New employment platform, cross-border e-commerce repeatedly "grabbing people"

China Youth Daily

2024-05-05 06:48Published on the official account of China Youth Daily in Beijing

"Three two one, get on the cart!(321,link on the cart!)" There is such a scene in a short video of "New Employment Direction for British College Students" that exploded a few days ago: the anchor sells daily necessities in fluent English, and the other end of the live broadcast room grabs the goods from foreign consumers on the other side of the ocean.

The profession of cross-border e-commerce anchors has entered the field of vision of more and more people. Helen (pseudonym), a post-95s girl who came back from studying abroad, has been a cross-border e-commerce anchor for a year. From "working alone" to trying to form a team now, she feels that "the development of cross-border e-commerce has brought new employment opportunities, but good cross-border e-commerce anchors have always been scarce".

In recent years, cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly under the favorable policies of the mainland and has become a new force in global trade. In this year's spring recruitment season, there is also a "war for talents" in the cross-border e-commerce industry, and it is not only foreign language anchors who are "grabbing", but also the demand for talents involved in operations, foreign trade, logistics and other related positions has also increased significantly.

In mid-March, the China International Electronic Commerce Center of the Ministry of Commerce released the "China E-commerce Talent Development Report". Li Mingtao, chief expert of the center, said that from the perspective of business formats, new formats such as live broadcast e-commerce and instant retail are the main areas for the growth of e-commerce talent demand, and from the perspective of demand, there is still a large talent gap in live broadcast e-commerce, rural e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce and other industries, reaching 15 million.

Cross-border e-commerce is undoubtedly a new space for employment. For college graduates, there are still greater challenges in truly meeting the needs of the industry.

Cross-border e-commerce is booming, and it's not just anchors that are scarce

"Cross-border e-commerce anchors must not only be fluent in language, but also know how to bring goods and understand the logic of e-commerce. Helen explains how to define a "good streamer", but it's not easy to do.

At the beginning of 2023, when she first applied to become an anchor, her company had not yet started overseas live broadcast business. She told a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that a single live broadcast generally lasts about 4 hours, "At first, I didn't know if I could speak in English for a full time, and like domestic live broadcasts, the account was also faced with the test of traffic at the beginning of its creation."

In the early days, for the U.S. market, before Helen started the live broadcast, almost all the details were preset. For example, what to say at the beginning, what key points to introduce for each product, what activities to arrange in the live broadcast room, and how to deal with complaints if someone is not satisfied with the product in the live broadcast room, etc., the corresponding words have formed a document in case of emergency, and after becoming proficient, they will begin to play freely. ”

Jet lag is also a big test. She told a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network: "The live broadcast is generally carried out at night, and it will be about half past 11 o'clock when it ends, and the next day during the day will also carry out account operation, video shooting, etc., if there are two live broadcasts a day, it will indeed be more tiring when it is full of 8 hours." ”

Helen wanted to create her own team, "I have limited personal time, and if more potential anchors join, I will be more and more efficient." She also found that there is more and more demand for talents in cross-border e-commerce anchor teams, "anchors, account operations, customer service, short video content shooting, etc., all need professional talents."

Lin Yanhong, a post-00s graduate from the School of Cross-border E-commerce of Fujian Sunshine University, can be described as "professional". Once at the school's cross-border e-commerce elite class publicity meeting, a sentence from the corporate mentor made her "very touched". "The significance of cross-border e-commerce is to help Chinese enterprises go global, and small people can also make a big difference in the industry. She said that this allowed her to find a direction for studying business English.

In her view, "in order to be in line with international standards, the market and trade are changing every year, and the changes are very large, which requires us to keep pace with the times, keep trying and accept new challenges." This is also the charm of the cross-border e-commerce industry."

In the past year, Lin Yanhong has been responsible for the work of Shenzhen Meishida Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. in Alibaba's international platform station. She admits that she often hears some company bosses communicate that "it is difficult to recruit excellent talents", "our company will also face such a problem, on the one hand, we can't recruit the right people, and on the other hand, the right people are 'robbed' by various companies".

The shortage of talent has become a common problem in the industry. According to data from a recruitment website, in the first week of the Spring Festival, cross-border e-commerce operations and foreign trade specialists/assistants ranked second and third with a growth rate of 87.94% and 80.79%, and the market demand for cross-border e-commerce operations and foreign trade-related talents is more urgent.

Lin Yanhong said that at present, the team not only needs excellent salesmen to join, but also needs professionals who know how to operate. "The problem is that most graduates still have a shallow understanding of cross-border e-commerce related positions. For example, she said that the company's customers are mainly from different overseas countries, "I am mainly responsible for introducing customers, and the salesman is responsible for developing customer potential, if the customer only needs one item, how can the salesman convince them to reach our MOQ, or order more products?"

"In recent years, many cross-border e-commerce companies have sought talents from us, and they are very short of people. Chen Hongchuan, executive vice president of the School of Cross-border E-commerce of Sunshine College, told the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that the scale of foreign trade in the mainland has reached a new high and continues to achieve new breakthroughs, "We also personally feel that cross-border e-commerce is in a special stage, and some experts say that the development of this trend may last for 10-20 years."

However, the reality that needs to be faced is that the cross-border e-commerce industry has higher and higher requirements for talents. Chen Hongchuan said, for example, the requirements of cross-border e-commerce operation positions are also changing with the development of the industry, "especially in the past two years, the industry requires learning and operation must have a certain compound ability, if you can understand the data, master big data analysis, and at the same time understand marketing, it is best to have a certain oral ability, which is the talent that enterprises urgently need."

The cross-border e-commerce industry is calling for application compound talents

"This year, there have been many topics such as the new employment direction of British college students, and the best-selling products such as crystal in Donghai County, Jiangsu Province, wigs in Xuchang City, Henan Province, and other originally inconspicuous products have also been welcomed by overseas consumers through cross-border e-commerce. In the view of Deng Yahui, founder of Hangzhou Arc Rice Technology Co., Ltd., not only small commodities, but also Chinese brands need more cross-border anchors as "spokespersons" to go overseas, and more differences in language, culture, and consumption concepts need to be considered.

In the past two years, in addition to focusing on intelligent manufacturing and new energy industries to help China's manufacturing industry go overseas, they are also cooperating with some universities to participate in talent training through competitions and courses.

Deng Yahui believes that from the perspective of cross-border anchor positions, the current talent gap is relatively severe. "The key for most companies is the English oral expression ability of cross-border anchors, and they must have strong expressiveness in front of the camera; in the cross-border live broadcast of ToC (for consumers), consumers may still care about the appearance of the anchor, but in the live broadcast room of ToB (for enterprises), the key to the anchor to promote large-scale products such as new energy vehicles and construction machinery is whether there is a certain degree of awareness and professionalism in the industry, which is different. ”

What makes Deng Yahui excited is that at the beginning of this year, at the press conference of the State Council Information Office, Wang Shouwen, international trade negotiator and vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, introduced that 100,000 cross-border e-commerce talents will be trained this year.

Deng Yahui feels that "with the increase in the number of cross-border e-commerce enterprises, cross-border live broadcast is a new industry demand, and talent training should also start from social needs and cultivate employees that enterprises really need."

Tianyancha data shows that as of now, there are more than 19,000 cross-border e-commerce related enterprises in mainland China, of which more than 810 new registered enterprises will be registered from January to February 2024, and nearly 5,800 new registered related enterprises will be added in 2023, an increase of 44.4% compared with 2022. Among them, Guangdong, Shandong and Zhejiang have the largest number of cross-border e-commerce related enterprises, with 55.3% of related enterprises established within 1-5 years, and 29.5% of related enterprises established within 1 year.

The reporter found that more than 60 colleges and universities across the country have opened undergraduate majors in cross-border e-commerce, and the cross-border e-commerce industry has also become a new hot spot for employment.

"The current talent stock and talent structure obviously cannot keep up with the requirements of development, and there are 100,000 e-commerce graduates in colleges and universities every year, but whether it is from the knowledge structure or ability requirements, there is a large fault. As one of the first seven universities in mainland China to open cross-border e-commerce majors, Chen Caixiang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and professor of the School of Logistics and E-commerce of Zhejiang Wanli University, believes that at present, the cross-border e-commerce industry has entered the stage of refined operation, and the structure of talent demand has undergone great changes.

Chen Caixiang said that in the cooperation with enterprises, it was found that the development of the cross-border e-commerce industry has also generated a large number of industry job recruitment. "For example, operation talents, development talents, logistics talents, art designer talents, customer service talents, etc. With the development of the industry, there are more job opportunities and good development prospects, and experienced cross-border e-commerce industry talents will only become more and more popular. ”

Zhang Chenghu, director of the Department of Digital Business at Communication University of China, believes that the cross-border e-commerce industry has complex transnational trade characteristics and diversified business models, which requires practitioners to have professional knowledge and skills in global vision, cross-cultural communication skills, marketing management, supply chain management, and foreign language communication skills. "At present, the cultivation of cross-border e-commerce talents is relatively scarce in terms of quantity and quality, which has led to the emergence of 'talent grabbing wars'. ”

However, this is also a positive signal in Zhang Chenghu's view, "indicating that the development prospects of the cross-border e-commerce industry are broad and there is huge market space and potential." "In addition to the cultivation of professional knowledge and skills, we also emphasize the cultivation of students' practical ability and innovative thinking, encourage students to participate in internships, project practice and entrepreneurial activities, and provide them with a broader development platform and opportunities."

China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Meng Peipei Source: China Youth Daily

Source: China Youth Daily