By Sun Yan

With Sinochem Group’s growing pesticides business, the number of Chinese graduates from overseas joining this young, vibrant and challenging team has been on the rise every year. They choose Sinochem Shanghai as the platform of career development. They enjoy their work, though they are busy and sometimes tired. From them, we certainly see the great prospect of the company’s core business expanding continuously.

Better Prospect in Professional Development

 “With regard to profession, I’ve made greater progress than my classmates who stay in the UK”, said Feng Jing, showing great confidence. As a member of the Planning Division of Sinochem Shanghai (working on legal support), she finally chose Sinochem Shanghai unlike many others who decided to stay overseas. The reason, though returning back to China or not was of course a major life decision, was to plan for better career development.

At that time, some regretted for her, as many fellow students who stayed in the UK were able to have better living conditions. But what Feng Jing cherishes is the professional opportunities the company provides her. “Now, if we compare progress in profession, they admire me instead. What I enjoy most is that I’m able to work with excellent superiors and an excellent team. I feel each day of work is full of challenges and fun”, commented by Feng Jing confidently.

In today’s world where competitions for talents have become increasingly fierce, is it adequate to prove oneself an outstanding talent with an overseas degree? How can one have distinct strengths and stand out from the increasingly large pool of Chinese graduates from overseas?

Rational Career Development Planning

Before graduation, Zhang Shuo stared at the cherry blossoms and asked herself whether she should go back to China or stay overseas. It would be good for her to stay in the UK, as she was excellent in academic performance and fluent in English and studied an internationally popular major. However, she pondered over everything and still decided to return to China, as China is in more urgent need of outstanding M&A talents, and there were few universities in China that offered programs in M&A.
Against the backdrop of open social structure and international perspectives, Zhang Shuo, a member of Business Development Headquarters working on M&A, attaches great importance to the work she is engaged in and her future career development. …

Zhang Shuo said, even though with an overseas degree, she did not feel any sense of being superior to others. Instead, right after joining the company, she found that many colleagues at her age worked very well. But she is still quite confident, as she has chosen a major that suits the need of the society. With profound professional skills, she is working hard to make herself an inter-disciplinary talent. From the very start, she has worked very hard to adapt to the new environment and accumulated much work experience, and she also benefited a lot from her overseas study experience.

Open-Mindedness and International Perspectives

Wang Jingjing working with Agrochemical Division’s American Group  said, “the international perspectives I developed during overseas study has helped to expand the path of my career development. When studying overseas, we were exposed to many field trips, which was really hard for foreign students due to language barriers and cultural differences. It was through this process that I improved myself.”

A Chinese employee with education experience in Spain said, “It is important not to think of oneself as a graduate from overseas but rather as a member of Sinochem Group. We should agree with the corporate culture. Sinochem Shanghai, unlike many other state-owned enterprises, is vigorous and active. The company has many foreign employees, and the corporate culture fully integrates the advantages of the Chinese and western cultures. It is both humble and innovative, advocating free individuality while emphasizing collectivism.”

Some Chinese graduates from overseas born after the 1980s commented that it is important to work on communication skills and make oneself “not alien” to others.

"Actually, the so-called differences between the East and the West are not that serious, as we all are yellow, black-haired Chinese people with deeply embedded Oriental culture.” Most Chinese people with overseas education experience still think of themselves as adaptive to the culture of Sinochem Group. In their view, Sinochem Shanghai bears the qualities of a modern enterprise in many areas including management, system and corporate culture, which are exactly what enterprise competitiveness relies in.