More than 500 vacancies at nearly a hundred companies will be up for grabs next week at a jobs fair in Beijing, aiming to attract the best Chinese talent returning from overseas.

Organizers from the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, at the Ministry of Education, say they have already attracted 1,500 job seekers to register for the event on Nov 24, with over 80 percent of those holding either a master’s degree or PhD.

The fair is open to anyone seeking a job, who has overseas studying, or work experience.

Bai Zhangde, the center’s director, said there will be jobs to suit all types of people, whether they are just back from abroad, or have been working in China already and are looking for new opportunities.

"We’ve held many small and medium sized recruitment fairs before, but it’s our first one of this size,” he said, adding that he plans to use the event as a benchmark for further similar large-scale events.

There are potential employers taking part from right across the jobs market, including research institutes, state companies, financial business and technical companies, such as China National Petroleum Corporation, Peking University Health Science Center and CITIC Group.

According to the Ministry, there were 339,700 Chinese studying overseas in 2011, a 19.32 per cent increase on 2010, with 186,200 returning during the year, a 38.08 percent rise.

Hu Xuetao, a senior manager in the HR department of Beijing Automotive Group, one of the country’s top automotive companies, said it plans to offer more than 50 positions during the fair.

"We value talent returning from overseas and started targeting those in particular last year, hiring 206 employees,” he said.

He added that by 2015, the company expects to have filled 2,000 jobs with overseas-experienced staff.

Around 60 percent of the its staff have five to 10 years’ professional working experiences in relevant fields, and 40 per cent of those have overseas experience of some sort, he said.

One recent graduate planning to be at the fair is Chen Zhong, a 32-year-old just back from the US with a PhD in electronic engineering.

He spent a decade in the country, including four years’ working.

He told China Daily the event will help him get a handle on what’s available, given he has few contacts in China.

Although planning to start his own company, Chen believes the event, and other similar fairs, are vital for what he calls the “lost generation” to reconnect with the local jobs market.

The fair will be held at Beijing Landmark Towers Hotel from 9 am to 4 pm on Nov 24. Further information is available from embassies, and online.

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn