Career advice
Curated writing from operators, recruiters, and HR leaders — written for people building real careers in HK.
Whether you are a recent graduate or a seasoned professional, job interviews can be daunting. A careless or inappropriate comment could cost you the opportunity. Andrew Morris, Managing Director, Greater China, Robert Half International, offers some useful guidance on what not to say to a hiring manager during an interview.
Whether you are a recent graduate or a seasoned professional, job interviews can be daunting. A careless or inappropriate comment could cost you the opportunity. Andrew Morris, Managing Director, Greater China, Robert Half International, offers some useful guidance on what not to say to a hiring manager during an interview.
Hiring managers want to hear your story. They know past behaviour predicts future performance, so they ask for specific examples of times when you navigated office politics or delivered measurable results. The technique is called a behavioural job interview, and you know it is coming when you hear the prompt: “Tell me about a time when you … ” The next phrase can be almost anything: assumed a leadership role, saved your company money, disagreed with a boss, juggled multiple tasks or overcame an obstacle.
Every now and then, something happens that the boss just has to know about…
For too long, performance management and leadership development have focused on fixing managers’ weaknesses, rather…
Anyone who has applied for a job over the past few years will have noticed an increase in the number of interviews they have to attend. The general consensus from a number of surveys is that the average length of the interview process has risen from 13 days in 2009 to 23 days in 2013.
I recently witnessed two senior candidates interviewing for a China CEO role. Both candidates had great track records and talent – but only one was able to stand out as a leader. The unsuccessful candidate – let’s call him Mr Manager – had plenty of experience in government relations, a key requirement for the job. He had even managed a major government relations crisis for a multinational in China, with noted success.
While your technical skills and experience are important in getting a foot in the door when looking for a new job, it…
For many Hong Kong engineers who finished secondary school in the 1970s, choosing a career path was straightforward. Having picked the science stream in secondary school, aspiring youngsters who did not like their chemistry or biology as much as their maths and physics would choose engineering rather than the medical sciences in university. Ir Victor Cheung, however, did not have that choice. Growing up the son of a cook, he seemed destined for a life in a commercial kitchen too – until two mentors stepped in.
Iam often asked by candidates how transferable their experience is from one industry to the next. Frustrated by how…
Last week when I was in Singapore, I met up with a versatile and resourceful engineer and what impressed me the most was the productivity of their team. Just the two of them, they were able to come up with over 20 apps one year and those were not “make a fart” or “throw the dart” type of app but apps commissioned by big brands with complexity and server handling.
Moving up the career ladder and progressing to “management” is a common professional goal. The change in title, status and salary are obvious upsides, but with this shift comes a new set of responsibilities, many of which lurk beneath the surface. From the outside looking in, management can often seem easy. As an employee, it is easy to see a leader’s faults and overlook the value that they bring. Becoming a manager yourself often brings some shocking realisations.