Hong Kong employees are keen on upskilling, spending weekly six to ten hours (9%), ten to 24 hours (4%) and over 24 hours (2%) outside of their job enhancing their professional skills, said Hays recently when releasing its latest salary side.
In addition, in 2020 alone, 47% said that they had taken up soft skill development and 31% had begun improving their hard skillsets, both figures around the Asia average of 53 and 30%, the recruitment agency noted.
However, the number of Hong Kong employees spending no time upskilling is on the rise from 23% last year to 28% in 2021, and as such they should keep in mind that in these fast-changing times it is crucial to stay on top of industry trends, Hays observed.
The firm advised that Hong Kong Kong employees should be aware of what skillsets employers value most.Â
While it is laudable that so many candidates have begun working on their soft skills, and they would have been right to do so in previous years when more employers preferred it; in 2021 this has reversed, and 52% of employers are now on the lookout for candidates with impressive hard skillsets, according to the salary guide.
Employers stated that hard skills are the in the highest demand, with most – 65% – stating that they required technical skills, said Hays.
At 64% the second most desirous was analytical skills, while 55% of respondents considered presentation skills to be of importance, Hays added.
This change reflects the shifting needs of the modern workspace with digitalisation, video conferencing, cloud and technological transformations all now commonplace, said Simon Lance, Managing Director at Hays Greater China.
"In order to stand out from the competition, employees and candidates must update skillsets in order to accommodate this, and are advised to speak to companies, mentors and recruitment experts to establish the areas in which they should improve," he advised.
