Source Code China: The New Global Hub of IT (Information Technology) Outsourcing

Chapter 6. Winning the Talent War

The sheer size of China’s population makes the country the world’s biggest talent pool. In 2005, the working-age population was estimated at 918 million or 70 percent. By 2013 that number is expected to climb to 72.14 percent of the country’s total and peak at 997 million.^[1]

The phrase “War for Talent,” coined in the late 1990s by Ed Michael, then Director of McKinsey, has never been truer than in China. While the rapid growth of China’s economy is a blessing for most companies, it is also a headache for management faced with the challenge of attracting, developing, and retaining top talent. Lured by abundant job opportunities in the booming market, talented employees are always ready to consider a better offer and move on. One feature of China’s job market is that it has plenty of talented professionals to offer. Another feature is that demand for talent exceeds supply. The rapid growth of the Chinese economy has resulted in a booming demand for people in professional and managerial jobs. McKinsey estimates that China will need to produce about 75,000 globally capable executives over the next five years^[2] to satisfy demand for talent required by both China’s corporations and multinationals.

In the IT market, the number of graduates has been rapidly increasing over the past years. However, the numbers vary greatly and the reliability of the statistics has been questioned at various occasions as the way data is collected is pretty much left to every ...