Career Advice Recruitment tips

Quality training assured

Dah Sing Life Assurance (Dah Sing Life) has opened a recruitment and training centre (RTC) to broaden its talent pool and strengthen the professionalism of its employees.

Dah Sing Life currently employs 350 people in its financial planning team and plans to take the number up to 500 by the end of the year. The company has an office at North Point with a floor space of nearly 6,000 sq ft. RTC plays an important role in recruitment and training, according to Dicky Yu, head of training and development. 

RTC is equipped with hi-tech gadgets to enhance its training process. The training rooms have a video recording device to record trainees' role-playing exercise.

"Role playing that simulates meeting with clients is an important training. With a video recorder, the trainer is able to point out clearly to the trainee what his mistakes are and correct them right away. The exercise greatly benefits trainees. The smart boards in training rooms allow trainees to look at videos and various presentations easily," Yu says. 

The financial planning industry has a high turnover rate and recruitment has to be carried out continuously.

"Dah Sing Life holds regular recruitment seminars to attract potential employees. We also conduct seminars in universities because fresh graduates are some of our major recruitment targets. There are also referrals through our own managers and from headhunting companies," he says. 

Dah Sing Life is looking for people with sales and customer service experience to join their sales team. "It is important that our employees are dedicated to serving clients and believe in what they do. In my opinion, there are always business opportunities within the industry regardless of the economic environment. Even during rainy days, people still need to buy life insurance, medical and home insurance," he adds. 

Yu says Dah Sing Life is one of the few financial institutions in Hong Kong that provides one-stop service in banking and finance. "We have banking service, insurance and life insurance service. Basically clients can get all they need from us, whether it is real estate mortgage, medical insurance or life insurance," he says. 

The company's high-quality training is a plus for job seekers.

"We train according to the ability of staff. For high achievers, we help them reach their full potential by training them for prestigious qualifications like the Certified Financial Planner (CFP). For less accomplished staff, we bring them back to the basics such as time management, customer service skills and market information to help them get better," Yu says. 

Staff at different levels are given different training. "For unit managers who have to supervise a team of 10, we provide them with coaching and counseling training. District managers who run bigger teams will receive management training. At Dah Sing Life we uphold the 'Can Do Hong Kong Spirit' as one of our corporate values. Step by step we help our staff grow and get to the next level," Yu says.