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WHEN ENGINEERING student Daniel Law Kit-yan joined a recruitment talk held by Chun Wo Holdings at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, he set himself on an elite career path. It was one step  towards a promising future with a major contractor.

'I knew it was a fast-growing, local company, and I was looking for a good opportunity for the future,'  Mr Law said.

What he did not know was that 400 other students at Hong Kong universities had the same idea. If he had known that only three of them would be chosen for Chun Wo's Elite Training Programme (ETP), he might have despaired. Today, after three months with the company, he beams with pride and promise.

At the helm of the ETP sits Patrick Ng Wai-ming, general manager of corporate development and human resources at Chun Wo.

The prestigious programme for engineering graduates, which began in 2003, focuses on the engineering and construction industry, although the company also has stakes in property development, security services and estate management.

Construction firm-turned-developer  Chun Wo has started small by hiring three students a year, but the process of selecting the best of candidates is huge.

Starting with 400 applicants from universities across Hong Kong, the human resources department chooses 100 candidates based on high academic achievement. Next, a panel of four executives takes clusters of four students through a 40-minute group interview and assesses their reasoning, communication, debating and leadership skills.

'It doesn't matter what position they take on a topic during the discussion, we only care how they go about it,' Mr Ng said.

After several days and lengthy evaluations, 15 candidates participate in one-on-one personal interviews. The interviewers consider many aspects of the candidates, including their participation in extra-curricular activities in high school or university.

Because they are long-term investments, the graduates who win the three posts  go through a rigorous screening process.

Over the next six to seven years, they are trained to become qualified engineers or quantity surveyors according to the standards of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers,  and also to fill management positions.

The first phase of the ETP lasts three years and involves job rotations in more than 15  departments and at project sites, where the candidates gain an understanding of the basic operations of contractors.

The second phase lasts three to four years, depending on the trainees' progress;  a specialised curriculum helps them develop in their areas of interest and teaches them about company strategy and development.

Succession planning at Chun Wo and the ETP  is intertwined. The elite trainees experience one-on-one mentorship with senior staff, attend some management meetings and participate in committee work.

Mr Ng said the company was committed to long-term growth, and that the ETP  was a way to develop a pool of competent managers.

ETP trainers emphasise the development of soft skills, generally a weak area for many in the engineering field.

'Usually, engineers are strong on the technical side but not so great on the human side. Developing someone with both technical and human skills is an art,'  said Mr Ng, who is also a qualified civil engineer.

Experience in negotiating, participating in meetings and communicating effectively prepares the trainees to function well as managers.

After following the Chun Wo training programme for a few months, Mr Law is impressed by several aspects of the ETP.

'The mentors are very supportive. They respond to your individual needs and listen to your input. They don't just hire you and tell you to do what they want,'  Mr Law said.

He described the programme as  'dual-direction training', because the company paid attention to the technical and personal aspects of their recruits.

In the course of the ETP, trainees are paid salaries above the market average. They are groomed as professionals and treated as such. Senior managers working closely with them impart many aspects of the business to their proteges, including matters of ethics.

'Engineers face many ethical questions, whether to go ahead with a project or not. They have  a responsibility for the public's safety, because the decisions they make have a huge environmental and human impact,' Mr Ng said.

With 40 years in the construction and engineering industry, 1,400 staff and an annual turnover of $3 billion, the Chun Wo Group looks like a safe place for promising engineering graduates to get elite training and develop management roots.

The path to success with Chun Wo

Recruitment drives for the Elite Training Programme occur in March/April each year at eight universities in Hong Kong

Three promising engineering graduates are chosen from among hundreds of applicants annually

Senior managers at Chun Wo spend six to seven years grooming candidates for managerial positions

Soft human skills are emphasised, while the development of technical skills is a given

Candidates are paid above market salaries during their training



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