Navigating China’s talent landscape in 2025: Hays reveals its Top Talent Trends for the coming year

 

As millennial and Gen Z talent become more influential in China’s workforce, and new technologies evolve at a rapid pace, China’s dynamic economic landscape is seeing talent demand shifts across multiple sectors. From the Greater Bay Area’s (GBA) rise as a global financial hub to a renewed focus on diversity, advanced technology, and soft skills, 2025 promises transformative opportunities for skilled professionals. All of these issues and many more are explored in Hays’ Top Talent Trends for 2025.

 

Encompassing a wide array of industries throughout China, Hays’ Top Ten Talent Trends 2025 is essential reading for both employers and employees looking to lead the way in the coming year. An in-depth analysis from Hays’s recruitment experts, it uncovers the push and pull factors affecting China’s organisations and workforce, while highlighting how these issues are driving company strategies, producing actionable recommendations, and identifying the essential skills for employees and jobseekers to thrive in 2025.

 

“As we progress into 2025, China’s finance, banking, manufacturing, and engineering sectors are entering a transformative phase, with digitalisation and technology at the forefront,” explains Sue Wei, Managing Director at Hays Greater China. “In the manufacturing sector, the adoption of smart factories is set to reverse the stagnation associated with traditional manufacturing. Meanwhile, the growing significance of generative AI, which has driven nationwide investment across industries, will fuel increased demand for talent in technology and engineering.”

 

“Concurrently, we are seeing increased focus on soft skills and more inclusive workplace environments, with younger employee demographics forcing an evolution of working values,” Sue adds. “Millennial and Gen Z talent, faced with declining earning potential, are prioritising work-life balance and job significance, while candidates are also increasingly concerned by their employer’s diversity and inclusion commitments. This more empathetic outlook is also reflected in skillset requirements, as we project a greater necessity for soft skills in 2025.”

 

With extensive exploration into these and other key issues driving China’s jobs market, Hays’ Top Ten Talent Trends for 2025 is an indispensable resource for anyone preparing for the changes and challenges of the next 12 months. 

 

To view the ten trends in full, please click here.

 

 

Hays plc (the "Group") is the world’s leading specialist in workforce solutions and recruitment, such as RPO and MSP. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional, and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK, Germany, and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As of 30 June 2024, the Group employed over 11,100 staff operating from 236 offices in 33 countries. For the year ended 30 June 2024:

 

– the Group reported net fees of £1,113.6 million and operating profit of £105.1 million.
– the Group placed around 57,700 candidates into permanent jobs and around 225,000 people into temporary roles.
– 13% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 32% in Germany, 20% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 35% in Rest of World (RoW).
– the temporary placement business represented 59% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 41% of net fees.
– Technology is the Group’s largest division, with 25% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (15%) and Engineering (11%), are the next largest.
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, the UK, and the USA.