Attendees at the Career Forum had the pick of over 30 companies to talk to, offering hundreds of jobs across a huge range of industries and professional sectors. At each company’s booth, they had the opportunity to learn about the latest corporate developments and discuss careers, jobs on offer, entry requirements and industry trends.
We spoke to six companies to hear about their experiences with the forum’s eager jobseekers and gain their insight on career-building within their respective industries.
Abercrombie & Fitch
First-time forum exhibitors Abercrombie & Fitch found the event an ideal way to entice young people to its Manager in Training (MIT) programme. Every week during the intensive 10-12 week programme, trainees learn a different aspect of how the firm operates, said company recruiter Yvette Yeung.
“The MIT programme teaches them the basic aspects of how to run a store – everything from visuals and merchandise to HR and even asset protection,” Yeung said. “They then shadow a senior manager before being promoted to assistant manager. But they don’t stop learning – they are under consistent evaluation and regularly touch base with senior managers.”
The programme is popular because Abercrombie & Fitch only promotes from within its own ranks – everyone with the stores organisation began as an MIT.
“I started with the programme and became an assistant manager, and was later promoted to recruiter,” Yeung said. “It is encouraging to newcomers to know that the manager they are shadowing went through the same thing themselves. That point is very appealing to fresh graduates.”
There is no application deadline for the programme; with four stores in Hong Kong and rapid expansion in Asia-Pacific, the company is hungry for talent.
“We talked to some students from China today and may consider them for our store expansion there, where we opened 10 stores last year alone,” Yeung said. “In general we look for those who are energetic and adaptable, who can work in a fast-paced environment. Managers must be flexible, stylish and have a leadership presence.”
Bloomberg
For fellow first-time exhibitors Bloomberg, the forum presented a great opportunity to make the company more well-known among young jobseekers and to give details of the graduate and internship programmes it offers, said Bloomberg’s campus recruiter Winnie Mak.
“We offer two graduate training programmes in Hong Kong covering financial products, analytics and sales, and global data, targeting finance and tech-savvy graduates,” Mak said.
She added that she spoke to students from a wide variety of educational and social backgrounds. “I was glad to see a good diversity among students, who had the chance to discover so many different employers under one roof.”
Mak pointed out that with the finance industry continuing to evolve, Bloomberg – which has over 750 staff in Hong Kong – is always on the lookout for top talent. The company is flexible in terms of its annual graduate intake, with all candidates proving that they are of the required calibre considered for hiring.
Bloomberg decided to go green this year and had no printed brochures to hand out. Details about the opportunities and applications were shared with students via email instead.
Hang Lung Properties
According to Bella Chhoa, assistant director (corporate affairs) at Hang Lung Properties, the company relies on platforms like the Career Forum to target high-quality trainees and help students discover more about the well-known property developer.
She added that graduates looking for job experience on the mainland would find the company’s 18-month Management Trainee (MT) programme the best vehicle, in view of Hang Lung’s business presence in China.
“As a company that pays attention to corporate governance, we ensure a full spectrum of training by rotating MTs from project planning – including land acquisition and the design of projects such as mixed-development complexes – to project construction to leasing and management,” Chhoa says.
“Selective experiences covering support functions like corporate communications, finance, HR, internal audit and IT are also included. Split between 12 months in Hong Kong and six months in the mainland, the programme aims to provide all-round training, with the result that students are taught everything they should know.”
Chhoa was happy to see even more quality graduates attending the forum this time. One thing she noticed was that, surprisingly, many were not looking into the fields they studied at university.
“Most had excellent educational backgrounds and have already begun exploring the world through various universities’ visitor arrangements and exchange programmes. We also found that many applicants held scholarships.”
Chhoa said Hang Lung does not put a ceiling on the number of MTs it recruits per year and instead focuses on choosing the best applicants with the greatest potential. Last year it received 1,300 MT applications, hiring 10.
L’Oréal Hong Kong
L’Oréal is a frequent exhibitor at campus recruitment events and decided to participate in the Career Forum to reach more local and overseas students.
“We are promoting our 6-12 month internships and 12-month MT programme,” said Katherine Lau, talent acquisition specialist at L’Oréal. “Students have been asking about career development and the coming strategy and direction of the company. L’Oréal offers a diverse career for those who are passionately interested in the retail business.”
Lau added that from the many questions students asked, it was obvious they were keen on finding the best way forward in their working lives. “In particular, many inquired about the possibility of being rotated to work overseas and gain experience away from Hong Kong.”
L’Oréal’s internship programme offers real office working experience and the opportunity to tackle projects such as product launches. The MT programme, meanwhile, exposes trainees to the workings behind L’Oréal Hong Kong’s 23 brands and over 30 international brands through different rotations.
Lau said L’Oréal looks for students who are ready to face challenges and are able to effectively apply what they have learned through their studies and internships to the real world.
PCCW-HKT
Given its diverse range of business disciplines covering areas such as telecommunications, media and IT solutions, PCCW-HKT keeps coming back to the forum as it targets such a wide spectrum of students.
Julian Lo, group HR representative, explained that the forum proved a good platform to meet with students with different backgrounds and raise the company’s profile, especially as it looks for people for its Graduate Trainee programme.
“The programme is a grooming process for future leaders. In 2016, we have already recruited 180 trainees,” Lo said.
“We would like to promote PCCW-HKT not as a telecomm-unications company, but as an employer integrated with IT solutions, media and even property investment and development. We keep evolving and diversifying. We are not operating a uniform business, but a diverse one, to reach players in the global arena such as China, Africa, South America, and Europe.”
Lo added that, interestingly, she came across several Year 3 students who had already begun researching internship opportunities. They were not local students, but overseas ones studying in Hong Kong. “They want some exposure, such as work experience in mainland China, as our company’s business caters to both the mainland and Southeast Asia.”
Each year, Lo added, PCCW-HKT receives some 3,500 job applications. The Graduate Trainee programme, which lasts from 12-24 months, features training across the business and grooms newcomers in communication skills, business acumen, time and project management, problem-solving, and even etiquette.
Swiss Re
With big plans for development in Asia, global reinsurance firm Swiss Re joined the forum for the first time to hunt for talent to fuel this growth.
Muidy Man, HR manager for Hong Kong and South Korea, explained that as a B2B company, the Swiss Re brand was not well-known to students except those involved in actuarial studies.
“In view of this, we thought the event would be a good platform to show our flag,” Man said. “Though a candidate may not immediately apply to us for his or her first job, through the forum they can gain some idea of who we are and what we do. Later, when they’re looking for mid-career opportunities, they know us as an option.”
Man was, though, keen to give out information on the company’s global Graduate Programme, for which up to six spots are allocated to Hong Kong this year. The 18-month programme includes 16-20 weeks of job rotation, including training at the Zurich headquarters. However, the emphasis is on building specialist skills in a specific area.
“Unlike other graduate programmes, Swiss Re’s is more specialised, as students apply for a specific department position and have the opportunity to ‘get their hands dirty’ in terms of job experience,” Man said. “We want them to build real project experience, so the programme is very focused and covers the principal industry, the product department, plus strategy and operations.”
