Hong Kong’s digital technology sector is experiencing strong hiring activity across a range of areas with employers facing stiff competition to secure preferred candidates.
Employers should be aware they’re not only competing with companies in Hong Kong but also other regional players including mainland China’s own ‘Silicon Valley’ in Shenzhen.
According to the latest figures from the Census and Statistics Department, in 2015, the total innovation-related expenditure of the Hong Kong business sector amounted to US$2.2 billion (less than one per cent of GDP) - up 3 per cent year-on-year. Some 7,344 companies were engaged in technology R&D during the census survey period.
However, the comparable 2015 R&D budget in Shenzhen was RMB73 billion (US$10 billion) – 3.4 per cent of that city’s GDP. R&D investment levels were even higher in South Korea and Taiwan.
“Hong Kong has worked hard for its reputation as one of the world’s top digital technology hubs and definitely one of the best fintech centres, but other regional centres are vying to be the best also,” explains Dean Stallard, Regional Director of Hays in Hong Kong.
“Being the best means attracting strong investment not just in dollars, but also in human capital and this is where Hong Kong is doing some fine work,” says Dean.
“There is no doubt Hong Kong’s collaboration between industry, academia, government and investment is impressive and paying major dividends for digital talent in the form of thousands of world-class jobs,” he says.
“We are fortunate to have many well supported incubator, accelerator and start up programs and initiatives growing the talent market Hong Kong needs, but we are still seeing jobs far outnumber qualified candidates.”
“As a result, some of the larger banks are hiring cyber security experts from outside banking and training them up to adapt to the industry. And we are also seeing IT professionals undertaking study to gain certifications to cross into business intelligence (BI) where there are simply not enough people to fill the roles,” he says.
“By its very nature, technology is global and so organisations here will continue to compete not only in the race to be first to a new idea, but also to secure and retain the best people to prototype and commercialise those ideas.”
Other observations made by Dean include:
1. “Cyber security remains a top priority for banks and financial firms, driven in part by the September deadline to meet the first phase roll out of the HKMA’s CFI initiative as well as the 27 recorded cyber-attacks in Hong Kong in the 18 months to March this year.”
2. “Collaborations between the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) and various bodies to develop more advanced ways to defend banks, insurance companies and securities firms from cyber attack will continue to drive demand for cyber security expertise.”
3. “Front-end developers are in huge demand, mostly from digital agencies and e-commerce firms as demand for their services increases both in Hong Kong and mainland China. Companies across most sectors are looking to increase their presence online.”
4. “Demand for front-end developers is also being driven by the banking sector, which is now focusing more attention on producing better presented and more user friendly websites, mobile products and smart cards.”
5. “Front end java developers with experience working on at least two major projects in an agile environment and with knowledge of NodeJS (now more popular than AngularJS.) are highly sought after.”
6. “Big data is another source of plentiful jobs but requirements are specific. Data scientists with Python, R, Matlab and Spark are in most demand. Also needed are data warehouse architects with Microsoft SSIS, SSAS, SSRS skills for major projects but those with additional QlikView knowledge are highly regarded. Candidates are so hard to find that a role may take up to nine months to fill.”
7. “Large MNCs, banks and insurance companies expanding or creating their business intelligence (BI) divisions are on the hunt for BI/big data talent with experience using SAP for ERP. Again, qualified candidates are in short supply.”
8. “Employers want candidates able to demonstrate self-awareness, curiosity, an appetite for risk taking to solve problems and people adept at presenting their ideas and sharing their knowledge.”
To find out more about the digital tech industry, please read our inside story of the sector in Hong Kong here.
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2016 the Group employed 9,600 staff operating from 251 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2016:
– the Group reported net fees of £810.3 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £181 million;
– the Group placed around 67,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 22% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 45% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 33% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA