Overview March 2021∣Youth Hong Kong
Bridging the gap between school and work Making the transition from study to work is rarely straightforward but at present it is fraught by the complexities of the pandemic. A year ago, very few people expected COVID-19 to have such long-lasting impact or to throw so many plans into disarray. Many young people’s job and career prospects have been abandoned. Job training and internships have been postponed, curtailed or altered hurriedly into a remote version done on a computer at home.
An era of unemployment Even before the pandemic, young people were three times more likely to be unemployed than those aged over 25. According to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization, since the onset of COVID-19, one in six young people have stopped work and about half have reported a delay in their studies.1 With so many other graduates looking for stable entrylevel jobs, it can be hard for employers to choose between them. Standing out from the crowd has become increasingly important. While work experience has always counted, today an internship is a crucial bridge between school and career. It offers a way to learn handson skills while considering different pathways but the
most important outcome is quality job training and confidence to contribute and fit into the workplace.2
Where can training be found? The effect of the pandemic has been to reduce the number of internship vacancies significantly. Figures prepared for Youth Hong Kong in February 2021 by JIJIS (Joint Institutions Job Information System), a platform for employers and university students that is offered jointly by University Grants Committee-funded universities in Hong Kong, show a steep drop in internship vacancies. Overall, internships dropped by about 30%. Despite all the hurdles, students who were able to do internships valued them in their conventional form as an important way to learn the ropes in their chosen fields, to network and build contacts. However, in a survey3 of students in fields such as law, accounting and speech therapy last year, the majority were not happy about remote job training. Over 60% said that not only did virtual internships decrease the chances for them to interact with their colleagues but that the online arrangements did not feel real enough, though the students also said working at home had its advantages, notably in terms of convenience.4
Figure 1 JIJIS internship vacancies 2019-2020 in employers of over 100 interns Job Category Banking and Finance Executive IT/ Programming Other Accounting/ Auditing/ Tax Sales/ Account Servicing/ Business Development Marketing/ Market Research Management Trainee Management Consultant/ Business Analyst Journalist/ Editor/ Translation/ Copy Writing/Communications PR/ Event Management Engineering - Electronic/ Industrial/Electrical/ Mechanical and others Human Resources/ Training/ Recruitment Education Customer Services - Retail/ Hotel/ Tourism and Others Research & Development Engineering - Construction/ Building Services Creative/ Design/ Artist Total
4
Jan - Dec 2019
4232 1413 1477 1908 982 1127 542 772 355 571 434 507 355 220 168 142 258 15463
No. of Internship Vacancies
Jan - Dec 2020
3139 1140 1129 1096 852 698 531 425 393 353 323 247 216 207 197 189 177 11312
Change
-1093 -273 -348 -812 -130 -429 -11 -347 38 -218 -111 -260 -139 -13 29 47 -81 -4151
% Change
-25.83 -19.32 -23.56 -42.56 -13.24 -38.07 -2.03 -44.95 10.70 -38.18 -25.58 -51.28 -39.15 -5.91 17.26 33.10 -31.40 -26.84
