Science Park Virtual Career Expo Putting Hong Kong on Global Talent Radar
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The Expo, the first of its kind hosted by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), is the first and largest online talent platform in the city’s innovation and technology (I&T) industry. The platform allows hiring companies to connect with tens of thousands of potential hires regardless of their geographical boundaries. Most importantly, the Expo eliminates the need of physical attendance amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Massive turnout at the Expo, and more jobs are on way
Since launching on March 25, the Expo registered 65,000 visitors and 300,000 page views from I&T talent in 95 regions around the world. Around 15,000 CVs have been received so far from local and overseas candidates who are keen in opportunities within the I&T ecosystem of Hong Kong.
Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP, said: “The massive turnout and overwhelming response demonstrate a strong resilience within the I&T sector, despite these challenging times. Talent is at the heart of our I&T industry, and they will shape our future. We hope to open the doors to a new world of possibilities through the Expo, and see more talent, local and overseas, joining us.”
To date, there are more than 1,100 positions from Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Smart City, Fintech and Biomedical Technology, currently offered by 170 companies. The Expo remains open till April 21.
Lalamove: the Expo is taking HKSTP brand and the I&T ecosystem to the world
Lalamove, a homegrown logistics unicorn and HKSTP incubation programme graduate, targets to hire 50 tech-related employees to strengthen its 150-strong platform development team in Hong Kong. The openings range from interns to software developers, product managers and more experienced executives.
The company received nearly 200 CVs in two weeks through the platform. Not only did the company see applications from local candidates, but also many from abroad, spanning as many as 10 nationalities, such as the US, Japan, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
“It’s the combination of the HKSTP brand as an internationally-rising hub for I&T that makes us appealing to global talent. By taking the career expo virtual, it protects us from the current epidemic and helps take the HKSTP brand and Hong Kong's I&T to the world,” said Patrick Yu, Lalamove's vice president of human resources.
beNovelty, another HKSTP incubation programme graduate and an API-driven company, has joined the Science Park Career Expo for the past five years since 2015. For the first time, the company has collected four times the number of CVs to more than 400 from jobseekers through the online platform.
Different from the previous brick-and-mortar expos, there is no need to man a booth like before. The virtual talent platform allows us to make flexible personnel arrangements, and greatly enhances the efficiency of our interview process, Patrick Fan, CEO of beNovelty, who offers job openings for account managers, digital marketing executives and business development managers/executives, said.
Fan was particularly impressed to see a rising number of overseas candidates. “Our experience with physical job fairs and local recruitment websites is that candidates are mainly drawn from the local talent pool. At the Expo, it’s surprising to see nearly 30 per cent of the CVs come from abroad such as Italy and France, underpinning future business development.”
Established in 2019, HKSTP incubatee Cellomics specialises in the development and commercialisation of liquid biopsy products and services for early screening and disease management of cancer. With proprietary microfluidics and nucleic acid detection technology, Cellomics offers liquid biopsy solutions for precision oncology.
According to Christine Huang, the company’s COO, this is the first time the company has joined the Science Park Career Expo, which happens to be a virtual one. “As a first time participating Science Park company, we worried at first that the epidemic would deter talent from looking for jobs. The results of the Expo, however, are overwhelming, and it has brought us a lot of quality job seekers from Hong Kong and abroad,” she said, adding that more than 170 CVs from Hong Kong, Mainland China and Europe had been received. Cellomics is looking to hire a small team with strong academic or research background in biology or medical science for its lab, as well as admin and support staff.
Arical, another HKSTP incubatee and an AI company that helps organisations with geospatial predictions, also debuted at the Hong Kong Science Park Virtual Career Expo. The company is hiring for positions in data science, data engineering, front-end development and software engineering through the platform.
“Data science is a hot IT field right now, and software development is essential in this age. Fresh graduates and young professionals consider them to be meaningful and potentially rewarding,” said Clement Tien, CEO of Arical.
As of early April, the company received more than 300 CVs through the online talent platform. “The Expo’s live effects allow job seekers to understand the company’s unique culture and values effectively, and at the same time we can hire passionate talent who share our vision of co-creating future cities,” he said.
