Recruiting a new generation in Hong Kong

Without understanding what motivates the younger members of Hong Kong’s Generation ‘Y’, expat employers in particular, can find recruiting this generation especially baffling.

With its low unemployment rate, many employers are already familiar with the problems of finding and attracting good candidates for jobs in Hong Kong, but recently employers are struggling with a new phenomena: understand the ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude of the post-1980s ‘Generation Y’ who are now entering the job market.

This group is particularly unique in the world as a result of three Hong Kong characteristics – our high property and rental rates, a strong saving culture and the obligation of family.

As a result of the high rents, many younger people live at home for far longer than, for example, in the US, often even after they are married. This often leads to less pressure to earn a salary in the short term compared to their international counterparts.

With the family home as a safety net, this group tend to be more discerning about their work compared to their preceding generation.

This generation looks for long-term prospects and meaningful work that will enable them to be part of something bigger than themselves. Certainly at the start, money is not the determining factor when searching for employment.

As a result, potential employers find they have to work harder to sell their company to candidates – training, benefits, career progression, CSR – to win the candidate over. One employer recounted how she was absolutely taken aback to have a candidate ask her: “Where do you see your company in five years’ time?” The shoe is most definitely on the other foot.

With this new generation living at home for longer, the family plays an even stronger role in a young adult’s decision making. An important question we ask younger candidates in an interview is whether or not there is anyone else they need to talk to before they accept a position because it can and will play a critical role if family members object to their job choice.

Employers can get caught out when a candidate appears to be interested in a position, but on following up with the candidate after making a job offer, the employer finds that the candidate has suddenly and “inexplicably” lost interest.

It is possible that you need look no further than a doting parent who considers the position not good enough for their child.

Non-Asian-trained recruiters are also conditioned to believe that the best candidates are already in a job and that good candidates do not just leave a job without another one lined up.

However, the Hong Kong Y Generation will leave a perfectly good job to search for what they consider a more meaningful opportunity.

This troubled me when I first started recruiting in Hong Kong; repeatedly, I would be told by my candidates that they had given up their previous job for personal reasons, perhaps to look after an elderly relative or to look for a ‘better’ job.

I’m embarrassed now to admit that I was highly sceptical of these answers.

In London, where I had spent all of my working life, this would be seen as an excuse – not a reason – to leave employment. You might even suspect that the departure was involuntary.

It took me quite a few months to realise my candidates were telling me the truth. They do value the quality of their work life, and they can and will move on if they are unhappy with their work, if they feel they are not progressing fast enough, or if it prevents them fulfilling family obligations.

And of course I now see that ‘family’ is one of the best reasons to leave a job. The strength of family bonds here in Asia should not be underestimated by expat employers.

By understanding what motivates the new generation of job seekers, an employer can better position themselves to attract and retain the best of these candidates – and save themselves a lot of disappointment too.