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.
