I HAVE a certain amount of sympathy - but not much - with Mr D. Alexander (South China Morning Post, October 21), regarding his problems of finding a job in Hong Kong as a Westerner.
I came to Hong Kong in 1981 with a background in low temperature high vacuum physics, and at that time finding a suitable job with my qualifications anywhere east of Suez was difficult.
As a UK citizen Mr Alexander does not require a working permit to work in Hong Kong (unlike Hong Kong citizens who do require a working permit to work in the UK).
If Mr Alexander is unable to find a suitable job it is therefore presumably only because his experience, qualifications, Chinese language skills and stability are not attractive to any local employers; or else he is expecting too high a salary.
Hong Kong is under absolutely no obligation to provide jobs to any and everyone who chooses to come here to stay.
Our job market is completely open and, by comparison with most other countries in the world, it is relatively free of sex or racial discrimination.
However, it is a simple and obvious fact that the great majority of jobs require real experience of working in Hong Kong (visits to Hong Kong hardly qualify as working experience). Also nearly all positions also require Chinese language, just as most jobs in the UK require English.