The Hong Kong Science Park (HKSP) Career Expo is the largest innovation and technology (I&T) themed recruitment event in town. For innovators and fresh graduates with hopes of a successful career in the tech sector, it is just the place to meet potential employers and start-up entrepreneurs and talk to them directly about job prospects and possible career paths. This year, the annual event takes place on March 9.
Job seekers will have the chance to meet representatives from more than 150 companies with local, regional and international operations. This includes I&T companies from AI and robotics, biomedical technology, fintech, and smart city fields.
Altogether, there will be around 1,200 jobs on offer. Some will be technical, programming or engineering roles, while others will be in research and development (R&D), data analysis and other functions crucial for any business, such as marketing and operations. Job seekers with bachelor’s degree, postgraduate degree or doctoral degree can find suitable vacancies.
Bright Future Pharmaceutical Lab, a leading GMP certified manufacturer located in Yuen Long Industrial Estate, has taken part in the Career Expo for a number of years. The company has moved fast in building a highly successful business and its next major target is to break into Southeast Asia market.
“With our plans for expansion, we need to hire Hong Kong-based international sales professionals who can take our products to overseas markets,” says chief operating officer Margo Tsang. “And we know the HKSP Career Expo is the place to start because it brings together final-year students from different universities under one roof.”
As a result, Tsang notes, employers have the opportunity to meet many interested candidates without having to visit several campuses. This time, the company is on the lookout for people with an IT or engineering background who could take on technical roles on the production side.
At last year’s Expo, they were able to speak to a few hundred visitors to their booth, received over 100 CVs, and found 20 new recruits. This year, Tsang is hoping to double that number of new hires, since openings are also available in quality control, marketing, manufacturing and R&D. In particular, the company is keen to meet candidates studying food science and nutrition.
“We are looking for a diversified range of manpower,” Tsang says. “The Expo has proven to be an effective recruitment platform for us in the past, and it is always promoted very well.”
At last year’s Expo, Gerald Law, a fresh graduate in biomedical science, was looking for suitable jobs related to his degree and submitted an application to Bright Future accordingly. He was successful and subsequently joined the company’s two-year trainee programme, attracted by the opportunities to keep learning and build an exciting career.
“The Expo is good for job seekers because they can have instant interviews onsite plus the chance to ask the company directly about everything from job content to promotion prospects and perks,” Law says.
Joy Aether, another company based at the Science Park, is no stranger to the HKSP Career Expo. Their representatives have always been impressed by the good quality of candidates with a background in computer science and computer engineering, as well as by the high “job matching” rates seen in previous years.
The company specialises in mobile phone programmes for different industries plus augmented reality (AR) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. At present, it needs more software developers and engineers.
“Mobile technologies like image recognition are getting hot,” says co-founder Ricky Lui. “We have also ventured into artificial intelligence (AI) with applications like chatbots and language identification.”
Lui notes that right now there is particular demand for programmers who can help to develop new applications and high-end technology. New recruits will be involved in all kinds of creative new projects. He is looking forward to meeting job seekers with the abilities to match those requirements.
Another expected highlight of the Expo is the 60-second Talent Pitch. It will give 10 shortlisted individuals one minute on stage to present their best attributes with a view to securing on-site interview opportunities. On the day, though, all job seekers can get professional advice from recruitment consultants on the latest salary trends, preparing a CV, how to sharpen one’s interview skills, etc.
Hong Kong Science Park Career Expo 2019
Date: 9 March 2019 (Sat)
Time: 10:30am – 5:30pm
Venue: Grand Hall, Phase 3, Hong Kong Science Park
