Technicians remain the hardest jobs to fill in the Chinese mainland for a second year, according to the results of the 2013 talent shortage survey released on Tuesday by ManpowerGroup.

Sales representatives and management/executive positions are the other two tough spots to fill. This is the second year for technicians and sales reps to rank as the top two.

Technical competency is the key reason that some jobs go begging, accounting for 33 percent among Chinese employers.

The survey covered nearly 40,000 employers across 42 countries and territories, including 1,698 from the Chinese mainland, during the first quarter of 2013.

"After years of talking about talent shortages, the survey results show employers are now awakening to the business effects that occur when talent is scarce.

"Business leaders have accepted that talent shortages are an ongoing" issue, said Zhang Jinrong, managing director of ManpowerGroup China.

Zhang added that more employers report difficulties in filling jobs partly because candidates, the new graduates in particular, lack technical skills or experience.

The survey said that about 35 percent of Chinese employers are facing talent shortages, 12 percentage points higher than last year.

"It seems to be very difficult to find highly skilled technicians with certain working experience, while more job applicants who graduated from universities failed to stand out with professional skills," said Qin Hao, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Allyrise Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.

Qin added that his company prefers to hire graduates from colleges that have proven to be better at teaching particular technical skills, compared with ordinary graduates.

More young people have realized that specific skills are needed to stand out amid tough competition in the job market in China.

Man Fayi, a new graduate from the Chien-shiung Institute of Technology in Taicang, Jiangsu province, has started working as a technician for electrical equipment maintenance at Mubea Automotive Components (Taicang) GmbH, a supplier of vehicle parts.

"I've benefited from courses in college to obtain technical skills in electrical equipment maintenance, which helped me get a job more easily" than ordinary graduates, said Man, who had a two-year internship with a German company during his studies.

Lack of specific technical competencies and lack of applicants are two main factors for difficulty filling jobs globally.

"In the human resource training system of our company, developing existing staff is always the most commonly used strategy to address skills gaps as we're trying to develop professional staff instead of searching widely for talent," said Qin.

Shi Jing contributed to this story.