an industry with the fastest speed of growth and substantial career potential.

Vanke Service’s culture of transparent competition and cordial ties with property owners also appeal to Zhao.

The average monthly salary of a livestreaming worker rose to about 9,845 yuan (US$1,397), while online teachers can earn as much as 11,577 yuan a month

The company said in February it would recruit 20,000 workers, mostly for low-level positions, but said the demand for top talents, such as project managers and construction engineers, is growing.

Another avenue of high labor demand is the livestreaming industry, where middle to senior-level job seekers are sought. A recent report by online job search company Liepin shows the demand for high-end talents in livestreaming-related positions in February and March surged 28 percent year-on-year.

The average monthly salary of a livestreaming worker rose to about 9,845 yuan (US$1,397), while online teachers can earn as much as 11,577 yuan a month, according to another recruitment platform Zhaopin — one of China's biggest recruitment websites.

Besides hosts, the new industry needs talents from all walks of life, such as customer relations personnel, website editors, e-commerce specialists, computer engineers and trainers.

Meanwhile, as businesses gradually return to normal, graduates are stepping into the recruitment season. The pandemic is slowing down in China, but its impact on the mindset of the new generation of talents is profound.

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According to a survey by employment-oriented social networking platform LinkedIn, well-known and reliable employer brands are the first choice of this year’s graduates, followed by state-owned enterprises and medium-sized companies.

They prefer industries engaged in internet, e-commerce and electronic communications technologies, while the automobile, tourism and catering avenues look grim.

The mainland’s labor market, as a whole, has suffered as a result of the pandemic, like most other countries around the world. The unemployment rate in the United States was estimated to have hit 17 percent by the end of March — the highest in the country’s history.

Stabilizing the employment market has become one of the top priorities on the mainland as the virus outbreak wanes. The State Council has decided to expand enrolling candidates with master degrees, and many industry bellwethers have launched recruitment expansion plans.

The job recruitment demand index compiled by Zhaopin climbed to 0.62 by the end of March, having reached 80 percent of last year’s level.

Geographically, Li Qiang, vice-president of Zhaopin, said employment vacancies in Guangdong had risen the most in the past two months.

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Dongguan, for example, recorded a more than 220-percent jump in job vacancies in the last week of March, compared with seven weeks ago, topping the list of cities with the most rapid rebound in staff recruitment. Shenzhen and Zhuhai are among the top three cities nationwide.

According to Li, the manufacturing industry, which plays a major role in these cities’ economic structure, has high demand for talents, including electronics engineers, and posts in large equipment manufacturing and infrastructure construction as the nation expedites the construction of new infrastructure projects.

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