Different industries are starting to feel the pinch.

'We feel that the talent pool in Hong Kong is very tight. There is a huge demand for talent in advertising, especially in the areas of digital media,' said Nadia Pan Ching-yu, regional human resource director at Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific.

With the serviced apartment industry experiencing very strong growth in the past year, something that is expected to continue into the next few years, Belinda Kuan, director of leasing at Four Seasons Place, also expects difficulty in recruiting good marketing talent.

Angus Washington, manager of sales and marketing at professional recruitment services firm Robert Walters, said there was a demand for postgraduate degree holders to fill IT sales and marketing vacancies.

'Certainly the top multinationals will look for people with postgraduate degrees in the form of MBAs or master's degrees,' he said.

This is especially true if it is a technology-driven company, for example a computer vendor looking for specialised expertise.

Mr Washington said the market was tight for any sort

of specialist, and he predicted the situation would get even tighter.

When Johnson Ho completed his MPhil degree in psychology at the University of Hong Kong, he landed employment as a sales specialist with IBM Computers, a job that entails much research, communication, co-ordination and marketing.

'Sales specialists at IBM are not only responsible for 'selling', but also for understanding clients' IT infrastructure and needs,' Mr Ho wrote on the HKU Centre of Development and Resources for Students Career and Placement website.

'We are also responsible for delivering tailor-made solutions to clients. For sure, we would not be able to do all the work and therefore would have to co-ordinate among colleagues of the many supporting teams and motivate them to win every deal,' he added.

With its heavy orientation towards research, an advanced degree like an MPhil or a PhD, even one in psychology, would prepare its holder well to contribute towards the marketing efforts of companies.

'Research students would be valuable to industry because they can think things through at a higher level. Their training is a valuable one,' said Professor Wong Wing-shing, dean of the Graduate School at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

However, unlike the IT industry, where Mr Washington's clients might state a preference for a postgraduate degree, other industries generally tend to favour attitude and personality over postgraduate qualifications when it comes to recruiting marketing personnel.

'What is most important is the person himself. We need people who have very positive attitudes,' said Four Seasons Place's Ms Kuan, director. 'If you don't have good communication skills you can't do anything. This is much more important than what degree you hold.'

Sonia Lui, marketing manager at International Finance Centre Management, the company that manages IFC mall, would pick a fast learner with team spirit and a good character over academic background.

'Specific technical knowledge is not necessary because we can always train fast learners,' she said. 'The most important qualities that we look for in marketing staff are cheerfulness, openness, whether the person is a team player and whether he or she can fit into the team.'

Ms Ng said the nature of marketing made it a team effort, and marketing professionals needed to be good team players, enjoy interacting with different people from different professions and be ever ready to handle the unpredictable.

Ms Pan said she looked out for the candidate's track record, relevant experience, competencies and soft skills such as a high emotional quotient (EQ), mentoring capabilities, flexibility, a proactive approach and the ability to deal with change.

'Having done a postgraduate might look good on the CV, but it is not a must,' said Ms Pan, herself a master's degree holder in telecommunications and linguistics. 'A basic degree holder with work experience would be more suitable than a postgraduate with none,' she added.

But Ms Lui added that having a postgraduate degree did help when one was moving up the rungs of management.

'But if you go straight to grad school after your undergraduate programme, I don't think it adds much value,' she said. 'One needs the job experience in marketing. Networking is very important for us. If you have been in the market for a few years and then go back to school for something like an MBA, that would be more appropriate.'