High standards impress 'directors'

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Published: 12:00am, 25 Apr, 2009

Updated: 12:00am, 25 Apr, 2009

The 12 finalists in the ACCA Hong Kong Job Hunting Competition 2009 went all out to impress the 'board of directors'.

They were hoping to get approval for their business proposals and win one of three places in the grand championship of the nationwide competition in Shanghai this summer.

In the final, which took place on April 18 at the Conrad Hong Kong hotel, contestants were divided into three groups and given 20 minutes to make a presentation on setting up an environmentally friendly office.

Each proposal had to include business objectives, goals, organisational structure of the 'green' office, the benefits of the initiative and possible costs.

The judges represented the top management of a listed company. Candidates had to convince them that the 'green move' was worthwhile despite the global economic problems.

Once the contestants learned about the topic in the morning, they had two hours to prepare. Computer aids were provided, but there was no internet access.

'We had to search through our own knowledge base in the two hours,' said Jacqueline Ng Wing-man, who was in the first group to present the proposal.

'The competition would have been even stronger if we were allowed to use the internet.'

The three groups had distinct styles in their presentations. The first group opened with a series of rhetorical questions that drew the audience's attention by highlighting the importance of raising awareness of global environmental issues.

Their business plan, 'Give the Green Office the Green Light', consisted mostly of charts and bullet points.

'We wanted the judges to focus on what we were saying, instead of reading off the PowerPoint presentation,' said Andrew Wong On-yu, a member of the first presentation group, who was also first runner-up. 'It is a supplementary tool. So we decided to make it simple and less wordy.'

The second group was recognised by the contestants as perhaps the most competitive team among the three, since all four members came from business administration (law) backgrounds.

Their strong knowledge base in business and law may have helped them to complete a highly detailed presentation, but this meant that they could not finish their presentation in the regulation 20 minutes.

The last group impressed the audience with their use of sophisticated technical terms related to environmental and construction issues thanks to their diverse academic backgrounds.

Such high standards in the performance of the contestants, and the uniqueness of their presentations, made it difficult for the judges to select the winners.

Kunal Parwani, a second-year bachelor of business administration (marketing) student at City University, was named champion. 'I am honoured to receive this [award] because there are so many top students.

'For example, of the 12 [finalists], five are BBA (law) students. The level of competition was very high,' Parwani said.

He said good teamwork helped his group to stand out from the other contestants. 'We helped each other out.'

His opening speech on the 'Clinton Global Initiative' was catchy, and he demonstrated his general knowledge of world affairs.

However, former United States president Bill Clinton was not the sole source of his inspiration. 'I have read a book called Say it like Obama and I was inspired by it,' he said, admitting that he had tried to apply [President Barack] Obama's charm' in his presentation.

First runner-up Wong, a third-year bachelor of business administration (law) student at University of Hong Kong, said the key to success was his good reading habits.

'I think I was very lucky that I happened to have read a book recently about environmental issues,' Wong said.

'People, nowadays, read very little because of their busy work or school life, but I think reading different kinds of books can really give you more insight and, when there is an obstacle, we can make use of the knowledge.'

Yu Lan, a first-year student of e-logistic and technology management at City University, was the second runner-up. She thought the result was a surprise.

'I'm still wondering why I got chosen,' Yu said. 'The presentation was a joint effort, and all of us contributed a lot.'

The top three winners have already decided how they will prepare themselves for the grand championship in Shanghai.

They will read up on affairs concerning the mainland and closely evaluate the performance of all 12 finalists, hoping to further improve their presentation skills.