Philippine first female commercial pilot

Dream big, work on it and you shall soar high! I have always been a fan of pilots, how much more if they are female pilots. Captain Brooke Castillo, the first Philippine female commercial pilot once again make women stands out! Kudos Captain and always have a safe flight!

Repost from Yahoo News Philippines

On the ground, Brooke Castillo is a classical pianist, a rock band manager, an elite sportswoman and a teacher, but it is high in the sky where she truly excels.
Castillo is the Philippines' first female commercial jet captain, and from the cockpit of Cebu Pacific airline's Airbus A319s and A320s she says she has the best job in the world.
"I think I was destined to be here," the tall and eloquent 41-year-old told AFP in an interview, explaining that she realised her many other talents would take a back seat immediately after she got into aviation school.
"I just took up the challenge and I realised it was something that I would love to do, and that was it."
Castillo grew up in a wealthy Manila household -- her father was a banker and her mother managed a casino -- alongside three brothers who helped instill in her a love for sports and competition.
Many hours of her childhood were spent with her family in ten-pin bowling alleys, and she ended up representing the country's junior team in the sport.
She was also a member of the Philippines' youth basketball team, and won a silver medal for her country as an adult at the Southeast Asian taekwondo championships.
Among her other hobbies and talents, Castillo plays classical piano, manages a local alternative rock band and has a business administration degree from the elite University of the Philippines.
Castillo said she never aspired to be a pilot, but fell into the aviation industry soon after her college days when she accompanied a friend to a testing session for a pilot's scholarship with national carrier Philippines Airlines.
Castillo took the tests as well and, while her friend failed, she aced them.
"When I went to aviation school, I realised everything that I learned from music, from my other endeavours in school and from sports -- all of it -- I was able to apply more than in my college subjects," she said.
Her love of flying and her skills saw her become the first woman in the country to fly a commercial jet in 1996, with Philippine Airlines.
After crossing to rival Cebu Pacific, Castillo in 2003 became the first woman in the Philippines to captain a jet.
Throughout her career she has blazed a trail for other women in the industry, with Cebu Pacific now boasting 14 other female pilots.
"Hopefully there will be more," she said.
Castillo, who is now also an instructor for Cebu Pacific's younger pilots, said she had earned her success on her merits, pointing out airline chiefs could not compromise when choosing captains for their jets.
"In our profession there are no double standards because you cannot afford to put anyone's life in danger," she said.
Castillo suggested women had an advantage because they tended to pay closer attention to the smallest details. A pilot needs to check more than 200 items before an actual flight.
"They say that women are more meticulous and more into multi-tasking. Probably that's true. In some instances I see it," she said.
Be they Piper Tomahawk trainers or Airbus jets, Castillo said the hardest aspect of flying was deciding when to take off and land or abort, because the tiniest hesitation could swiftly lead to life or death situations.
Her most dangerous moment was as a DC-9 co-pilot nine years ago, when the cabin lost compression in mid-flight. She said her professional training took over and the plane landed safely.
"The thing that I learned from that was that you don't feel the fear until it's over," she said.
"After you land and everything, that's when you catch the fear."
Castillo's remaining professional ambition is to captain larger, wide-bodied Airbus aircraft, a dream she will likely fulfil as her employers, now the country's biggest airline, push aggressively into international markets.
She said also she wanted to marry and have a child someday. But she has had trouble finding the time for such personal matters and sees herself flying and instructing until she turns 65, Cebu Pacific's retirement age for pilots.
"I hope, I wish, but I really can't see how," she said when asked about marriage and a family.
"Honestly I'm enjoying my flying career and I am enjoying teaching. Being an instructor, in a way, is fulfilling to me, and in a way it's making me think, 'Should I give it up for anything else?"

Toyota: earnings hit but priority is Japan recovery

The domino effect of tsunami in Japan is being felt not only by the government but as well as the private sector and this effect is felt globally. But I would like to commend the President of Toyota for not being self-centered, or thinking only his company but rather to help in restoring his own country. Surely, his attitude will bring him forward and will help his company a huge success.


Repost from Yahoo News
TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) President Akio Toyoda said on Friday that the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan would hurt the company's earnings, but said that was not on his list of priorities.
"We're not thinking about numbers right now," Toyoda said the company's headquarters in Toyota City, adding he could not estimate the scope of the impact.
"The priority now is the safety of the victims of the disaster, and to try and bring back normal operations as quickly as possible to restore hope," he told reporters after addressing new hires at a ceremony to mark their first day of work.
Deutsche Securities this week slashed its forecast for Toyota' operating profit by 84 percent to $1.7 billion for the current business year due to production outages.
Toyoda repeated the company's stance that it is uncertain when it can resume full production after the March 11 disaster disrupted its supply chain.
The world's biggest automaker has stopped producing vehicles at all but two of the 18 group factories that build Toyota and Lexus cars in Japan. At those two factories it is only assembling a limited number of three hybrid models at a reduced rate.
"This time, all of eastern Japan is affected," Toyoda said. "Rather than think about one automaker's recovery, we want to think about how we can help to restore the lifeline of infrastructure to this region."
Commencing the new hires' ceremony with a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the disaster, Toyoda spent the first few minutes speaking of the need for Toyota to help restore the damaged communities in the north and contribute to the nation's recovery.
Toyoda, who visited the damaged areas earlier this week, told reporters that Toyota would remain committed to the northeast region, Tohoku, which it started to build up as its third production base in Japan several years ago.
"It's about the recovery of Japan," he said. He added that rolling power blackouts would be inevitable during the peak summer season, and there was a limit to what one company could do to resume normal operations.
GLOBAL SUPPLIES AFFECTED
Toyota is certainly not the only auto company suffering from the effects of the disaster in Japan. Companies across the globe have idled plants because of the ripple effects of a lack of parts and many are only now able to resume limited production.
Honda Motor Co (7267.T) and Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T) on Thursday became the latest major automakers to say they would resume some production in Japan.
Honda said it would resume production of parts for overseas use on April 4 and production at all its car factories on April 11. Operations are scheduled to resume at about 50 percent of its original plan.
Honda also said production cuts at its plants in the United States and Canada would last through April 15. The company warned that output could still be disrupted after that date because of the "uncertainty" around the supply of parts from Japan.
Honda has not decided when it will resume full-scale operations, a company spokeswoman said. She also declined to specify which models the company will produce.
Mazda Motor Corp said it plans to restart limited production of vehicles from April 4 at its Hiroshima and Hofu plants. A decision on the resumption of full-scale production of both parts and vehicles has not been made.
A Mazda spokesman declined to say if the parts it is using are being produced by its suppliers or if they are coming out of suppliers' inventory. Mazda also declined to comment on which models it would begin producing, or how many.
In resuming operations, Honda and Mazda follow rival automakers Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T) and Fuji Heavy Industries Co (7270.T), manufacturer of Subaru cars, which both restarted partial production earlier on Thursday.
In the United States, both General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) have either closed factories or slowed production because of a lack of parts.
About 13 percent of worldwide auto output has been lost due to parts shortages and IHS Automotive has estimated this may cut output by as much as 30 percent within six weeks in a worst-case scenario.

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong: The world's highest hotel opens

Asia is the next biggest economy...I wish to stay in Ritz-Carltron even for just a night :-)

Repost from CNN

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong opened Tuesday, claiming the title of world's highest hotel.

Located on the top of Hong Kong's tallest building, the 488 meter tall International Commerce Centre, The Ritz-Carlton has an incredible vantage point of possibly the best panoramic views of Hong Kong.

The opening marks a comeback for the hotel, which closed operations in its former location in Central in 2008.

While Hong Kong is saturated with luxury hotels, Ritz-Carlton President and COO Herve Humler has faith in the market.

"Everybody is doing very well," says Humler of the hotel and its peers in Hong Kong. "There is a great demand [for five star hotels]."

Much of that demand is coming from visitors from mainland China who account for an approximate average of 30 percent occupancy rate in luxury hotels in Hong Kong, according to Humler. They are often The Ritz-Carlton's best customers.

"They come to eat in the restaurants, they bring their family and they are eating better than anybody, drinking the best wines," says Humler. "And mainland Chinese customers are very loyal to the brand."

Humler's forecast for The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong's occupancy rate until May 2011 is at 58-62 percent, considerably lower than the more than 80 percent rate of luxury hotels in Hong Kong. He says his cautious numbers are part of a strategy to keep quality high during the launch period.

"That kitchen has only been cooking for the last ten days," says Humler of the hotel's Italian restaurant Tosca in which we were seated. "I can fill up the place, but I'm going to be very careful. You have to look at consistency."

If he can keep the service and food consistently as good as it was during our breakfast meeting, then The Ritz-Carlton is pretty much set on becoming Hong Kong's next hottest dining destination.

Tosca's scrambled eggs and caviar were casual yet decadent and done to a runny perfection. Served with a bit of smoked salmon, a sprig of greens and a toasted bagel half on a simple ungarnished white plate, the whole thing was very homey and easy -- not ostentatious.

The latest Ritz-Carlton has made a conscious departure from its haughty image as a stuffy upper class refuge with strict dresscodes. The pompous tagline may still stand ("We are Ladies and Gentleman Serving Ladies and Gentlemen") but everything else about the hotel feels postmodern, even hip.
Cool ambitions

Cheeky and insightful touches mark the hotel, from the telescopes in every guest room to the wheels fitted onto the dining chairs to the Chocolate Library, a cacao-themed lounge that serves a chocolate high tea. The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong is trying hard to cater to every whimsy of its 21st-century guests.

Ambiance starts with unbridled glamor at Ozone, the world's tallest bar, a curved length of a room in an energetic patchwork of gilded wood, leather and marble serving cocktails, Japanese cuisine, and Asian tapas. Then follows the classy swagger of the restaurants Tosca and Teen Lung Heen where 8,580 bottles of wine line the walls, on the last count.

Some of it is almost braggadocio like the Bar and Lounge with its double fireplaces and two-story tall chimneys, or the world's highest swimming pool complete with 144 screens on the ceiling in case swimmers get bored.

But amid all the trendy, contemporary superlatives, some things don't change at The Ritz-Carlton. General Manager Mark DeCocinis assures that his team's signature commitment to good service will continue at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong where 30 percent of previous staff have been retained.

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong has 312 rooms and is on floors 102-118 of the International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong, tel +852 2263 2263. Rooms start at HK$6,000 a night for a deluxe suite, rack rate. The presidential suite is $100,000 per night. 

The Ritz-Carlton's lobby where guests can take the lifts to check-in counters on the 103 floor. The elevator ride is said to be the fastest in Hong Kong, travelling nine meters per second.

The Bar and Lounge's chimneys are awaiting fireplace licensing before they can be used.

Cantonese restaurant Teen Lung Heen. Chef Lau was formerly of the Peninsula's Spring Moon.

The world's highest swimming pool.

The club lounge.

The Ritz-Carlton rooms -- comfy, elegant. And with a view.

The International Commerce Centre and the Hong Kong skyline.

Japan nuclear crisis a wake-up call for China

I think this is not only a wake-up call for China but instead to the whole world.

Repost from CNN
Beijing, China (CNN) -- Misery hates company.
Following the nuclear power plant crisis in Japan, China has ordered safety inspections of its existing nuclear plants and suspension of new plant approvals.
The decision was made on March 16 during a meeting of Premier Wen Jiabao with the State Council, China's cabinet. "Development of nuclear power must put safety the top priority," the government said on its website. Beijing's top nuclear power regulatory body quickly unveiled a series of guidelines advising nuclear power plants to take disaster stress tests on planned and existing projects.
Changhua Wu, the Greater China director of The Climate Group, a non-profit group advocating environmental protection, applauded the decision. "They are reviewing and reassessing nuclear power plants," she says. "I believe they are going to find a lot of issues there."
Read whether the fear for nuclear disasters is realistic
China operates 13 nuclear reactors, a small number compared to the 104 in the United States, but China is poised to catch up. It's building more than two dozen others -- roughly 40 percent of all the reactors under construction worldwide -- and 50 more are being proposed.
Read more special coverage on China
Such an aggressive nuclear power program is understandable. In the last two decades, China's energy needs have grown exponentially due to its rapid economic boom and urbanization.
China last year overtook the United States as the world's largest consumer of energy. It depends on fossil fuel for 91% of its needs.

China has turned to alternative sources of energy -- wind, solar and nuclear power -- to improve air quality and curb global warming. "Nuclear power is seen as cost-effective, low carbon, and more reliable than renewable energy such as solar and wind power, which can only provide power some of the time," noted Century Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine popular among intellectuals.
In light of the human and environmental disaster looming in Japan, however, many Chinese are asking: How safe are China's nuclear plants?
Japan's nuclear crisis has served as a wake-up call, said Wu. "As in Europe and other countries, people here are saying, 'Wait a second, let's really think about it,'" she said.
Experts say China is now reviewing the risks associated with earthquakes and tsunamis. It has had its share of major earthquakes, like the 7.9-magnitude quake in 2008, which killed over 80,000 in Wenzhou, Sichuan province. Its existing and planned nuclear plants are all located along its eastern and southern coastlines -- prompting questions of whether they are vulnerable to a tsunami.
Another concern is lack of transparency. Although China has signed and ratified the International Atomic Energy Agency's Convention on Nuclear Safety, critics say China is slow in providing public information on safety and waste-management.
Corruption is another worry. Kang Rixin, a senior Communist Party member and head of China's nuclear power program, was convicted last November in a $260 million corruption case in which he was accused of rigging bids connected to nuclear power plant construction. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but his case raised concerns about lack of supervision.
"Do we have enough manpower to manage and monitor so many nuclear plants?" Wu of The Climate Group asked. "If accidents happen, do we have emergency response in place? Are we ready? I am not so sure."
These questions are causing public concerns, Wu said. "Already we have started to see the 'not in my backyard' mentality," she noted. "Before the Japan disaster, most people do not necessarily understand the risks they are facing, but now people are actually more alert."
There is little public debate, except in cyberspace, where some netizens anonymously resort to sarcasm. Some expressed surprise to find themselves living in close proximity to nuclear plants. Other blogs listed locations of plants, with maps attached as well. One posting suggested that "China should put all government officials' homes next to the plants."
Experts say there are robust debates among Chinese policy-makers, too. "Some are quite convinced that the third generation technology in China's nuclear plants currently under construction is superior than Japan's," said Wenran Jiang, a political science professor at the University of Alberta. "Others are more cautious, calling for more reviews and more safety measures."
Still, China is not about to abandon its nuclear power ambitions. "The construction of nuclear plants will continue, but it will be a more cautious process," he said. "Call it lessons learned from Japan."

Advocates of clean energy hope those lessons will inspire China to switch to renewable energy sources. "Hopefully we need not panic and kill nuclear energy altogether," said Wu of The Climate Group. "In the long run, we hope wind, solar and other safer renewable sources of energy will grow really fast to replace high-risk energy sources like nuclear and large-sized hydropower projects."

Japan and energy: What's the alternative?

Let's go green! Talking about safe alternative energy source wind is becoming more popular, it's just anywhere. I am also an advocate of renewable energy as I work for a company developing renewable energy projects and Wind project is one of them (which I happen to be the Project Manager). I think this is the way to go, we just have to find the right location for wind farms, fund it and surely we will have a sustainable energy source.

Repost from CNN

Could windfarms such as this one in the northern Philippines be the answer to Japan's future energy needs?

(CNN) -- As Japan's earthquake and tsunami ripped through the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the wind turbines at nearby Takine Ojiroi Wind Farm did what they were designed to do: They swayed, they stopped, they electronically checked themselves and automatically restarted.
"Except for one turbine that was very close to the nuclear power plant, all the turbines were up and running after the quake," said Sean Sutton of Vestas, the world's largest manufacturer of electricity generating wind turbines.
"And the damaged turbine we were able to monitor remotely," he said. Even now, the turbines are generating power for the grid despite being isolated within the nuclear exclusion zone.
As a source of power, wind energy is about as clean, safe and earthquake-proof as it gets -- the problem is it generates a fraction of Japan's energy needs.
Compared with the massive 4,696MW output of the six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the 23 turbines at Takine Ojiroi can produce just 46MW -- enough for 30,000 households.

With just 1% of the capacity of the nuclear-powered leviathan just a few kilometers away, the wind farm is a microcosm of the contribution of wind power to Japan's energy mix.
Currently, Japan gets 27% of its power from coal, 26% from gas, 24% from nuclear, 13% from oil, and 8% from hydro. The remaining 2% is occupied by renewables such as geothermal power stations, solar and wind.
While renewable energy companies are loathe to admit it, as Japan still counts the human cost of the quake, the nuclear crisis at Fukushima may be the best thing that ever happened to the sector.
Last week, the share prices of renewable energy companies soared as much as 10%. Nuclear companies, meanwhile, tanked as China -- which has the world's largest commitment to nuclear power with 13 plants in operation and more than 27 in the pipeline -- announced it would suspend approval for new nuclear power projects.
Germany, too, has suspended its nuclear program and ordered seven older plants closed during the moratorium. At the same time, Berlin has boosted the size of the government's renewable energy fund from €300 million ($425 million) to €1 billion.
Renewable energy companies admit their fortunes are closely tied to the vagaries of the oil market. Every sustained price spike sees renewed interest and funding in alternative energy. This interest ebbs when oil prices fall to more affordable levels.
However, the nuclear crisis in Fukushima -- coupled with events in Libya that have pushed oil to 30-month highs -- has added a new, and many in the industry will be hoping, permanent dimension to the funding of the heavily subsidy-dependent alternatives sector.
"I guess this is the right time to evaluate the options," said Sutton, whose Danish company has its Asia headquarters in Singapore. "Wind power compared with other sources is safe, fast, predictable and clean - it can also be deployed quickly."
He said the Japanese government was now reviewing long-stalled wind power feed-in tariffs -- a form of government subsidy -- under which alternative power producers, including solar power generating households, are paid a premium for feeding power into the grid.
With the Japanese government considering massive offshore wind farm projects that could generate 1,000MW of power, wind companies are betting on strong growth in Japan.
"Previously the government was quite fractured on this issue, but I think if there's any good to come from this nuclear crisis then it will be to help kick start feed-in tariffs for wind," Sutton said.
The Holy Grail for the alternative sector is what is known in the industry as grid parity, where it becomes as cheap to buy wind and solar power as it is to buy other power on the grid. Without feed-in tariffs the dream of grid parity is a long way off.
Japan already has feed-in tariffs for solar power and is the third largest producer of solar power in the world, behind Germany and Spain. While it has ambitious plans for the fast growing energy sector, even the most optimistic projections only put it at 10 % of the energy mix by 2050.
As exciting as alternatives may seem, the answer to Japan's future energy needs is likely to come from more traditional sources, according to Ivo Bozon, a leading energy analyst at McKinsey & Company.
"It takes a long-term commitment to get the scale necessary in renewables to produce meaningful amounts of the power," said Bozon. "There are physical limits on renewable energy -- with wind power it's reliant on onshore winds and with solar it's space and sunlight."
As you go down the list of clean fuels, he explained, discounting those energy sources that take up too much space, rely on intermittent power sources or are simply too expensive to produce, what you end up with is natural gas.
"The biggest lift from this is likely to be in gas, especially in Japan and China, where they have the scale to get plants up and running," he said.
Biomass, fuels produced from biological sources such as palm oil, is also likely to see renewed interest as the pendulum swings away from nuclear power.

"I think all countries will be rethinking their commitment to nuclear in the light of these events. At the very minimum there could be delays," said Bozon.

RP eyed as source of Pepsi coco water

Another alternative for coconut farmers in the Philippines, the coconut water. Coconut is consider to be the most useful palm as we can utilize all its component. The government should once again give priority on this industry as it can boost our economy if Pepsi will push for this project. We should give priority to the agri sector as we where once the biggest producer and supplier of different agri products.

Repost from Manila Bulliten

MANILA, Philippines - Global beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. is looking at the distribution of 'coconut water' in the US market with the Philippines as primary source.

Trade officials said that Brazilian businessman Rodrigo Veloso, founder and CEO of One Natural Experience (O.N.E.), who came here over a year ago to explore for the sourcing of young 'coconut water', has renewed interest in the Philippines.

Based on the plan, O.N.E. will produce the 'coconut water' in the country but PepsiCo will take care of distribution in the US market.

"They should produce it here because the tendency for this kind of product is to produce it at source," the official said.

The initial volume of 'coconut water' that O.N.E. would like to source from the Philippines is 10 containers a month. The country's total coconut production is placed at 16 million tons a year.

Last year, PepsiCo and O.N.E., a Los Angeles, California-based coconut water company, has announced PepsiCo's increased investment in O.N.E., thereby acquiring a majority stake in the company. This represents a second round of investment in O.N.E. by PepsiCo and Catterton Partners, a private equity firm based in Greenwich, Conn.

Coconut Water is one of the fastest growing categories in the U. S. beverage market.

The trade official, however, said that there is not enough supply of coconut water that can be produced in the country.

The number of productive coconut trees in the country has dwindled over the years because of neglect due to the lower price of copra. It was only lately that prices of copra have reached an all-time high of P60 per kilo following the strong demand of coconut oil in the world market.

Trade and Industry undersecretary Merly Cruz said the biggest producers of coconuts in the country are Davao , Bicol, Samar, Leyte and Quezon, but coconut production has dwindled over the years because there have been lesser coconut development programs and no more replanting.

She said there is also a huge demand for coconut water concentrates in the U.S. after a Thai supplier has stopped its export business.

Cruz said the government is pursuing an advocacy to develop high-value added products out of coconut by-products to create awareness among Filipinos that there is money in these lowly products and in doing so they would be encouraged to cultivate their coconuts and replant new ones. (BCM)

Monique Lhuillier featured in People Magazine

Once again giving pride to the Philippines is Monique Lhullier, a Filipina designer who have worked with several big star in the US. Proud to be Pinoy!

Repost from Phil Star News

CEBU, Philippines - The latest edition of People magazine has featured the US-based Cebuana designer Monique Lhuillier. In the article entitled "One Star, Two Dresses," it was related how Monique came up with the two gowns that singer-actress Mandy Moore wore to the recently held Oscars.
The article, written by Alexis Chiu, said that Mandy Moore wore Monique Lhuillier gowns on the red carpet and during her performance of the Oscar-nominated song “I See The Light” with actor Zachary Levi, the theme of the Disney Animation film “Tangled.”
The first gown was a glittering off-shoulder mermaid dress with a blush-colored tulle skirt. The gown also boasted of 2,500 citrine crystals, gold beads and matte gold sequins. "It was the first one I tried. I was like, 'Okay, I'm done!' What girl is not going to feel great wearing a dress like this?" enthused Moore.
According to Lhuillier, the gown fitted Moore very well: "It's beautiful on Mandy because she's so statuesque and elegant."
The second gown was a strapless cobalt blue ball gown that featured a full skirt and corseted top. In total, the gown was made of 40 yards of tulle and 75 hand-rolled silk satin organza rosettes.
Lhuillier said in the article that she wanted to highlight the form of Mandy, especially her small waistline and feminine shoulders. "It's that quintessential big full dress. It almost feels like a big cupcake, but in the best way possible!" described Moore of her dress.
The article said that more than 10 workers spent 550 hours completing Moore’s two gowns.
The gowns earned critical praise, and Moore herself felt happy because wearing the gowns was like fulfilling the fairytale fantasy of her childhood. "I just really took it all in and enjoyed it as much as I possibly could. It was a full-on girlie day, getting to play dress-up at this level. When you look at just how much work goes into pieces of art like these, you can't help feeling both lucky and beautiful for the moment."

Apart from Moore, Hollywood actresses Anna Paquin and Odette Yustman also wore Monique Lhuillier in other Oscar events. 

Through the years, Monique Lhuillier has become the go-to designer of Hollywood stars for bridal gowns and red carpet outfits. These included America Ferrera, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Demi Moore, Anne Hathaway, Marcia Cross, Jessica Simpson, Taylor Swift, Anna Paquin, Olivia Wilde, Sophia Bush, Kristen Stewart, Eva Longoria, Shania Twain, Kelly Clarkson, and Hayden Panettiere, among others. (FREEMAN)

Skills shortage in hot China market

For China, there's no way but up. The booming economy of China will definitely require skilled professionals all over the world. I come across this news today and thought of re-posting this as it may help job seekers to land their dream jobs. If you are in the field of Sales, Engineering /Architect / Design, Accounting & Finance prepare your CV and better yet, start leaning mandarin! Chances of getting good job in China is very likely. Read the news below
 
Repost from CNN News
Many companies are making a big push for hiring in Asia in 2011. If you've got certain skill sets, you could be in the driver's seat. Hays Recruitment agency recently surveyed more than 500 companies in mainland China and Hong Kong.  The agency discovered companies in one of the world’s hottest markets are having a difficult time finding the right candidate in three sectors: sales, engineering and accounting.
Sales
During the recession, companies pared down their sales and marketing departments. Many firms have been working with skeleton staffs but now they're ready to refill these old positions.  "Health care sales reps [are] a big new industry in China. The growing middle class can afford personal health care. A big chunk (of demand) we're seeing is in the health care area like pharmaceuticals and hospitals in China," says Emma Charnock, Hays regional manager.  Candidates who are bilingual and have basic science or medical backgrounds have the biggest edge.

Engineering /Architect / Design
Despite China's efforts to slow down its economy, there are still many major construction projects slated for 2011. You will see everything from luxury shopping malls to high-speed rail projects. There's increasing demand for architects and designers for luxury stores, hotels and corporate interiors.
Major infrastructure projects like high-speed rail are creating demand for engineers with rail and tunneling experience. Yet it’s very difficult to find these candidates locally in Asia, Charnock says. Chinese companies often hire candidates from the U.K., Australia and the United States.  There's demand for "Engineering Procurement Construction Managers" - someone who can oversee a project from beginning to end.
Singapore is another good possibility for job-seekers. The government rail projects there make up a major portion of the construction market. These projects are looking for estimators, station managers, tunnel managers and design engineers.
Accounting & Finance
In the finance industry, bonuses were paid out in February around the Lunar New Year holiday. Now with bonuses safely in hand, many employees are itching to switch jobs.  There's been a lot of movement in banking with rising demand for financial planners and analysts.  "In 2010, we saw salary increases of 10-15% and we expect a similar trajectory for 2011," says Charnock. "We're seeing a definite increase in demand for executive roles like CFOs."
Many multinational companies indicate they may try to localize their senior management teams in China by hiring local candidates with China experience or overseas experience. So job-seekers with bilingual and bicultural skills are highly marketable. Candidates who have experience working under USGAAP  (United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are also in demand since many multi-nationals in Asia are operating under these accounting standards.