Top three things Hong Kong employers look for in a job candidate

72.2% of employers may hire you based on your attitude.

According to the Hudson Report: Employment Trends, Hong Kong’s employers top three measures used to assess high potential employees are prior performance (89.0%), attitude (72.2%) and career aspirations (60.3%).

Meanwhile, 47.7% of employers plan to increase headcount, up 10.4pp since last quarter, while 81.1% of employers intend to keeping contracting headcount steady. 65.3% of organisations have a formal program in place to identify high potential employees

The report also noted that high Potential Programs are used widely and the primary driver for high potentials employee programs is to retain and reduce staff turnover (32.5%).

The war for talent is still very much on, so it is now more important than ever for employers to reframe their approach to talent management – re-evaluating the skills and capabilities required within their teams – and build a talent pipeline that will assist in meeting the challenge of current and future talent shortages.

Additionally, “high potential’ is not the same as ‘high performance’ although there is some overlap – 93% of all high potentials are also high performers, yet only 29% of high performers have high potential.

This clearly highlights that being focused on high performance alone will deliver short-term results, but poses risk in the longer term.

To maximise effectiveness, High Potential Programs need to be consistent, sustained and with a clear purpose. The value of the program can then be evaluated against agreed objectives that may include retaining key staff, filling roles internally, filling roles quickly, and higher performance from high potential employees.

Common elements of effective programs are high touch, individual customisation and mentoring, coaching and exposure to new experiences.