International Job Market

The international job market is just that, a market driven by economic forces of supply and demand. Why do organizations hire Westerners and nations grant work visas? For our professional skills and products. Westerners are too expensive to hire as unskilled labor, but worth paying for our technology and our products. This demand fuels jobs for about 5,000,000 westerners overseas.

All countries protect jobs for their own people. Also, all countries go outside to meet real needs.

1.   Vocational profile of the global job market. The need to develop is the primary force driving the job market in most developing nations. Development requires the transfer of technology and especially the training of any nation’s greatest resource—its people. Consequently, education at all levels is the single largest vocational field. Because English is crucial for globalization, English teaching is a huge arena all by itself. Further, as schools and other organizations overseas learn that they can get teachers who will work in their limited settings, the demand increases. Recently I have heard story after story of schools and universities asking tentmakers to help them find more teachers because they see what the tentmaker is providing. Especially at the university level, openings exist for almost all fields.

The second area providing international jobs is business and industry. There is tremendous demand in computers, communications, engineering, marketing, manufacturing, health care, and basic development. This is also considerable demand in banking, accounting, financial services, law, transportation, agriculture, tourism, and arts and media. Some vocations offer fewer openings like recreation and social services.

2.   The two markets. There are essentially two overseas job markets, expatriate and local hire. The expatriate market pays Western wages in order to obtain qualified Western expertise and job openings are advertised publicly. The “local hire” expatriate market consists basically of local agencies which are open to hiring Westerners who are willing to work for local wages. Jobs in this market are not generally listed, but are discovered by networking. The President of Kyrgyzstan a few years ago wanted to hire 7,000 EFL teachers. But there is no way Kyrgyzstan could pay anything close to Western wages. There is similar interest in Kazakhstan and other countries. This is why it is not generally wise to go overseas to look for a job. You will not likely find a competitive Western job, will not be able to live on the income, and will harm your credibility if you take such a job and live on almost full support.

In reality, these two poles are oversimplified. Market forces drive this situation. Many organizations want more Westerners, but cannot afford any or many at Western salaries. So when Westerners are willing to work for less, they take them. Why do they work for less? Desire for travel, missions motivation, service motivation. For instance, a person can find numerous jobs that provide adequate income to live in China, though low by western standards. In other situations, a person will need supplemental support. In such settings, it is vital to negotiate hard for other forms of compensation like housing, in-country transportation rates, health care, etc. This lowers a person’s need for support and enhances credibility. Another caution should be added: Live appropriately to your role in the community. Identifying and connecting with the people is one of the great blessings of tent making. When tentmakers live beyond the means of their job, they undermine credibility and distance themselves from the people.

3.   The four job providing entities. Basically four entities provide work to Westerners overseas: 1) international or local corporations, 2) indigenous national institutions like colleges, universities, and government agencies, 3) relief and development agencies, and 4) new start-up businesses. These are the arenas in which to look for jobs. Starting a business offers some wonderful advantages like ability to stay indefinitely and greater evangelistic freedom. However, it demands special skills and experience. More on this later.

4.    Structural nature of the global job market. The international job market is very decentralized, fragmented, and unstructured. This is a natural result of specialization in skills and needs. With globalization and modern communication, it is easy for a university in Tajikistan to communicate with a chemical engineer in Idaho who is open to working there, but how do they find each other. Because of this challenge, the global job market is really a collection of hundreds or even thousands of relatively small, vertical job markets, which communicate through specialized networks, publications, websites, and job agencies. For this reason, it is vital for job seekers to take initiative and persist in pursuing all these channels.

5.   Relatively closed character of the global job market. The job market tends to be closed to outsiders for a couple of reasons. First, western organizations have a strong tendency to promote and transfer from within for overseas jobs even when the person has little cross-cultural skill or experience. The reason for this is that organizations need people with intimate knowledge of the organization, its culture, products, services, and authority structure. The consequence of this approach is big adjustment problems and a high turnover rate for workers going overseas. Nevertheless, this pattern is likely to continue for some time. Some companies are recognizing the problem and a new industry is developing to provide cross-cultural training for employees.

The second reason for the relatively closed market is that there are few entry-level jobs for westerners. Generally openings require a bachelor’s plus two or more years experience in one’s field. This applies across the board with English teaching being the only exception. Almost any native English speaker can find a job teaching English somewhere, though qualifications are rising and pay is limited for those without TEFL certification. But going without good skills serves people poorly and dishonors Christ. In addition to vocational competency, employers often look for travel, overseas work experience, relational skills, and even language competency for obvious reasons.

6.   Length of contracts. Overseas contracts tend to last 1-3 years. After that, a person must renew or find another job. Corporate jobs tend to last 1-3 years because they expect that employees will want to return home. Development agency jobs tend to be limited because they are tied to government grants and specific projects. Another factor is that national organizations want expatriates to equip their own people so that they can take over as soon as possible. The result of this trend is that international jobs and careers tend to evolve unpredictably and require ongoing changes. Since many jobs actually isolate people from the larger global job market, it is imperative to develop a broad range of contacts and keep one’s ears open to impending vacancies. Networking is indispensable. Furthermore, most job moves tend to be horizontal rather than hierarchical because most jobs are oriented toward delivering specialized direct services. Only larger corporations and government agencies provide more vertical job changes. However, such changes usually move people away from direct work in the field where many find greater satisfaction and excitement. Again, running a business is a big contrast to this.

Hiring likely to pick up in some sectors in 2013

The health-care sector is one of a handful where demand for trained professionals is rising even as hiring in several other industries such as financial services, information technology (IT) and automobiles remains muted. "Recruitment in the healthcare sector is likely to remain strong in 2013 as hospital chains expand," says Kamal Karanth, Managing Director at executive search firm Kelly Services. The Max Healthcare chain, for instance, added four hospitals this year, taking its total number of hospitals to 12. "Our headcount this year rose almost 40 per cent," says Malvika Varma, Senior Vice President for Human Resources (HR), Max Healthcare.

Smaller players are expanding too. EyeQ, a chain of eye-care centres in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, plans to open 50 more centres in 2013 to add to its existing 20. It recruited about 400 professionals in 2012, taking the total workforce to 600. "For middle to senior level non-medical staff we picked people from IIHMR, the Institute of Management Studies, Indore, and Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi," says Subhash Bansiwal, Chief Human Resources Officer, EyeQ.

Hiring is likely to be robust in the pharmaceuticals industry as well, says Kelly Services's Karanth. "The demand for clinical research professionals will go up as drug makers boost their research capabilities to take advantage of several drugs going off patent," he says. Drugs worth more than $50 billion will go off patent in next three years, according to Divakar Kaza, President-HR, Lupin.

Lupin hired 125 scientists in 2012, a 10 per cent increase over the previous year. "The pharmaceutical industry has remained insulated from the economic slowdown" says Kaza. "The company will continue to hire to maintain its growth trajectory."

But shift to other sectors and the scene changes dramatically. A November 2012 report by job portal Naukri.com showed recruitment in IT, business process outsourcing (BPO), banking, insurance, auto, construction, and telecom sectors all fell during the month compared with a year earlier. "About 80 per cent of India's IT sector revenue comes from the West, and since the United States and Europe did not do well in 2012 this sector went slow on recruitments," says E. Balaji, Managing Director at executive search firm Randstad India.

Top IT companies say the economic uncertainty makes it difficult for them to finalise hiring plans. "The demand visibility for hiring is reducing because there is a lack of predictability in decision-making by clients," says Prithvi Shergill, Global HR Head at HCL Technologies. A drop in attrition rates is also leading to a decline in fresh hiring. At HCL, which employs 85,000 people, the attrition rate fell from 15.9 per cent to 13.6 per cent in September 2012.

For senior-level hires, too, 2012 proved weak. A recent survey by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), a world-wide association of executive search firms, found that in Asia the number of job searches at senior executive firms fell five per cent in 2012.

"The overall demand for talent fell from what it was in 2011," says Atul Vohra, Managing Director, Transearch India, a recruitment firm for senior executives. "Sectors such as heavy engineering, infrastructure, mining and financial services were heavily impacted." Vohra says delays in decision-making, a fund crunch and higher raw material costs hurt the infrastructure sector. Arun Das Mahapatra, Chairman, Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, says the banking and financial services sector is "cautiously optimistic" about 2013 but the trend in the first two quarters will likely be subdued.

Citibank, however, is recruiting at junior and middle levels. "There has been an overall upswing in hiring on the retail side in 2012," says Anuranjita Kumar, Head-HR at Citibank India, which has 7,800 employees. In early December, Citigroup said it will cut about 11,000 jobs globally, but as of now this will have no impact on India. Telecom companies will likely recruit for select functions only.

Ashok Ramchandran, Director-HR, Vodafone, says the company will strengthen its commercial and technical operations. It plans to add almost 1,400 employees to its 11,000-strong workforce this year. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2013 predicts a pickup in hiring activity compared with the Octoberto-December period of 2012. The survey showed that 23 per cent of the 4,496 respondents expect staff strength to go up. The services sector will lead the pace.

Vohra sums up the likely scenario in the year ahead. "We expect hiring to improve in 2013," he says. "The pickup will be significant compared with 2012 but gradual compared with the strong rebound seen after the 2008 crash."

Sources: Business Today

How one can make a little role so important ?

A top business leader who made waves in the Information Technology industry was on a business trip to Tokyo. He was always very humble and shared all his success with his employees. After all his meetings, he went to a shopping mall to buy chocolates and gifts to his employees back in his country.

As he entered the mall a little lady gave a warm smile and welcomed him, he was very touched, felt good, and was not able to forget the warmth in her smile. He was noticing her as he was shopping; she was giving the same smile to all the customers who walked into the mall.

The business leader started wondering if she was every fed up doing the same thing again and again, he walked up to her and asked, "My dear lady, are you not tried of doing this job, and how long have you been doing this?"

The lady smiled and said, " No sir, I am working here from the last 10 years and I like my job."

The business leader was shocked and asked, “Why you have been doing this for 10 years, and why do you like your job?"

The lady smiled again and said, " Sir, because I am serving my country."

This was a little amusing for the business leader. He said," You are serving your country by smiling?"

The little lady said, "Yes sir, I smile and all the customers coming to the mall feel happy and relaxed. They shop more, my boss is happy, and pays me more. Since I am paid more, I can take care of my family. Since I can take care if my family, they are happy. As all the customers buy from us, the demand for goods is more and since the demand is more, there are many factories. Since there are many factories there are many jobs. Since there are jobs, people in the country are happy.

As most of our customers are foreigners, there is foreign exchange. Since there is foreign exchange, our country has lot of money and is richer every day. And people like you who are happy with our service visit our country more often and some time you will tell your family and friends too. My country gets more visitors, more money, more jobs and has more happy people. That's how I serve my country."

Amazed with her attitude, the business leader thanked her and came back to his country. He worked hard to incorporate the same attitude among his employees, and today his company is one of the best companies in the world.

Career Advice – Avoid The Ambush Informational Interview

Career Advice – Why Candidates Should Avoid The Ambush Informational Interview

When most candidates establish a contact at one of their target companies, their first goal tends to be coffee. The goal is to get your contacts out of the office and away from the phone, so that you have 100% of their attention.

Today’s career advice focuses on how to make the most out of an informal meeting and what to avoid.

This is a great goal, and can lead a job seeker towards gaining some important inroads into a target company.

It’s just that most candidates don’t pull this off very often, and when they do they usually ask for the wrong things, minimizing the effectiveness of the meeting. Most of us just weren’t taught to network very well for a job.

Here’s today’s career advice – There are 5 problems with most informational interviews: Getting the appointment, determining a goal, determining what to ask for, how to ask, and avoiding the ambush.

1. Getting the appointment: Chances are your new contacts are busy and don’t have much spare time. You, as a job seeker, have a very real reason you want to have coffee – you want help in finding a job at a target company (What’s in it for me – WIFM). But what reason do you give your contacts? What’s in it for them (WIFT)

When you ask to set up a coffee meeting, do you say something similar to “I want to learn more about your company”? (Translation: I want a job, or I want to sell your company something – WIFM). Again – What’s in it for your contacts? What value proposition are you offering them, in order for them to give their time to you?

In your contact’s busy world, where those still working in corporate America are doing the job or 2 or 3 people, you’d better offering something of value if you want your contacts’ time today. 

What can you offer (WIFT)? Information – What information would be valuable to your target? Would your target find information about their industry to be valuable? About their job function? How about their competitors?

As a job seeker, you are researching all of this information. Why not use it as currency? To get past WIFT, start forwarding articles to your contacts before asking for a meeting. The type of information that gets a response (industry, function, or competitor) is likely your contacts’ hot-button. Once you learn the hot-button, offer to meet over coffee to give more of this type of information. If you do this correctly, and make it about the contact (WIFT), not you, you’ll earn coffee meetings return calls and fans wanting to help you.

2. Determine an achievable goal: A candidate’s goal is to get a job.

It’s probably not achievable over an initial cup of coffee, especially if your contact is not the hiring manager.

How many of you set your goal as finding out what job opportunities there are at a company for your informational interview? How many of you want to get your resume into your contacts’ hands so they can pass it to the hiring manager? Come on admit it … these are goals of most candidates. But neither one is usually achievable nor both waste a great opportunity.

Most companies, other than really small ones, have Employee Referral Bonus policies that assure your resume goes to HR, just as it would if you applied online. In addition, if you set up a meeting to give information but instead ambush the contact by asking for a job, you’ve blown your credibility for something your contacts often can’t even give you.

Instead, make information your goal. You‘re giving information to get a meeting. What do you want in return? Don’t you want to learn more about your target company? Use your meeting to understand your target’s problems, challenges, goals, roadblocks. Find out how these issues affect your target department. Don’t waste your contacts’ time to ask for names – you can get names from LinkedIn, Zoom Info, or Spoke.

3. Determine what to ask for: Most candidates lead the discussion over the phone or in person by talking about their interest in the company, looking for a job.

Don’t fool yourself … unless it’s a close friend, your contact isn’t meeting with you because he/she can’t wait to help you. They are meeting with you because you have something they need – information.

The answer to problem #3 is simple – Don’t. Don’t ask for a job.

Again, this is a counterintuitive strategy but if you ask for a job you’re using your newly built goodwill to ask for something your contacts probably can’t give you.

Your contacts can give you information, and will if they trust you. By giving information without asking for anything in return, you build trust.

4. How to ask: You’ve heard the answer to problem #4 before – Don’t. Don’t ask your contacts for for a job or if they know of jobs at the company.

Instead, give information first – most people who have received a favor will want to return it and will likely ask what they can do for you. Have your contacts ask you, rather than you asking them. Once you’ve provided your contacts with value, ask for information – it’s far more valuable than asking your contacts about jobs (which you can easily find on the company’s website). You’ll have a higher success rate in getting information, and you’ll get better information from your contact, if you make the discussion WIFT.

5. Avoid the Ambush: If you don’t listen to any of my other career advice, at least take this to heart. I advise my clients to resist the urge to bring a resume to an informational meeting. Again, this sounds counterintuitive, but it’s not to a candidate’s advantage to have this be an informational interview – interview means job and resumes for jobs get passed to HR at most companies. Make this a meeting and make it WIFT.

Additionally, your contacts agreed to an informational meeting – not a job interview. Bringing a resume is a great way for your contact to feel used and lied to … probably because if you bring a resume to an informational meeting, you have tried to use and you have lied to your contact.

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