The Iron Rice Bowl

[Originally posted on Facebook, 22 Aug 2016]



A Hong Kong TVB news report last Fri evening mentioned that the HK Civil Service was looking to recruit about 1,000 Clerical Assistants.

According to the Government Vacancies Enquiry System, candidates should have:

• Completed Secondary 4 with subjects studied including Mathematics, or equivalent
• Chinese word processing speed of 20 words per minute and English word processing speed of 30 words per minute and application knowledge of common business software
• Attained a level of proficiency in Chinese Language and English Language equivalent to Secondary 4 standard

The Duties of a Clerical Assistant
A Clerical Assistant is mainly deployed on general and basic clerical duties which may involve multi-tasks relating to one or a combination of the following functional areas:

• General office support
• Personnel
• Finance and accounts
• Customer service
• Licensing and registration
• Statistical duties
• Information technology support
• Other departmental support

A Clerical Assistant is subject to posting to any government offices in any district of Hong Kong; required to use information technology applications in the discharge of duties; and may be required to work irregular hours or shifts and wear uniform at work.

[From https://csboa2.csb.gov.hk/csboa/jve/JVE_003.action?jobid=37791&extractDto.mark=&languageType=2&extractDto.showCheckList=Y&extractDto.onlineGF340=Y]

The report went on to say that there would be a high level of interest from would-be applicants and amazingly, up to 20-30% of them are expected to be university graduates. The reason is that a position (even a seemingly entry-level one such as a Clerical Assistant) in the HK Civil Service is comparatively more attractive to its counterpart in the private sector, which typically pays about 15% less and offers less attractive benefits e.g. annual leave.

I bring this up because we as an industry face a similar situation. The government can afford to offer attractive employment benefits, but the private sector (of which the majority are small to medium-sized businesses a.k.a local entrepreneurs) has to fight and scrimp every inch of the way to eke out a living while striving to meet the ever-increasing demands or expectations of clients, many of whom are government agencies or government-linked companies.