Shanghai, 20th May 2016 - Chinese IT professionals will see an increase in their salaries in 2016, with the average IT salary expected to rise between 5% and 12%, according to ZW HR Consulting, a Chinese/Singaporean recruitment company that specialises in information technology.
The IT sector is considered one of the most competitive arenas in the Chinese marketplace. Salary ranges in the profession are constantly changing, which is why staying ahead of the curve (by knowing what is coming next) is critical to career success. With more companies looking to increase business efficiencies, technology is earmarked for additional growth, and this is causing an influx in IT job openings.
According to Tom Wang, IT Practice Director for ZW HR Consulting, there is a shortage of workers in the IT industry who hold both technical and business skills. In a market that currently favours employees over employers, largely driven by the saturation of IT firms and positions on offer, this has posed many new challenges in attracting the best talent for the right position. As a result, companies are scrambling to find top candidates. “With the IT sector showing a period of continual growth, we have been experiencing especially high demand for IT professionals over the last year,” says Wang.
Some key insights shared by Wang are:
1. Candidates with a R&D and IT product design background are the most difficult to find.
2. Finding talent in Guangzhou and other tier-two and -three cities such as Ningbo, Fuzhou and Nanjing can be challenging (which is an opportunity).
3. Industries across the board are paying close attention to their Internet platforms because of China’s “Internet+” plan, which integrates mobile Internet, cloud computing big data, and the Internet of things with modern manufacturing, to encourage the healthy development of e-commerce, industrial networks, Internet banking, and to get Internet-based companies to increase their presence in the international market. This has led to a spike in demand in many areas such as mobile applications, data analytics, business intelligence and cloud computing, which has caused the skills shortage.
4. Multinational companies are finding it difficult to adapt to rapidly changing trends, leaving human resource departments struggling with compensation policies and salary bands that are already outdated.
ZW HR predicts that industry professionals most likely to be in demand for 2016 are: software developers, mobile application developers, database administrators, cloud computing professionals, information/cyber security experts, network engineers, helpdesk/technical support personnel, project managers, web designers/developers and big data specialists.
Frank Yu, Chairman for ZW HR Consulting, states, “In most cases, the highest calibre IT professionals are not proactively seeking a new job. However, we have found that the majority are open to hearing about new opportunities, and we are receiving a high number of speculative enquiries from IT professionals, asking about potential opportunities in the market. Even though starting salaries continue to rise, jobseekers are sending out a very clear message that remuneration is not the only reward they are after.”
ZW HR Consulting's salary guide is a tool that can be used both by IT sector employers as well as employees. The guide provides further insight into the latest salary ranges, calculating for various positions in the IT sector in China, and signifies actual transactions between employers and employees, accurately reflecting the marketplace:
For more information, please visit www.zwhrconsulting.com or send an email to marketing@zwhrconsulting.com.
About ZW HR Consulting
ZW HR Consulting provides recruitment solutions focused on mid-senior level professionals. Originally founded in Shanghai in 1998, ZW HR has since grown into one of the biggest headhunting recruitment firms in Asia. With 10 offices across Asia, ZW HR Consulting currently has over 200 employees. As of 2012, ZW HR Consulting became the exclusive member of InterSearch Worldwide. Established in 1989, InterSearch ranks as one of the top international executive search alliance organizations in the world, with 100 offices in over 50 countries.