Careers Education & Placement Centre

1. Careers Education & Placement Centre Big Five Recruitment Exercise Preparation Written Application Date: 15 September, 2000 (Friday) Time: 5:30pm - 7:00pm Venue : T6, Meng Wah Complex

2. Careers Education & Placement CentreEmail: cepc@hkucc.hku.hk Rachel Hong Senior Manager (Employer Relations) Email: rkmhong@hkusua.hku.hk Tel: 2859 2314

3. Application Deadline Company Tentative Closing Date PWC 29/9 Deloitte 29/9 KPMG 3/10 Ernst & Young 3/10 Arthur Andersen 9/10 You have 2 weeks to prepare your first application for PWC.

4. How many applications did they get (1999)? Company Applications First % Job % Received Shortlist Offer Ernst & Young 193 132 68 38 20 PWC 224 150 67 24 11 Deloitte 188 65 35 34 18 KPMG 228 46 20 23 10 Arthur Andersen 175 35 20 13 7

5. How many applications did they get (2000)? Company Applications First % Job % Received Shortlist Offer Ernst & Young 258 162 63 59 23 PWC 314 154 49 46 15 Deloitte 234 120 51 16 7 KPMG 342 80 23 41 12 Arthur Andersen 149 71 48 22 15

6. How long do they spend on each application? For most of the companies, less than one minute per application.

7. Application Letter Make employers want to meet you! • where did you learn about this position • your qualification, background, special strengths • what can you do for the employer • what attract you to the occupation and the employer • when are you available for interview

8. Job content skills - audit Primary aspects of work • Calculating financial and other commercial figurework • Checking that people are following laws or regulations • Using statistical methods to obtain, interpret and present information

9. Job content skills - audit... (cont’d) Secondary aspects of work • Presenting ideas and information in writing • Understanding how businesses and organisation work • Assessing the financial value of goods, buildings or services • work requiring accuracy and attention to detail

10. Job content skills - audit...(cont’d) Other aspects of work • Being interested in aspects of law (e.g. business, personal, criminal) • Dealing with paper work such as letters, forms, and records • Organising and storing information • Interviewing people • Travelling around locally from place to place • Providing advice

11. Personal qualities & skills - audit • highly numerate • capable of interpreting complicated accounts • an enquiring mind • a good eye for detail • be accurate • be methodical in their work • an ability to communicate effectively and explain results clearly and concisely • good report writing skills

12. Why are you interested in the company and the job?? Research!! • Recruitment/career talk • career booklet • company file/newspaper cutting file • world wide web (e.g. South China Morning Post Archive) • alumni contact/friends • CEPC homepage

13. Application Letter Principles I. follow the ‘4S Rule’ - short - simple - succinct - specific II. include ‘competency statements’ - should say what the candidate can DO - should make it clear what results they have achieved

14. Samples from last year’s successful audit letters

15. Resume Contents • Personal particulars • Summary statement • Career objective • Schools attended • Qualification and examination result • Thesis/project • Awards received • Working experience • Extra-curricular activities • Skills • Hobbies • Reference

16. Resume Personal Particulars • Include only relevant information - name - telephone number - address - e-mail address • Information on your height, weight, place of birth, gender, marital status etc are not needed. • Don’t take up too much space with this section

17. Resume Summary Statement A final year student in The University of Hong Kong, with major in Finance and minor in Accounting. Dynamic, hard-working and self-motivated with outgoing personality. Enjoy travelling and meeting people. Aspire to responsible positions in auditing work.

18. Resume Career Objective An audit trainee position in a well established auditing firm where I can use my background in auditing and accounting to perform auditing work.

19. Resume Work Experience • Start with your most recent or most relevant experience, • Give the company name, period of employment and job title, • Describe your duties and responsibilities, • Show results.

20. Resume - example Summer Work Experience Hong Kong Government, Industry Department Survey Officer - Interviewed Senior Manager in 20 foreign companies and collected sensitive information for a survey of overseas investments in Hong Kong.

21. Resume Extra-Curricular Activities • Include student activities, committees, sports or responsible positions that you have held, • Include related achievements, • Include title, period, statement of responsibilities, and statement of achievement as with “Work Experience”.

22. Resume - example Extra-Curricular Activities Member of the Debating Team, Swire Hall HKU, 98-00 • Leader of the Team in the 2nd year. Arranged competitions, selected competitors, trained new debators, and participated in debate.

23. Resume Skills • Include other qualifications that are relevant to the company e.g. language, computer and job content skills

24. Resume - example Skills (cont’d) Language - Communicative Putonghua, completed level 3, Advanced Putonghua, Language Centre, HKU Computer language - Basic, Pascal, Fortran Software - Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel Ability to spot inconsistency - Spotted inconsistency in statistics of a 200 pages financial report of XXX company while I was the Summer Helper in August 2000

25. Resume Hobbies and Interest • Useful if they are relevant to your career objective. • Avoid being too general such as “reading” or “sports”, • Be specific and list achievement, if any e.g. reading detective stories, war game strategies, literature classics etc., bird-watching and keeping log book of species seen,

26. Resume Professional Membership • If it is relevant to your career objective, put it down e.g. Student Member of • the Hong Kong Society of Accountants, • the Hong Kong Institute of Marketing (marketing posts).

27. Resume Expected Salary • Leave it out unless it is asked for. • Do some research and find our what news recruits are paid in that industry. • state a range ?? HK$ 10,000 - HK$20,000 HK$ 8,000 - HK$12,000

28. The DOs • write the letter and resume yourself • make it error free • make it look good • stress your accomplishments • be brief and specific • be honest • keep it lively - use action words (e.g. organised, participated, handled..etc) • address to the right person

29. The DON’Ts • Incomplete Information • Poor layout • Too fancy/complicated • Incorrect data (e.g. date of birth, year of graduation) • Left out signature

30. Other Resources • Getting the job you really want • Write, giving full details (video) • The Miracle Resume (video) • CDT - Career Development Track • English Centre - Self Access • More ....... Careers Library, 3/F, Meng Wah Complex

31. These slides are available at the CEPC homepage <http://www.hku.hk/cepc> Click the key Lecture Notes

32. ANSWERS QUESTIONS

33. Quiz • Time allowed: 20 minutes • Answer with short phrases or bullet points • You may refer to your notes

34. Quiz Results • Results will be ready by 19 Sept (Tue) 2:00 p.m. Pick up your answer sheet from the Careers Centre. • Students who have passed the quiz will be invited to attend Resume Review Session to be held on 22 Sept (Fri) 6:30pm - 7:30pm and these students will have to submit their application letter to the CePc by 20 Sept (Wed) 2:00 p.m.