BEIJING, Mar. 16 -- Some of China's biggest State-owned enterprises (SOEs) may open up their top positions to public competitors this year, sources at the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said yesterday.

    The commission, which supervises 177 of the nation's central and largest SOEs as the owner of the State's assets, is expected to organize a new open recruitment campaign to bring fresh talent to the major SOEs later this year.

    Although the exact timing of the campaign has yet to be set, the jobs to be offered will include the general manager positions at central SOEs. This will be the first time that the first-in-command of these enterprises will have been chosen in such a way.

    SASAC organized two similar recruitment campaigns in 2003 and 2004, during which 28 central SOEs, including China Unicom and China Aluminium Corporation, offered 30 senior positions that were as high as the deputy general manager and chief accountant, to the public.

    A few of the jobs were even open to foreign applicants, although none were successful. All applicants were competing on the same basis, sitting the same exams, said SASAC sources.

    Before the experiment, such top management positions in the central SOEs were directly appointed by the central government.

    But many SOEs, in the middle of reforms to improve their efficiency, have been seeking fresh blood to upgrade their management. And open recruitment campaigns should give them greater choice, Li Rongrong, minister of the SASAC, told a work conference in January.

    He said the past two recruitment campaigns for the central SOEs had achieved satisfactory results and laid the basis for further reforms in the personnel system.

    The subsidiaries of the central SOEs should have all of their managerial staff chosen through a competitive process this year, he said.

    Each enterprises should have a relevant evaluation system for such recruitment matters, he said.

    SASAC also released a circular that set out guidelines and procedures for the open recruitment of executives in central SOEs yesterday.

    Each enterprise should design a relevant recruitment strategy according to their own condition and clarify the criteria for the management positions. Fair and open competition should be guaranteed.

    Most central SOEs continue to select their executives from within the enterprise.

    But they should broaden their horizons and introduce advanced human resource management measures to get the desired talents, the circular said.

    China has aimed to build between 30 and 50 big enterprise groups that are global competitive in the coming years.

    And more central SOEs are expected to get listed overseas and will be transformed into corporations that operate according to international standards.

    (Source: China Daily)