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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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Online tech Job Fair set as sector faces 100k crunch
Cyberport will launch an online job fair next weekend to connect young talents with technology corporations and start-ups, a timely enterprise as a survey found the city is facing a brain drain in the information technology sector with over 100,000 vacancies projected in the next five years.
More than 150 companies will participate in the fair from June 4 to 6. Visitors will be offered over 1,500 positions in fields such as smart living, digital entertainment, artificial intelligence, big data and cybersecurity.
Cyberport's chief public mission officer Eric Chan Sze-yuen yesterday said more than one third of the jobs will be related to smart living in order to support Hong Kong's journey to becoming a smart city.
User-experience and user-interface designer positions will also be on offer, Chan added. Significantly, this year marks the first time Cyberport has incorporated the metaverse into its fair through a virtual interactive platform with three-dimensional elements.
The platform has already been tested, Chan said, noting it can support up to 10,000 users in one go.
Artificial intelligence will also be deployed to analyze and develop job seekers' interview skills, he said.
The fair is not Cyberport's only ongoing venture as it will also be collaborating with universities to provide IT training.
Chan went on to address Cyberport's role in attracting foreign companies, saying: "One of the most important ways to solve the brain drain is to attract overseas talent. They can help us expand to the rest of Asia."
A survey conducted by recruitment firm Venturenix sheds some light on the drain, with findings suggesting that somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 IT workers will leave Hong Kong this year. As such, the industry urgently needs new blood, the firm said in its report.
It predicted that 100,000 jobs - 30,000 of them being software-engineering positions - will be vacant in the next five years.
The report also discussed a mismatch between the number of positions and vacancies in the industry. As of January, there are 120,000 people employed in the industry, the report said. However, there were 9,097 job listings last month, indicating a vacancy ratio of 1:13 - much higher than the ratio of 1:50 in other sectors such as education and catering.
The news came as a job crisis looms over mainland graduates, with many seeing their job offers withdrawn as a result of strict Covid-19 policies, according to media reports.
Indeed, a leaked document from the East China University of Political Science and Law reveals that as of early this month, only one in five fresh graduates have landed a job.
Cyberport's chief public mission officer Eric Chan Sze-yuen yesterday said more than one third of the jobs will be related to smart living in order to support Hong Kong's journey to becoming a smart city.
User-experience and user-interface designer positions will also be on offer, Chan added. Significantly, this year marks the first time Cyberport has incorporated the metaverse into its fair through a virtual interactive platform with three-dimensional elements.
The platform has already been tested, Chan said, noting it can support up to 10,000 users in one go.
Artificial intelligence will also be deployed to analyze and develop job seekers' interview skills, he said.
The fair is not Cyberport's only ongoing venture as it will also be collaborating with universities to provide IT training.
Chan went on to address Cyberport's role in attracting foreign companies, saying: "One of the most important ways to solve the brain drain is to attract overseas talent. They can help us expand to the rest of Asia."
A survey conducted by recruitment firm Venturenix sheds some light on the drain, with findings suggesting that somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 IT workers will leave Hong Kong this year. As such, the industry urgently needs new blood, the firm said in its report.
It predicted that 100,000 jobs - 30,000 of them being software-engineering positions - will be vacant in the next five years.
The report also discussed a mismatch between the number of positions and vacancies in the industry. As of January, there are 120,000 people employed in the industry, the report said. However, there were 9,097 job listings last month, indicating a vacancy ratio of 1:13 - much higher than the ratio of 1:50 in other sectors such as education and catering.
The news came as a job crisis looms over mainland graduates, with many seeing their job offers withdrawn as a result of strict Covid-19 policies, according to media reports.
Indeed, a leaked document from the East China University of Political Science and Law reveals that as of early this month, only one in five fresh graduates have landed a job.
