Letters | Hong Kong civil service must go beyond early recruitment to really compete for talent
- Readers discuss the introduction of an early recruitment scheme by the city’s largest employer, improvements retail investors want to see, and the move to promote ESG to small businesses
Early-bird job offers to second-year undergraduates and above is good news for the younger generations. This unprecedented move could also help the government deal with the high staff turnover – which in 2021 was the highest since the handover – and changing labour demographics.
Acceptance of early job applications can promote the competitiveness of the public workforce. Currently, the recruitment exercise for departmental and general grade officers such as assistant labour officers and executive officers often takes more than eight months.
Appointments are not announced until May or June at the latest, which differs from how businesses often extend job offers to top candidates months before they graduate. As such, an early issuance of offer letters can definitely help the biggest employer in the city secure some, if not all, local talent.
However, if the public sector is to really compete with the private sector, early job offers alone may not be enough as candidates may give them up for more promising career prospects in business. Two more courses of action could be pursued to stem the problem at source.