When I came to China via an internal transfer in September 2007, I was one of very few eligible candidates for the position I took. This was because my job in private equity required that I not only speak but also read and write Chinese. This was in stark contrast to my tentative efforts in the China job market in 2004, when the ability to speak Mandarin with some primitive proficiency was already seen as a major asset. Compare that with now, when I believe (and often counsel) that not only are bilingual and bicultural skills must-haves to be competitive in China’s business environment today, but deep industry knowledge and local contacts (or the ability to quickly assemble a local network) have become absolutely crucial. In the last decade or so, the bar has been raised ever higher with accelerating globalisation and there is no more “low hanging fruit.”
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