labor - The challenge of hiring the right people

Marketwatch gives an overview of the problems Western companies have to hire the right people in China nowadays.

Strong competition for experienced employees, the cultural complexities of working in a Western company and the sense that the top positions will always be held by European or U.S. managers push many Chinese workers out of Western companies after only a few years.

And:

"China is like the Internet bubble in the U.S. - vibrant and bullish," says Vincent Gauthier, general manager for Hewitt Associates in Hong Kong. "If you are in your 30s, have English and skills you can walk right out of one job and into another without breaking a sweat. And people do."

Some as the traditional ways to recruit people, like using headhunters, has become severely under threat and is harder to use without risks.
Worth noting is the tendency of Chinese employees in the IT industry to prefer Chinese companies over foreign ones, making hiring even harder:

Junwen Mo, a 22-year-old Chinese business student, has an internship at BNP Paribas SA (13110.FR) but says many Chinese want to work for a Chinese company in the long run. "For prestige and personal satisfaction it is better to work for a Chinese company," he said, adding that foreign companies might pay better salaries but they don't grant promotions. "If you are ambitious you have to work for a Chinese company after a few years of experience."