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

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

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