HK Job Seekers Take to the Net

According to latest research from NetValue, the online employment sector mirrors the dismal job market in Hong Kong. As the labour market worsens, more job-seekers in Hong Kong are exploring the cyber space for employment opportunities.

Based on average quarterly figures, online employment websites are registering rising proportion of visitors as Hong Kong has experienced a consecutive increment in unemployment rates since the third quarter of last year. 'Besides the increase in unemployment in Hong Kong, the rising popularity of online employment websites could be attributed to the convenience of job search from the ease and comfort of home', said Dr Jack Loo, President of NetValue (Asia). 'Moreover the job-seekers can send out their resumes to several companies at the same time without incurring postage and packaging costs, thus increasing the efficiency of their job-search process substantially.'

Besides offering information on job opportunities, some of the online employment sites offer comprehensive services to job hunters, ranging from providing job market trends to offering advice on interviewing skills. Some of the popular employment sites among Hong Kong residents include classifiedpost.com, monster.com.hk, jobsdb.com, and careertimes.com.hk. Interestingly, part-time.com, an employment site that offers job-matching services for part-time, temporary and contract assignments, has gained increasing popularity in recent months. Tony Tan, Sales Director of NetValue in Hong Kong, attributed the phenomenon to the switch from full-time employment search to exploring temporary job opportunities due to the cloud of economic uncertainty. 'In addition to the school holiday seasons when students look for part-time assignments, the inertia in the full-time employment market could have driven some of the job-seekers to hunt for part-time or temporary jobs instead of simply targeting at permanent job opportunities'.

Most of the visitors to employment sites are in the younger age segments. In fact, based on the average figures for the first half of this year, eight in ten visitors to employment sites are aged 34 years and below. The findings reveal that they mainly consist of two groups of job applicants; one group is likely to be fresh graduates aged 24 years old and below while those aged 25 to 34 years old are probably ex-executives who have some years of working experience but have left their jobs. 'The distribution of online job seekers is likely to be more concentrated with the younger age group with considerable level of education and skills', said Vicky Ng, Research Analyst at NetValue (Hong Kong). 'Hence, to be more successful in conducting job matching via the online channel, employment websites have to provide jobs that can, to certain extent, equilibrate the traits and skills of this segment.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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