CAREERS MEDIA: Lure of the client side causing major crunch for agencies in China

<p>China's advertising industry is in the midst of a severe local </p><p>talent crunch because of the tendency of agency executives, especially </p><p>at the higher level, to jump to the client side whenever an opportunity </p><p>presents itselves. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This was underlined by a Morgan & Banks survey which found that 77 per </p><p>cent of respondents stated it was slightly to significantly more </p><p>difficult to find the right staff within the China market. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The result is that demand for expat talent - that is, from elsewhere in </p><p>Asia and the West - is as great as ever. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The situation was apparently the worst among account handlers and Morgan </p><p>& Banks management consultant Odilia Poon said, "The higher up the </p><p>position, the smaller the talent pool. And it is much smaller than in a </p><p>normal market situation". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The problem is highlighted by the fact that it appears that there are no </p><p>locals with the experience and qualifications to take up GM and MD </p><p>jobs. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"I won't say they are not there. They are there but in industries </p><p>outside of advertising. And when I speak of locals, I mean local locals </p><p>and not locals who have lived abroad for some time," Ms Poon told </p><p>MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>She said the industry had to adopt a more proactive approach in </p><p>resolving the problem, such as actively recruiting fresh graduates and </p><p>training them and for agencies and associations to conduct more training </p><p>sessions for existing advertising professionals. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>