Despite rising external uncertainties and complexities, strong recruitment trends by Chinese companies highlight their commitment to ongoing technological advancement and cross-border expansion, according to top executives of the recruitment company PageGroup.

Cautious optimism is reflected in a report recently released by the company in Shanghai. Boosted by the stronger outlook of the healthcare, technology, fast-moving consumer goods and retail industries, company-level confidence remains steady at 6.9 out of 10.

Domestic growth has overtaken cost efficiency as the top strategic priority for 57 percent of companies. Global expansion ranked as a closely tied secondary focus. Nearly half of the 304 surveyed C-suite respondents in China said they plan to increase headcount this year.

According to Nicholas Kirk, CEO of PageGroup, this is a strategic reorientation. Rather than worrying about uncontrollable external factors such as geopolitical conflicts, Chinese business leaders are not waiting for external conditions to stabilize before taking action.

The strongest hiring momentum is seen in sales. A salesperson is typically among the first hires of an organization, Kirk explained, adding that this trend reflects the ambition of Chinese companies and their willingness to further expand business.

This perspective is especially relevant as Chinese companies accelerate their global expansion.

The report found that 45 percent of firms are either hiring or planning to hire talent specifically to support overseas growth, with Southeast Asia, North America and Europe ranking as the top regions.

For Kirk, these cross-border initiatives reflect a broader evolution in how China is perceived on the global stage. He recalls his visit to the country in 2023, when automaker BYD was still a relatively unfamiliar name in the United Kingdom.

"Today, BYD vehicles are ubiquitous. The reason is straightforward: it is a superior product. High-quality products command demand across international markets, particularly when offered at the right price point. This is not about low cost — it is about exceptional value," he said.

The recovery in China's consumption amid the government's continued stimulation has prompted companies to complete their overall strategies, generating plenty of job opportunities. The upgrading in the manufacturing industry has also created new job demand, according to Alex Gu, regional director of Michael Page China, which covers PageGroup's mid- to high-end recruitment businesses in the country.

On top of that, China's huge efforts in promoting technology self-reliance and the surge of artificial intelligence have resulted in robust hiring demand for engineers and AI product managers, the latter of which barely existed three years ago, said Gu.

The rapid proliferation of AI is even reshaping the recruitment industry. PageGroup has deployed AI at the top of the hiring funnel, automating administrative tasks and high-volume processes, Kirk said.

However, as candidates progress further through the recruitment journey, the process becomes increasingly human-centric. First- and second-round interviews, feedback, candidate management and negotiation are fundamentally human activities while AI serves as the supporting framework, handling the tasks that consultants do not need to perform or are less suited to, explained Kirk.

A similar discovery can be found in the company's latest report. While 61 percent of C-suite leaders cite operational efficiency as the primary benefit of AI integration, scepticism is also on the rise. The proportion of executives who believe AI will have "no impact" on companies' talent management and development has increased from 12 percent to 17 percent over the past year.

Kirk interprets this as a healthy dose of realism. "They prefer to keep AI out of that stage because they worry about suboptimal outcomes. From their perspective, matching candidates against the right criteria is a task best left to human judgment, rather than risking the biases that may be embedded in an algorithmic model," he said.

Li Junfeng contributed to the story.