Equipping Yourself and Getting Prepared for Challenges
Under the Global Economic Uncertainty

Following a series of events and incidents in 2019, global uncertainties are dragging down the economies in Hong Kong and other places. Owing to the uncertainties which loom over the US-China Trade War, 2020 may be a year of fluctuations in terms of economic growth. In the ever-changing era, equipping oneself with more skills and knowledge to raise one’s competitiveness is always a golden rule. This is the only possible way which helps people secure their jobs. In this issue, we have interviewed several experts in the Human Resources (HR) and Information Technology (IT) industries to share with us about their economic predictions for the coming year and their opinions on continuing education.

Key to Success of Your Career Development: Continuing to Develop Yourself and Putting Yourself in Others' Shoes

Our society is evolving. What types of skills and knowledge are required to overcome career and life challenges?

Ms. Wendy Lee, Head of Human Resources, OCBC Wing Hang Bank said, "Professional knowledge is foundation for one's career development. But more crucially, one should keep acquiring new skills and knowledge." She reckoned that having a professional qualification or a formal education degree was adequate for career development in the past; however, it's not the case now, it is just a starting point. To pursue further development, one must keep learning to equip himself/ herself and create value for their companies, he or she must be willing to step out of his or her comfort zones and stay agile to deal with challenges in the ever changing environment.

At OCBC Wing Hang Bank, Wendy leads a professional human resources team and focuses on strategic human capital development. Under her leadership, OCBC Wing Hang Bank received the Employer of Choice Award in 2019. She emphasized that the Bank is eager to expand sustainably and embrace new changes, thus it is recruiting talented incumbents who are ambitious to achieve growth and sustainability for the Bank's business and long-term career development. With the advantages of anchored locally in Hong Kong and also a member of a regional bank, talents embark the Bank's credentials to develop and make wider contributions to the banking industry. She always encourages staff to stretch their limits and be ambitious. She has demonstrated it how she did it and climb up her career ladder. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics but not stops there. She furthered her study in legal studies, finance and commerce, and acquired additional qualifications in human resources area, that solidified her expertise and helped build a successful and sustainable career.

Besides professional knowledge, what interests her is the balance between career and personal interests. She has not stopped to discover new hobbies and embrace a healthy lifestyle. She studies traditional Chinese medication and learns new sports, squeeze time for practice and all-round development. This is grounded in her belief that personal development has to be holistic, and this philosophy also applies to career development. "I believe learning should not be bound and captive in a classroom. Career development can take place through "experience" and "exposure", both add colors to life. Together with classroom "education", these three "Es" allows talent to fully unleash his or her potential in career advancement."

Learning opportunities and career advancement are there everywhere, it will be only captured by people who are open and willing to find it. She said, "in the coming year, I would like to encourage people to be courageous in making changes, such as travel to a country you never been to, or learn a sport you think you may not master the skill". This will change someone's life and bring in new perspective to look at the world with fresh thoughts, mindset and insights ."

Mastering Cognitive Computing Skills & Studying for a Professional Qualification To Promote Digital Transformation

Information technology is revolutionizing the globe at a speed beyond our imagination, making an impact on not only the scientific research and development industry, but also our lifestyle and workplace practices. Forbes had recently published a commentary, listing the top ten employability skills which enterprises expect their employees to possess in 2020. Cognitive Computing is in the first rank among these top ten employability skills. Andy Kwok, CEO of OpenCertHub, said that "as the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data has already risen to prominence, such a trend becomes mainstream across the globe. Employees of various industries must equip themselves with these skills as soon as possible in order to add value to the enterprises. Only by mastering the skills and knowledge required to land a job of the future, can employees avoid being dismissed in the digital era.

The Professional Status of CPFA is CareerOriented & Well-recognized

With a mission of cultivating more elites and all people in big data, OpenCertHub is a smart online examination system developed in-house. It is the only platform being accredited by the Certified Professionals For Apache (CPFA) in Southeast Asia. Apache is the largest open source organization in the world, and the CPFA offers "function-based" certification services, covering four types of professional qualifications: citizen data architects, data architects, data scientists, and artificial intelligence engineers, fulfilling the needs of various departments in an enterprise, such as the Internal Information Technology, Finance, Marketing and Sales Departments. This can help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation, train and develop their talented employees and raise their organizational competitiveness.

Andy holds the belief that employees from all industries must look into the future and strive for the most valuable qualifications. Prior to co-founding OpenCertHub, Andy had been a senior manager in a subsidiary within the Jardine Group, possessing over 20 years of experience in business development and management in the IT industry. In order to tackle the challenges in his career, he had taken a Master Degree in Knowledge Management in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University during his leisure time. "Instead of taking an ordinary MBA programme, I firmly believe this master degree programme can better enable learners to acquire, classify, measure and apply cross-disciplinary knowledge . This encourages learners to promote creativity and innovation in the new economy."

The Revival is Yet to Come

Dr. Yip Wai Kwong Felix, an expert in human resource management, predicts that there will be a decrease in manpower requirement in most sectors in Hong Kong in 2020 due to the recent social unrest and the conflict between China and the United States owing to the trade war. Except for a few industries which have an increased manpower requirement such as the security industry, there may be a hiring freeze in most industries, including the tourism, retail, catering and logistics industries. Among all the industries, retail sales in Hong Kong have plunged significantly and there are waves of retail shops shutting, resulting in a great reduction in the work force needed. Nonetheless, he explains that the current situation is different from that during the outbreak of SARS in 2003. Once there is a peaceful resolution of the recent social unrest, the purchasing power of the citizens will raise again.

Concerning the suggestions for continuous education in the next year, he admits that at present citizens might not be in the mood to consider further study. Nevertheless, they should look into the future and consider taking courses to increase their emotional intelligence (EQ) and improve their interpersonal skills.“In the workplace, even if you have a different viewpoint, you still have to cooperate well with the others. Hence, it is crucial to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships with your colleagues. Once you are in a state of ordinary mood and emotions, you should get back on track, striving for your original study and career goals”

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 2019, the MBA course in University of Hong Kong has again ranked as number four 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. 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 fluctuating quality of the MBA or EMBA courses in Mainland China. It is chiefly 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.