The Best Place in the World to Start a Career

Leave our London headquarters, walk in any direction, and you will soon find a school that will teach you to speak Mandarin. Twelve such schools operate within a three-mile radius of our office in Mayfair, more than the number that will teach you either French or Italian.

A similar boom in Chinese language instruction is underway in New York and in Silicon Valley. In Bellevue, Washington, parents who work at the nearby Microsoft headquarters send their children, some as young as five, to a taxpayer-funded Mandarin immersion school. More than 100 others operate across the U.S., mostly in centres of tech innovation. Like learning how to code, speaking Mandarin is increasingly seen as a key skill for the next generation of professionals.

The street-level evidence tells us that, despite concerns over China’s economic slowdown, the country has never been a stronger magnet for the adventurous and the ambitious. The adults and children busily learning Mandarin understand, or perhaps sense intuitively, that conventional wisdom about the future of opportunity may be wrong.

The statistical evidence tells the same story: for the Millennial generation, China – where entrepreneurs race to serve a growing middle class – is the number one place for starting a career.

China’s attraction for Millennials is documented in a survey of 16,200 influential people, business leaders and citizens conducted by WPP’s BAV Consulting in partnership with U.S. News & World Report and The Wharton School for a report called Best Countries, which ranks nations on a variety of measures – including “best country to start a career”.

Other Asian nations join China at the top of the career list, including Japan at six and South Korea at seven:

1. China
2. Germany
3. United States
4. United Kingdom
5. Canada
6. Japan
7. South Korea
8. Sweden

Asia increasingly appeals not only as a place to work, but also to live. When Millennials were asked about “the place I’d like to live,” Singapore, renowned for its social stability, came in first. Sri Lanka captured fourth place, followed by Vietnam at number five. These last two answers might startle those who don’t know that both nations are buzzing with start-up companies that serve both domestic consumers and a global marketplace.

What draws well-informed young adults to the Asia-Pacific region is its potential for innovation and entrepreneurship. Japan tops the list of countries seen as “innovative” and ranks second in the Best Countries Entrepreneurship sub-ranking, which takes into account many of the attributes needed to start a small business, such as access to capital, infrastructure and tech expertise, among others. When looking purely at “entrepreneurial” as an attribute, China is the top scorer.

Indeed, China is growing rapidly as a hub for innovation and creativity for young people. IDG’s DEMO China conference is widely regarded as the launching pad for Chinese technology and, now, creativity. Hugo Shong, a founding partner (and WPP non-executive director), says, “We also launched Looking China, an international youth film project that invites young people from all over the world to observe China through the lens of their own cameras.” So far, the project has attracted 200 foreign film students to participate. 

Optimism about Asia is based, in part, on a comparatively low cost of entry for innovators. Berlin, London and San Francisco may draw young people with great ideas, but many of them fall short because they cannot raise the huge sums necessary for their companies to compete. Asian countries seem to support dreamers with fewer pounds or dollars who discover they can go a long way on the value of their talent and hard work. These nations are particularly strong when comparing their perceived levels of “innovation” relative to their GDP per capita:

Once established, entrepreneurs in Asia can access a vast market where consumer spending is expected to grow quickly. When business decision-makers were asked to identify the best countries for business, five of the six at the top of the list were in Asia: Japan, China, India, South Korea and Singapore.

Furthermore, when business decision-makers consider countries that have the most promise as partners – where they’d like to do more business in the future – India, Pakistan and Singapore occupy the top three spots:

The message is clear. Asia is seen as a land of opportunity for Millennial innovators, and anyone seeking business growth. Time to brush up on your Mandarin.

Photo: Getty Images