Human resources consultants expect the trend of low unemployment rate, low
inflation and low growth to continue next year in Hong Kong. Various industries will have
stable growth; the financial sector, in particular, will see the biggest growth. With the
due implementation of global fi nancial monitoring measures in Hong Kong and China,
financial institutions have begun to expand and recruit talents in large numbers.
Established in 1994 ,
Advance Resources is one of
the leading recruitment and
personnel consultant agencies
in Hong Kong. It is familiar with
recruitment issues in the fi nance,
engineering, IT sectors, and
among listed companies and
multinationals. Director of the
company, Alex, said: "Since
last June, banks, insurance,
fund companies and
brokerages have begun
recruitment drives
for their compliance
department
responsible for due
diligence, anti-money laundering and ¡¥knowing your customers' work.
Large banks have even increased their staff by multiple
times to meet with compliance requirements. People with
experience in the finance sector, whether in front-line,
support or customer service duties, were recruited."
Expecting the recruitment drives to continue, he
suggests that those interested in switching jobs should
start looking as soon as possible: "Due to the big demand
for talents, the thresholds for the jobs are low at the
moment, but once the basic demand is met, employers
would set higher requirements for academic qualifications
and professional experience. Potential talents should
try to enter their preferred fields as soon as possible.
Compliance work is part of global monitoring, therefore it
is likely to remain in demand regardless of the economic
situation. It can become a long-term career since the
professional requirements for it are relatively stable."
In the IT fi eld, salaries went up substantially in the past
few years due to a huge demand for talents. But according
to Alex, the craze is gradually subsiding : "The IT and
Internet field saw a rapid decline in its need for workers
in the millennium, causing a sharp drop in the number of
students studying IT. The shortage of graduates led to the
craze a few years ago for talents. The supply of talents,
however, has returned to normal in recent years. Besides,
the local IT sector has no particular edge; programming or
web page design work can be easily taken over by talents
in the Chinese mainland or Southeast Asian countries. I
expect the sector to have only stable growth."He adds that
in the retail sector, which has plunged from its peak, the
level of increase in manpower and salaries has returned to
normal.
Overall, he is expecting a 2-3 % salary increase this
year. Employers are prudent with their recruitment plans,
hiring mainly to fill vacant positions. Jobseekers must
accept the reality of low economic growth and not expect
too much for salary increase and promotion. To increase
their competitiveness, they can pursue further studies. "In
an ever-changing world, graduates and jobseekers should
be prepared to add value to themselves through further
studies."
And that involves two main areas, he says: "First is
adding professional value. In the accounting or engineering
sector, there is a clear professional advancement ladder
spelling out the professional requirements and studies
needed to reach certain levels; for more general posts,
such as marketing, customer service, retail management
etc., there are diploma courses and other courses offered by professional associations. People can choose the right
one for themselves depending on their fi eld and position.
Doing further study gives employers the impression that
you are being proactive."
The average clerical or support staff can also increase
their competitiveness by doing continuing studies. He
says: "In this age of social media, enterprises tend to set
up groups combining staff from various departments such
as marketing, IT, customer service etc. to jointly operate
a dedicated social platform. A group member who knows
about Photoshop, for example, will be able to show off his
talent; aspiring staff can take a course in other softwares
such as Excel, Powerpoints etc. Having knowledge of
complicated softwares will give them more chances of
getting involved in new projects, and attract employers'
attention. "
On the whole, in deciding whether to do further study,
you should consider the needs of your work, or you
career goals. Approach the matter from the perspective of
investment and return. Don't waste your time and money
following other people's choices.
Becoming an Important Asset through Further Education
With a negative economic outlook for 2017,
General Manager of Corporate and Talent
Development at New World Development Company
Limited, Teddy, believes continuing education is
important for the development of both staff and
company.
"I am expecting a downward
trend for this year's economy,
mainly due to the negative factors in
the retail and tourism sectors. Other
reasons include the worsening
political atmosphere in Hong Kong
and aging population,"he said.
"As for the property sector, the government's cooling measures will have an impact. Prices for flats in the urban areas will remain
relatively stable while those in the various new towns in the
New Territories will inevitably fl uctuate." But Teddy expects
a steady decline, rather than substantial drop, in property
prices.
Win-win situation
Understandably, given his role in his company, Teddy
greatly encourages staff to pursue further education. "They
can equip themselves while for the company, it is worth
investing in training and education for staff because good
talents can generate more wealth for it. It is defi nitely a winwin
situation when staff benefi t personally while the company
moves further ahead, " he explains.
As for the choice of subjects to study, Teddy says the
fast-changing area of modern technology will certainly be
useful for one's career development. Besides, with the
prevalence of social media, courses related to the Internet
¡¥can definitely broaden one's horizon even if they are
related to one's work,' he adds.
New World Development Company Limited has
invested substantially in staff training. "We have a
continuing education fund open to all staff with an annual
ceiling of HK$10,000. As long as the course is related
to his work, any staff member can apply for the funding
support."Unlike the government's continuing education
fund which is available only on an one-off basis, New
World Development's fund with an annual ceiling of
HK$10,000 can be applied for year after year as long as
the course is related to one's work.
"Besides, we also have a scholarship fund capped
at HK$50,000 for staff without a degree. There are
altogether 12 places for staff who want to enroll in a
degree course. In addition, we sponsor management
staff who have worked for us for five years to do MBA
course. Staff can also apply for leave to prepare for
professional examinations. "
Teddy stresses that New World Development
Company Limited has always supported and encouraged
staff pursuing further education while striking work-life
balance. "People do not just live to work. They need
to have a life; therefore we organize workshops and
other activities to let staff relax, live a healthier life. This
contributes to another win-win situation."
Excellent program with excellent people
In many regions of China, there are many
candidates that wish to be promoted into the
management level would like to study MBA, this is
actually the result best demonstrated after a rapid
development of various businesses in Mainland China.
This opportunity makes many enterprises require a
substantial number of management talent. Holding an
internationally-acclaimed MBA course qualification is
indeed a big advantage. Currently there are many big
enterprises, having stabilized in Mainland China, have
decided to enter into the international market. During the process of this development, the enterprises need
a large number of management level employees who
have the experience of dealing in Mainland China and
have the knowledge of how the international operation
of business world work in order to assist further
development of the enterprise.
Studying the acclaimed MBA courses for many
students coming from the Mainland who would like to try
out their potential in Hong Kong is very attractive. In 2016,
the MBA course in University of Hong Kong has again
ranked as number two in the MBA courses worldwide
in the Economist. The criteria for this ranking is very
comprehensive. They include the opportunities to expand
one's business, the individual candidate's own personal
development and their own education experience, salary
increase and socializing network development. In this
survey, the universities in regions of Hong Kong has
performed very well. Except for the HKU, the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology has respectively
ranked number 70th. Therefore, Hong Kong MBA courses
do have a more prominent advantage when compared to
other regions in Asia.
Obviously, the quality of Hong Kong's MBA courses
are more guaranteed when compared to the fl uctuating
quality of the MBA or EMBA courses in Mainland
China. It is chiefl y due to Hong Kong's years of records
of success, its better quality control, as well as its
internationalized teaching quality that has made a lot
of mainland employees willing to come to Hong Kong
to study in order to have a better development in their
career. Amongst many employees from Mainland who
come to Hong Kong, many of them are already in the
position of being middle/high-ranking management level,
and usually come from the professions which needs
to be connected with international standards such as
finance or accounting. These management talents
understands fully that they need to be equipped with
knowledge of business operation and administration
despite the mainland enterprise development. A series
of MBA courses, provided by an international city of
Hong Kong, can sufficiently provide them with these
necessary knowledge, and hence has become the
staircase for those mainland talent to international
standards.
Wide network and wide vision
In addition of being properly monitored, Hong
Kong's MBA curriculum also undertakes both theory
and practice to its students which provides them with
ample opportunities to gain vital experience from this
international city. This is the undoubted advantage
Hong Kong MBA course can offer and is not something
that mainland Universities could always provide
students with. The school's highly-valued interaction
among the programme team, alumni and students
that make MBA more conducive to knowledge and
experience exchange. With English as a medium in
teaching plus its well-equipped facilities, Hong Kong's
MBAs are sure to be able to bring its students to the
next level of improving themselves. The university
also enhances the career development services
covering career counselling and coaching as well as job placement which are tailor-made to fit the career
goals, aspirations and directions of different students.
And, of course, In addition to the alumni-students buddy
programme that connects students with seasoned
graduates and the regional alumni chapters to foster
their networks.
Most important, these hands-on experience could also
be acquired in Hong Kong which is in close proximity to
China. For many mainland students, those experience
comes more practical than those that they could have
learnt in many other famous universities overseas. This
is because for most of those mainland students, it is most
likely that they would work in China. Since the business
context in China is very different from those of Western
countries, Hong Kong serves as a perfect midpoint for
mainland students to acquire universal and practical
experience. Hong Kong MBA courses not only are readily
proximate, but also satisfy the market demands; therefore
are defi nitely their fi rst choice.
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