Al Ittihad stages dramatic comeback to defeat Al Kholood 4-3 in thriller    55 Saudi companies take part in Baghdad International Fair    10,295 illegal residents deported in a week    Nazaha arrests 158 ministry employees over corruption charges    Health minister: 40% fall in mortality rates caused by chronic diseases since 2017    Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo rejects displacement of Palestinians    Venezuela frees six detained Americans after Trump envoy meets with Maduro    Saudi Arabia's non-oil exports with Gulf countries soar 43% to SR9.4 billion in November    Fitch affirms Saudi Arabia's Credit Rating at 'A+' with a Stable Outlook    Saudi foreign minister and US Secretary of State discuss bilateral relations and regional developments    Small plane crashes into buildings in northeast Philadelphia, sparking fires and injuries    Trump imposes tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, escalating trade tensions    Saudi Arabia mandates national attire for male secondary school students    Al Nassr signs Colombian striker Jhon Durán from Aston Villa    Al Hilal returns to winning ways with a dominant 4-0 victory over Al Okhdood    Al Ahli signs Brazilian winger Galeno from Porto on a long-term deal    Saudi composer Nasser Al-Saleh passes away at 63    Saudi drama icon Mohammed Al-Towayan passes away at 79    Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull dies at 78    Saudi Arabia launches inaugural Art Week Riyadh on April 6-13    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Returning Asians to fill talent gap
By Eveline Danubrata
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 07 - 07 - 2009

‘GO East' is a message being heeded by many Asian professionals in the United States and Europe who see brighter job prospects in a region that is expected to outperform the rest of the world for economic growth.
Zhang Zheng Han, 26, is one of a growing flock of highly educated Asians living in the West who have bought one-way tickets home, lured by job opportunities, family ties and a comfortable lifestyle.
“Right now no nation is changing as swiftly as China,” he said. “There are so many opportunities for people in my generation.”
After getting his masters degree in engineering from the UK's Nottingham University, he came back to China and immediately began work for a stem cell research firm.
Other Asians should follow, according to American investor Jim Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. He thinks this century will be China's and now lives in ethnically Chinese Singapore, where his young kids are learning Mandarin.
“If you're in London you're in the wrong place at the wrong time ... You gotta move east,” he told Reuters TV recently. The trend of reverse migration has accelerated in the past few months as the financial crisis has hit the United States and Europe harder than many Asian economies. This influx will serve Asia well as it needs skilled managers to leverage further growth, experts say.
“These returnees would serve as a bridge between Asia and the rest of the economies,” said Irvin Seah, an economist at Singapore's DBS, Southeast Asia's largest bank.
“With the exposure they had in Western economies and their local knowledge, they will be able to fill the human capital gap in Asia and significantly contribute to Asia's growth.”
The average Asian returnee nowadays is in his or her 30s, has a masters or doctorate degree, and comes from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, according to Vivek Wadhwa, a researcher at Harvard Law School's Labor and Worklife Program.
Their influx into Asia's job market may help to plug the middle to senior management gap in companies operating in the region as they are cheaper to hire than expatriates but are more qualified than locals owing to soft skills learned in the West, which experts say are often lacking in the Asian workplace.
“We're constantly replacing expats with Asian returnees, people from their home countries who have been somewhat Westernized in business practices or business culture,” said Ames Gross, president of Pacific Bridge, a US-based recruitment firm that specializes in matching returnees to Asia-based firms.
Wages in developing Southeast Asian countries may be around 25 percent of those in the West, Gross said, but the wage gap for professionals is narrowing. Singapore and Hong Kong companies currently pay a comparable amount to the US and Europe.
Plugging the gap
Firms in Asia will need a lot of talent to drive growth. Executive search firm MRI Group said last year that companies in China will need 70,000 middle and senior managers over the next five years.
An estimated six million students will graduate in China and three million in India this year, but human resource experts say local graduates often lack the communication and practical business skills needed to get jobs.
Asian returnees say their Western exposure gives them the ability to deal with international customers.
“At the organizational level, companies in the US tend to understand marketing, positioning and differentiation pretty well,” said Vikram Narayan, an Indian returnee who started his own firm Ascendus Technologies in Bangalore after working as an analyst at Sun Microsystems.
“Managing customer expectations is definitely something I learned when I was in the US.”
It's not just management and marketing know-how. Asian returnees have also been credited for bringing sparks of technological innovation back to their home countries.
Robin Li, a graduate of the State University of New York, co-founded China's largest search engine Baidu. Hotmail is the brainchild of Sabeer Bhatia, who returned to India after graduating from Stanford University.
“The returnees are a lot more innovative and entrepreneurial than the locals are,” Harvard Law School's Wadhwa said.
“So you're already seeing huge benefits to India and China from people who came back.”


Clic here to read the story from its source.