Judges united in their praise of finalists
The finalists of the ACCA Hong Kong Job Hunting Competition 2008 were able to grasp the central theme of the business proposal very quickly and demonstrated great team spirit during the group discussion, said Morison Chan Chi-kong, president of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Hong Kong. 'Despite the tight schedule, they were able to put together well-designed PowerPoint presentations with well thought out contents. The co-operation within the groups was very smooth,' he said. Mr Chan was one of the contest's seven judges.
Fellow judge Shirley Fung Shuk-yee shared that sentiment. 'The contestants pitched the right ideas ... it showed that they had a good understanding of their target audience,' she said. She also appreciated the team spirit of the groups. 'It did not look like they were in a competition ... the contestants co-operated with each other very well.'
Aiken Yuen Yiu-chung said all contestants participated in the group discussions. 'Some demonstrated leadership skills and helped lead the group to make decisions based on consensus.'
Mr Yuen added that a leader should be able to observe the behaviour of other members and to motivate them to be forthcoming with their ideas. 'Sometimes they need to use more body language to invite others to voice their opinions.'
'It was difficult to select the winners,' said Peter Wong Yat-hang, now in his second year as a judge. 'All the contestants had good presentation skills and maintained good eye contact [with the audience] ... I gave extra points to several contestants who smiled the whole time.'
Anthony Tam Chun-hung said all contestants made good presentations even though they did not have any rehearsal. The content of the presentations was well-organised and solid, he said. 'We were impressed that one group discussed Hong Kong's advantages over rivals Australia and Singapore.'
