Jobseekers from mainland face hurdles in HK
Language barrier, high living, housing costs cause concerns
A language barrier and high living costs in Hong Kong have been cited as common hurdles for mainland Chinese top talent approved to come to the city, with some saying prospective employers prefer Cantonese-speaking candidates.
The South China Morning Post spoke to some of the more than 1,500 successful applicants to the Top Talent Pass Scheme as they attended a job fair in Sheung Wan recently organized by the Hong Kong Top Talent Services Association.
The event involved 348 companies, either physically at the venue or joining virtually, with over 3,000 jobs offering monthly salaries of HK$25,000 ($3,190) to HK$100,000 in industries such as banking, insurance and technology up for grabs.
Hu Yifei, a telecommunications graduate from Shanghai Jiao Tong University attending the job fair, said he found the language barrier was his chief obstacle when deciding whether to pursue a career in Hong Kong.
“Learning the local language is crucial for assimilating into a culture and society. Some employers prefer candidates to have proficiency in Cantonese, though they told me I can learn along the way,” said the 44-year-old, who speaks Mandarin and English.
Hurdles for job hunters
“I firmly believe in my professional abilities in my field, but if I cannot meet the language requirements, it may limit my options in job hunting as I don’t have the edge some people from Guangdong may have.”
Hu said he would not relocate to Hong Kong until he had landed a job, citing the city’s high living costs.
The Top Talent Pass Scheme was introduced in December 2022 and has attracted nearly 70,000 applications since its launch.
Among the policy’s 55,000 successful applicants, more than 40,000 have already arrived. About 90 percent of the larger figure is from the mainland.
The scheme accepts applicants who earn more than HK$2.5 million annually or have graduated from one of the world’s top 100 universities, in addition to having at least three years of work experience over the past five years.
The median monthly income of professionals recruited under the scheme is HK$50,000, more than double the amount locals are earning, and generating the equivalent of 1.2 percent of the city’s gross domestic product, according to a government poll released last month.
Charmaine Guan, 32, an engineering management graduate from Wuhan University, said she was looking for a fresh start in Hong Kong after working in Jiangxi’s fintech services industry for five years.
“Language is definitely one of my concerns, but the companies I have approached told me that being able to speak in Cantonese is a plus, but not necessary,” she said.
“But when you’ve spent enough
time with people who speak Cantonese, through learning and observation, you can gradually acquire the language as well.”
The Jiangxi native said she was aiming for a monthly salary of HK$40,000.
Hong Kong offered attractive job prospects for fresh graduates with master’s degrees, boasting salaries that were 30 percent higher than those on the mainland, Guan added.
“Also, the finance and IT industries
in the mainland are very male-dominated and sometimes people are just not treating female employees nicely,” she said. “Hong Kong is a free and inclusive society where people have a strong sense of gender equality.”
Shenzhen resident Eva Lin Lin, who netted a job as an insurance agent in Hong Kong under the talent scheme, also attended the fair in the hopes of helping her friend find opportunities.
Attractive prospects
“The international financial centre status of Hong Kong is the most striking part for me to pursue my career here,” the 40-year-old said. “It also helps me to build networks for my trading business at home. But accommodation is just too expensive here.”
Lin said that rather than relocate to Hong Kong, she took the high-speed rail every day from Shenzhen to her office in Tsim Sha Tsui, with a single journey between Futian and West Kowloon costing HK$75 and taking about 17 minutes.
The mother-of-two said she would only consider buying property and settling in Hong Kong when her 10-year-old son and six-year-old daughter started their secondary school education in the city in a few years’ time.
Secretary for Labor and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han has said the scheme highlighted the government’s effort to bring in talent, noting that 54 percent of the arrivals had found a job in the city. “It means there are still about 50 percent of talent who are preparing to come to Hong Kong and also hope to find employment,” Sun said. “From the government’s perspective and in the foreseeable future, what we need most is to ensure effective matching between talent and job opportunities.”
But some employers at the event said they were struggling to find suitable candidates to fill their vacancies.
Liu Xintong, a representative for Zhejiang-based Yonei Innovative Material Tech, said the high-performance plastic components manufacturer was looking for business development managers with at least three years of relevant experience.
With clients such as Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s biggest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, the company was hoping to find talent with experience in the field, the business representative added.
“Talent is scarce in new emerging industries such as electric vehicle batteries and charging systems. That’s why we are here hoping for the best and finding the right people from around the world,” Liu said.
Timothy Lam Wan-lok, a division manager at BOC Group Life Assurance, said numerous attendees with backgrounds in information technology had approached him at the event, but only some of them had the necessary financial expertise.
“I’m hopeful of finding the right candidates because insurance is just a part of our company,” he said. “With our banking background, the talent we find will also be exposed to other areas such as opening accounts and handling mortgages, which may be appealing to some of them.”
Amid the city’s wider hunt for talent, a scheme that offers a fast track to residency for those who invest at least HK$30 million in city stocks or other assets, with the exception of residential real estate, recorded several applications since it launched last month.
Alpha Lau Hai-suen, director general of Investment Promotion, said InvestHK had received a few applications concerning the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, as well as more than 100 inquiries from professional firms and prospective applicants from Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
If I cannot meet the language requirements, it may limit my options in job hunting as I don’t have the edge some people from Guangdong may have.