On April 21st, Mr Goh Wei Sian was invited by Business School, SZTU, to give a seminar on "International Talent Employment". The seminar was hosted by Assoc Prof Dr Henry Cheah Chee Wei of Business School. 

As the Senior Partner in Grand Thornton China, a world-renowned accounting firm, Mr Goh shared about the talent employment of foreign enterprises in China. He has been practising in China for 13 years and another 10 years in the United Kingdom and Malaysia. He has more than 20 years of audit experience and specializing in handling multinational corporations in China and worldwide, including the financial statements audit and group reporting package audit prepared under the IFRS, PRC GAAP or US GAAP, especially in the manufacturing, sales and distribution sectors. He currently leads a few US SEC registrant clients in China. He has also been involved in various transaction support assignments, including initial public offerings on various Exchanges.

Firstly, Mr Goh highlighted the characteristics of the talents from different age groups in the Chinese job market. He observed that those who born in the 80s tend to be more hardworking comparatively; the 90s generation, on the other hand, is strong in personal opinion and consciousness. He further added that his firm has fewer Millennials (who born post-2000) to date. But he observed that this category of generation might be less patient and emphasize more on results.

Then, Mr Wu posed a question: How should the Millennials deal with their superiors born in the 70s, 80s and 90s? He pointed out that "attitude, teamwork, excellence, leadership, agility, responsibility and respect" are essential to the Millennials who entered the workplace.

Then, Mr Goh emphasized that candidates need to be well prepared, make sure they are in their best condition when attending the job interview. As most job interviews by foreign firms in China are conducted in English, candidates need to be well prepared. He suggested students to practice English on a daily basis in and outside the classroom. Most firms divide the interview candidates into teams and assign them a debate topic. The candidates need to debate a current issue in English, which akin to a form of Group interview.        

During the seminar, Mr Goh emphasized that in addition to good professional knowledge, self-confidence is critical. Confident candidates are more likely to stand out from the crowd and outshine the other candidates. The seminar enabled the Business School students to have a clearer understanding of the workplace environment they are going to face. The participating students believe they have gained some work-related knowledge that improves their competitiveness in the future job market.

Article by Yao Jiatong

Photos by Luo Chuni