Wal-mart China CEO Ed Chan launches the Management Trainee Program, together with Clara Wong of Wal-mart and Shi Jin of Tsinghua University in Beijing, April 29.
Wal-mart China on Thursday officially launched its 2010-2011 "Management Trainee Program" targeting campus students. The retailer plans to recruit more than 2,000 talents from university campuses to join its management team in the next five years.Wal-mart said this year it will hold recruitment fairs in more than 30 universities around China, offering over 300 job and internship opportunities.
Tsinghua University, the venue of Thursday's launching ceremony, was also the first stop of this recruitment program. Wal-mart CEO Ed Chan and Yang Bin, party secretary of Tsinghua's School of Economics and Management, attended the ceremony.
This year's program is meant to attract more high-level talent as a new subprogram is introduced for the first time. The subprogram will select three talented MBA student candidates and offer them internships in Wal-mart's American headquarters, preparing them to become future senior executives in Wal-mart China.
CEO Ed Chan said that Wal-mart is attaching great importance to develop local talent, as 99 percent of Wal-mart China's management force is indigenously Chinese. He also added that women account for 40 percent of the company's management.
Clara Wong, vice president of Wal-mart China for HR and administration said universities are an important channel for Wal-mart China to absorb talent. She also said she believes the retailer's campus recruitment can help to relieve university students' pressure to find jobs after graduating.
Wal-mart China introduced its management trainee program in 1998, and thus far has recruited 1,605 trainees from nearly 270 universities and colleges. It has been awarded the "best employer for university students" six years in a row by ChinaHR.com, a leading human resource recruitment service provider in China.
