Calling all sales representatives: Hong Kong wants to hire you. Unfortunately, so do Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland and Peru. In fact, the position of sales representative is the most difficult to fill around the world, according to a recent survey by Manpower, a human resources firm.
This is not good news for a shopping paradise like Hong Kong, where retailers already pay top dollar for skilled labour. But with the current retail boom and upbeat consumer sentiment, staff turnover and job vacancies are likely to stay high.
This talent shortage is not limited to sales reps. The city's top recruitment wish list includes management executives, administrative assistants, buying staff, engineers, accountants, technicians, customer service representatives, IT staff and sales managers, the survey found. More alarming, 49 per cent of the 758 employers surveyed in Hong Kong said they had difficulty filling positions. This is up from 31 per cent only a year ago - one of the biggest increases anywhere in the world.
Similarly, overall demand for company executives in Hong Kong, Macau and on the mainland is keen, up 27 per cent in April from a year ago, said the Association of Executive Search Consultants. The demand for finance executives in these markets jumped 58 per cent year on year.
The lack of qualified staff is commonly blamed on the skills mismatch resulting from the city's transformation into a knowledge-based economy. Added to that is the shrinking labour pool. As industries are prioritised or phased out, some workers become redundant because they are unable or unwilling to make the transition. The city's relatively low birth rate, ageing population and more mobile workforce further deplete the pool of labour. Major employers in some sectors, such as accounting, compete fiercely for thousands of university graduates every year.
Without proper planning, many businesses could fail in the next 10 years because they can't get the people they need. A retailer lacking experienced sales staff and managers will eventually go out of business. A company with too few specialists in procuring business will quickly succumb to competition. This talent shortage is not a cyclical phenomenon or a temporary restructuring pain, but is likely to last for decades. Many fear that the shortfall, if not addressed, will hinder growth and cause an economic disaster.
This has stirred considerable debate about the city's competitiveness and demands for urgent action. In a recent manpower survey, members of the General Chamber of Commerce strongly supported bolstering the education system with more cross-cultural and multilingual studies. About 70 per cent of the respondents highlighted proficiency in English and Putonghua as the most important skills needed to do business, while 55 per cent cited technical skills. Almost two-thirds said they had difficulty hiring locally for these skills.