Job training face-to-face

l Reskilling helps employees to adapt to a new work culture in sectors for which they did not originally train. l It also means acquiring skills that fit a fast-changing market. l These four young people in their 20s with previous work experience are currently unemployed because of the pandemic. l They comment on the value of upskilling and reskilling in an HKFYG programme. l 僱員重新學習新技能有助他們認識以往未曾接 觸的工作，以適應全新的工作文化。

l 這些新技能亦能協助他們適應瞬息萬變的市 場。

l 本文的四位青年均為二十出頭，卻因疫情關係 暫時失業。

l 他們跟讀者分享在青協提升技能及學習新技能 的經驗與得著。

Project Update combines a practicum with a shortterm work placement for youth in a small group in information technology, marketing, multimedia design, e-commerce and telecommunications. It involves 100-hours of face-to-face skills-updates which introduce participants to workplace practices.

JT is 28 and formerly worked in sales and marketing. She participated in Project Update last summer and feels lucky to have had an attachment with 點止學． 野 (Swag Technology Limited). She specifically wanted to work face-to-face with a supervisor who could give her hands-on experience and this company fulfilled her expectations. JT also wanted to learn more about e-marketing which is so relevant today, as well as learning about webpage construction and coding.

“I think learning job skills is very important before becoming a regular employee of any good company. For me, the internship or work placement is a way to gain practical, digital skills by working directly with clients. I was lucky to be able to do so but I think a virtual internship could also have provided me with an excellent experience and skills that I could apply on the job. Either would be useful for my CV.” Albee is currently in her fourth year of a BBA at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Her ambition is to be a senior manager one day. For her six-month, face-to-face internship in 2018, she chose Binary Creation Limited 二元創意有限公司 , a company that provides STEM services and products.

“Internships are a very important transitional step before deciding on a career. Personally, I don’t really know what I want to do yet and want to take time to think about it. I wanted to work with this company because it pays close attention to marketing skills and has put a lot of resources into its programme, especially digital marketing. I also want to learn more generic skills such as effective communication and problem-solving.”

Albee particularly wanted face-to-face job training. “If training is virtual, and often in recent times it has had to be because of the pandemic, I think it would be hard to understand company culture and to grasp what is expected of you by way of performance. It is also difficult to form good relationships with colleagues, especially if you are a new recruit or a student without work experience, as I was.”

Bill is a 23-year-old who was a sales assistant in an IT company until 2019. His career ambition is to be a user interface (UI) designer. He did a face-to-face internship with Light Up Technology Group for six months in 2018. “Working directly with business clients was the most useful part of my job placement, along with supervised hands-on practical work. In a virtual internship, the best substitute would have to be interactive activities online.”

UI design involves presenting a product's development in a way that is attractive and convenient for clients. It means creating interactive programmes that enhance customer experience with a brand. Bill points out that, “Specialized training is very important for delivering quality products and services because the position combines elements of programming, psychology and digital design.” Kitty has worked as a dental surgery assistant but has not made any definite career decisions yet. She did her face-toface internship with the Easy Rich Marketing Company in 2020. The company provides integrated digital marketing services and the internship lasted about two weeks.

“I would have preferred a hybrid, 50:50 mode of internship but am not really sure how well it would be rated by prospective employers, compared to a conventional face-toface internship. Anyway, the skills I most wanted to learn came from working directly with clients and the work I did with Easy Rich Marketing was based on a marketing strategy tailored to suit individual clients.” The reskilling programme has helped Kitty most because she is thinking of looking for work in a new field where there is currently a huge demand for labour and that means in the IT industry.

Project Update training takes place in small group tutorials followed by a practicum and shortterm work placements. It is for unemployed and underemployed young people aged 18-29 who are full degree or sub-degree graduates at post-secondary or tertiary institutions. Participants also joined Project SETUP, a 6-month management trainee programme in SMEs and startups. Both ongoing projects are organized by HKFYG’s Youth Employment Network to meet the needs of Hong Kong's dynamic small-and medium enterprise (SME) sector.

Project Update funded by J P Morgan Chase

More details [in Chinese] yen.hkfyg.org.hk/projectupdate/ Enquiries Fiona Law or Rennie Wong 3113 7999