More jump at chance to intern outside HK

Adelyn Lau

More than 2,500 local tertiary students have applied for a government-backed internship scheme across various industries at mainland and overseas corporations.

In kicking off this year's scheme, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said yesterday 25 companies are offering hundreds of positions covering the most number of industries, including finance, technology and logistics, since the scheme's debut in 2018.

They include John Swire & Sons, China Resources and MTR Corp.

This year's applicants are nearly double last year's for a scheme that enables youths to understand different work cultures and forge a network to plan career paths, Chan said, adding "the scheme has benefited over 700 youths so far," he added.

Firms in mainland cities like Beijing and Shanghai and in various countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia have signed up.

Former interns were grateful for the scheme.

Maggie Chung trained at the Bank of China (Hong Kong) for a week on analysis of geographical development and basic operational knowledge before departing to Jakarta, Indonesia, for the internship.

She worked there as part of a corporate banking team, where her responsibilities encompassed comprehending client cases and generating credit assessments.

She said "it trained my teamwork skills as I had many chances to work with locals. With different cultural and linguistic contexts, my communication, coordination and management skills improved."

Natalie Chan, who was part of a digital marketing team at Wuhan K11 Art Mall, found adapting to eating habits, culture and weather there the most challenging.

"Fortunately, HR representatives from Hong Kong and Wuhan checked in with me every week."

Jacky Lo served in Tencent's public affairs, where he analyzed Greater Bay Area strategies and policies.

The latest batch of recruited interns will depart from this month to undertake internship placements that will last no less than six weeks.