International companies based in Macau are the latest to come hunting for talent in Taiwan, offering high salaries and the chance to gain international experience, according to a survey by local recruitment website 104 Job Bank.
Singapore-based companies have long been known to poach Taiwan’s talent, but Macau is now following suit in snapping up trained locals. Macau firms aim at the talent from Taiwan’s information technology, hospitality and restaurant sectors, offering average monthly starting salaries of NT$40,000 (US$1,325), about 15 percent to 30 percent higher than in Taiwan. It is estimated that these companies plan to recruit from 300 to 500 Taiwan staff per annum over the next three years.
According to Shelly Wu, a vice president in 104’s selection division, Macau’s travel and leisure industry is booming, with more than 28 million visitor arrivals for two years running and hotel occupancy rates over 80 percent. International hotel groups continue to invest in new projects and face major shortfalls in recruitment.
Faced with the situation, Macau-based human resource firm Cyber Education has teamed up with 104 Job Bank to organize recruitment fairs for more than 10 multinational companies based in the territory. Their first target is Taiwan’s IT personnel, from such fields as management information systems, software and communication services, but they are also looking to recruit hotel and restaurant staff.
What makes Taiwan such an attractive target for the recruiters is the high quality of local talent in the IT and services industries and the close cultural and linguistic background, which makes it easy for ROC citizens to integrate into the Macau working environment, according to Wu.
For example, an entry-level Internet MIS engineer job would offer NT$34,000 per month in Taiwan and upward of NT$38,000 per month in Macau, Wu said. An experienced professional might earn more than NT$100,000 in the territory, far above local levels.
The jobs also mean an opportunity to gain international experience, Wu added, something many ROC nationals, especially the younger generation, are keen to acquire.
The recruiter said that 245,000 of its clients had ticked the box saying they wanted to work in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, with more than 30 percent of those 34 or under choosing the option.
104 Job Bank had 529,000 jobs on offer at the beginning of May, of which 15,000 were based abroad. Two-thirds of these are in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and the top three categories for vacancies were manufacturing and quality control; customer service, retail, business and trade; and R&D. (SDH)