Career Advice HR Focus

Job hunting a walk in the park

As home to some of the city's most advanced hi-tech companies, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) and its partner companies are constantly on the lookout for top quality recruits.

To attract career-minded graduates and present opportunities to up-and-coming students, they are holding a second recruitment day tomorrow at HKSTP's premises at the Science Park in Sha Tin.

More than 50 technology companies will present a total of 350 openings that include graduate positions, traineeships and internships. The prospective employers specialise in areas ranging from integrated circuit systems, biotechnology and electronics, to micro motors, semiconductors, medical devices and laboratory research. Some are start-ups, while others are small and medium enterprises, divisions of home-grown conglomerates and overseas multinationals.

As at the last recruitment fair in 2009, candidates will be able to learn directly from company representatives about the roles on offer. If interested, they may also move straight on to first-round interviews, so should be suitably prepared.

"This year's recruitment day is on a larger scale in terms of both participating companies and job openings," says Helen Chung Wai-har, HKSTP's senior manager of industry and university collaboration. "Around 75 per cent of the positions are in information and communication technologies or biotech-related."

For example, AppoTech, which designs integrated circuits, has 28 vacancies, including roles for engineers specialising in applications, hardware, software, mixed-signal design and back-end design. Recruits will help expand the company's product development and research capabilities. Graduates and students taking electrical and electronic engineering, computer science or physics will be most in demand.

"There are full-time opportunities for graduates, as well as internships for undergraduates," says Kenneth Hung Wai-ming, AppoTech's vice-director of engineering.

Established in 2003, the firm focuses on system-on-chip technology - combining visual, audio and other processing functions on a single chip - and microcontrollers. The products are key components in MP3 and portable media players, mobile storage devices and home appliances.

"In some positions, staff must discuss specifications and requirements with clients, so we also consider candidates' communication and negotiation skills, besides the hard skills required in their respective disciplines," Hung says.

BGI-Hong Kong, a genomic research and clinical project company, will be one of the biotech-related employers taking part. They will be looking for 114 new recruits to support expanding business for which a new facility is close to completion. More than 80 of these vacancies will be specifically for graduates in biotech-linked disciplines.

"There are more biotech opportunities in our community than for the previous recruitment day," says Chung, adding that one partner company is looking for research associates in human cell culture, and another organisation needs food technologists.