Employability Rate In Marketing Hong Kong
Students Name
Critical Literature Review on Employability of marketing Students in Hong Kong informed by Holland’s Career Theory
Introduction
An increase in people taking the marketing course in Hong Kong has received a gradual increase it being that it’s among the easiest courses that students in Hong Kong prefer. Hong Kong students have a base foundation that underlying a course that is marketable is among the basics one requires to be successful in their career path. In this review, the meaning and the impact of the employability rate will be expounded; the part will also analyze some of the critical factors that impact the rate at which marketing students own a chance of employment in the market. Holland’s Career theory will be used to support some of the circumstances that caused the employment rate of many courses, including marketing. However, in the research (Choi & Joung, 2017), it was set clear that many marketing students in Hong Kong who fulfill the internship report have higher chances of securing a place in the universities, Many employers and the human resource department claim that students who have higher job experience stand a higher chance of being employed (Frye & Lee, 2019); hence many of the students are forced to undertake free job roles, to increase their experience so they can land jobs (Sanjeev, 2017).
Employability in the Marketing Industry
Many people have come up with different meanings regarding the definition and what they mean when they say the term employability (Bowie & Mariussen, 2016) Claims that employability is the rate at which industries within a certain rate can sustain the number of graduates being releases from the universities and colleges by offering each one of them a job. The marketing department in many companies is a smaller section that contains lesser individuals, that means that industries might only be able to sustain up to 40% of the graduates released every year; thus the employability rate of the marketing courses is 40% that shows that it is low (Pan & Lee, 2017); hence many of the graduates remain in the market doing free work or even others end up being idle. However, with the rise in many people trying to come up with different companies, there are high chances that the employability rate of the marketing course will increase (Hsia & Chau, 2018).
Factors Influencing Employability in the Marketing Courses
Academic Levels
With many people undertaking the degree course level in Hong Kong, the rate of getting a marketing job with a degree in Hong Kong becomes lower (Mok & Wu, 2016). People with higher qualifications than a degree are nowadays considered as more experienced with more expertise as the industries claim that during the more study, they have gone through different researches and different classes that make them fit for the market(Thanh & Tung, 2018). In the current market, the Human Resource Department is considering the use of GPA to come up with comparison among the competitors and evaluate their level of skills (Thanh & Tung, 2018), GPA seems to reflect the level of expertise and the level at which an employer showcases the ability to learn. In the marketing industry, people with more than a degree stand at a percentage of 69% in getting full-time work, as those who have less than a degree stand a chance of 29% in getting employment (Sekhu & de Jager, 2019).
Skills and Experience
The human resource in the marketing industry considers more people with much experience in the industry. In marketing, china industries consider more people with high communication and influential skills, English and the Mandarin are among the top considered languages to get a place in the marketing industry (Shi & Han, 2016). With the gradual change of companies, from traditional operation to more technologized operation, many candidates seeking a full-time job are required to be more of with experience in technical staff that is said to help the company in progressing through the technologized market (Cheng & Mansori, 2019).
Internship experience
An internship is among the factors that influence the employment rate of graduates in the marketing market. The reports from the company that the graduate took the internship help the HR determine if the student is worth a full time as the report contains how the student performed in the industry, determining the rate of success using the candidate (Choi & Joung, 2017).
Holland’s Career theory regarding employability
In Holland’s Career theory, the story clam that the careers are determined by the connection between the personality and the employment rate within the career environment. People tend to want jobs with people who have the same personality like theirs. People prefer choosing a course that undergoes with their personality. Considering the work environment that the career exposes the employee, the students choose their different courses depending on their personality and how they can cope with the set environment (Reardon, 2017).
Holland’s actual scheme has been placed on a six-point pentagon; the pentagon considers six types of people with realistic jobs that contain: Realistic, Social Investigative enterprising, and Conventional (Reardon, 2017). The investigative group contains people who are more of thinkers to come up with solutions. Such people have to think deeply into matters, and hence anyone who wants to settle for an investigative course should also consider the fact that they require more thinking to be an excellent employee in the field. The artistic group contains people who can create different arts and create a sort of entertainment, and they earn some revenue. In artists, creativity is required at a high level. Hence people who enroll in art should be more creative. Considering the social group, such people need to enroll in the more of helping careers such that the people have to be more of creating great connections, and they are more of being concern with social problems and helps come out with solutions within the social environment (Reardon, 2017). The enterprising role, on the other side, involves people who are more obsessed with leadership and can take up to high roles to generate revenue ((Mok & Wu, 2016). The entrepreneurs need to have more convincing tongue such that they can convince prospects to join their business. In this part marketing lies within this section, In the marketing field, it’s all about selling the brand of the company and also coming up with different products to convince customers that the products and the company is worth (Reardon, 2017). The marketing also involves salespersons who go around different geographical areas to ensure that they capture as many customers as possible. However, under this field, creativity is required because in creating the concerts to be given to the customer, you have to be creative and come up with something unique and even unique ways of convincing people to win through the markets. Under this group, challenges and introverting is among the daily’s that a person will meet through the career, hence the need to know how to solve the challenges of failing to reach goals and also extroverted goals is important to achieve success within (Reardon, 2017)
In the conventional group of people, such people consider more of tasks that are structured, they are more conservative, and they tend to follow protocols in performing their work duties. Hence for such groups, people who are more obsessed with organizations can do well (Reardon, 2017). The realistic group, are people who will do more of the concrete tasks; they engage in the real task, for instance, the production team; they want to do the real task so they can get satisfied with the work environment. However, the theory claims that in a career path, there might be two ways through which a person is needed to be in order to be successful, for instance in the marketing the person needs to be creative, and entrepreneurship, despite that the career also needs to be more of realistic.
Contribution of Holland’s Career theory regarding employability
Employers would consider the types of interests in the student to determine if the student will be an effective employee in the company or not in research on social groups, and entrepreneurs career path, the employment rate in 2018 ranges to 397,3 (000) (Mok & Wu, 2016). With the high growth economy in china, the need of marketers is slowly increasing as many companies realize that they need marketing for them to succeed in the business (Li, 2017). However, the development of technology is among the factors that impact the employment rate of marketers. With the development of social media, marketing has been made easier as companies can read a wide audience without the need for a marketer. Companies are working on cutting costs; hence many of the companies are running towards using social media in making posts that lower the rate of employment of the marketers’ graduates (Yu & Huang, 2019).
In attaining the right career choices considering the environment and the personality of many graduates, efficiency is determined that impacts the employment rate of different graduates. Choosing the right career path is all it starts from. Choosing careers that do not match with their interest and the environment that they would be comfortable with reduces the level of need to learn and the expertise that they will showcase in the company (Reardon, 2017). Graduates should be aware that in the marketing industry it is all about passion and socializing; hence people who are not more of socializing will not make it through, because the marketer has to create a chain of customers and offer them products through which if they purchase the marketer still have the work of checking up on them, to know their experience with the products through which a report will be created concerning some of the product’s weakness and how to improve them considering the customers’ review. Creativity is highly important that is later concluded with the entrepreneurship spirit that will help the employer rule through the market and get some of the largest target audiences (Autor & Hanson, 2016).
In conclusion, a student who has higher grades but does not showcase the expertise in the field stands lower chances of being employed. Students need to focus more on improving their skills as they also work on getting good grades that will enhance their employment. Choosing courses here is where students define employability rates. Proper choosing of careers will enhance high chances of employment within the marketing and also other careers.
Marketing Executive. Role
Kwun Tong. Company
Hong Kong. Place of work
Role
- Researching and developing marketing campaigns to improve sales within the company
- Conducting market analysis to get new audiences within the markets
- Conducting promotional activities to the customers
- Creating creative copies to be used in marketing
- Managing the digital social media and website marketing by uploading new contact and also creating more active content for the websites
- Organizing product exhibitions
- Monitoring the number of sales and customer reviews, providing suggestions on how to improve the product.
- Ensuring customer loyalty by tracking the customers to get reviews and also introduce new products developed by the company.
Job Requirements
Demonstrate Good communication skills
Poses Good teamwork skills
Have Strong attention to detail
Have Market analysis skills
Be well equipped with Information Technology skills
Should be in poses of a certified University Degree in marketing or any other related fields
Have at least three years of working experience from any recognized organization
Reflective Self-assessment.
LEARNING STYLE
In doing the self-assessment learning style will be used that consists of two models: Kolb and Honey and Mumford. Using these models, the level of understanding of human beings is detected. The VARK model will also be applied to evaluate the level of learning.
Kolb learning style
According to the Kolb learning style, learning is the ability to receive and process information as below.
The VARK model
Under this model, a questionnaire is provided to help the employers recognize the rate at which an individual has their efficiency in learning. In this model, sensory modalities are used to measure the rate at which information is perceived, which shows the rate at which employees can improve their learning skills (Medina & Olguín, 2018). Considering the questionnaire submitted from VARK I can learn from both, Audio, written and evaluating them to the formal process
Honey and Mumford Learning Skills
People utilize the four classes that are classified according to different modes of learning, which are Activist, Reflector Theorist, and Pragmatist. A reflects a person who learns by looking at things and deep thinking on how certain things came into action. Activists are people who get to understand something through the process of doing it; they get to involve themselves fully in the process to facilitate learning. Theorists focus more on understanding the theory behind the actions; they focus more on modules and concepts. Pragmatists are people who require real action into the world to learn; it is hard for them to learn abstract concepts
Considering the model, I am a reflector that is important in marketing making me a suitable employee
PERSONALITY
Personality is determined by understanding the pattern of an individual’s behavior and actions. In determining the personality using WPI, there are high chances that my self-development rate can be increased.
Work Personality Questionnaire
Under this, the level of personality that the employee shows at their workplace is evaluated, which shows if the employee will be comfortable and also will be effective in the workplace. In my workplace, I ensure that the work being done is done with efficiency, and all the protocols are followed during communication to enhance the flow of information that will lead to effective work within the company. I consider more on ensuring that the company does not only get profits now but also focuses on ensuring that the company secures profits in the future is mandatory in my workplace. Considering the WPQ, I am more conventional.
Ability Test
In this test, the skills and the ability that I pose towards the job duties and how effective I can produce the expected results are evaluated. In the test, verbal reasoning is the highest and then followed by Numerical Reasoning. Considering the role of marketing, I need more verbal to be able to create a link with the customers, which makes me fit for the position.
Team Work
In working as a team, I showcase leadership roles with both collaborations and ensuring that everyone participates to come up with a final suggestion. Using Belbin, my efficiency is evaluated. During the test, strengths and weaknesses are showcased during the team interaction. The results show that I am a coordinator, hence stable- that allows everyone to participate in coming up with a final solution.
Overall Synthesis
Test | Results | Strengths | Weakness |
VARK | Written/Audio | Good in analyzing and even recording written and audio information. | It depends more on Audio to come up with the Written version. |
Honey and Mumford | Reflector | Organizing thoughts and carrying out rationale research to come up with cautious and thoughtful ideas | Too much reflection that brings confusion delaying the process of coming up with final decisions |
Work Personality | Conventional | .High efficiency .Future oriented .Communication flow within the workplace | Uncomfortable with non-cooperating employees |
Belbin | Coordinator | Allows everyone participation Proper decision making regarding suggestions made | It takes a lot of time to come up with the final decision in carrying out lots of research |
Ability | Verbal, then Numerical | Proper communication skills Good social connecting skills | Not far much good with numerical skills. |
Career Plan development
Personal KSA
I have worked in the marketing department for up to two years, during the previous work, application of MS Word and Excel was mostly used in the creation of the documents. MS publisher was also used in creating designs. PowerPoint’s was also used in creating slides for presentations. I understand the marketing procedure that starts from brand creation, getting new clients, managing the clients, and turning them into loyal clients.
I have skills in analyzing markets to come up with unique brands that will lure many customers. Analyzing of the competitors is also another prospect that I incorporate in my daily procedure to get some of the unique procedures that they use to beat through the competition. In my career analysis, working as a social community worker and a sales agent matched my career. However, the major needs are the same as marketing; being interested more in Marketing, I believe I will bring out the best and also improve the marketing industry worldwide by helping crest more job opportunities to allow unemployed graduates to showcase their abilities.
Career Plan and Development
With the rise in need of marketers within different companies, I would like to explore different markets holding different positions to increase my skills in analyzing the markets and coming up with strategies that will help improve performance within different companies. For the next five years, I plan to work with Kwun Tong that will help me increase my skills hence developing different strategies for improving their sales. Being an executive marketing, I will be able to learn differently; levels of leadership, which I hope to change the company and try out marketing director. During this level, I will focus on more intense market research and cresting long terms strategies to get through competitive markets and also get through tough times during the economy. I would also like to be among the marketers who come up with strategist to handle harsh economic downfalls such as during these times where corona Virus has taken over; the business should continue and not end, developing strategist that will help the company develop strategies to get through such times is another development to undertake in the next five years after working with Kwun Tong.
Strengths/weaknesses mapped with Career Plan and KSA.
Working in the Marketing department will give me a chance to develop my KSA skills in my career. During my work to ensure that marketing ethics are imputed in the process. In developing the reports and also the development of creative marketing, works are done independently. I utilize my communication skills and connectivity mode to come up with new customers and strategies that enhance effectiveness.
In my work, I always like people who cooperate with each other to come to a solution, rather than people who like working effectively independent for recognition. Such employee within the group leads to a divided workforce that affects the results gotten. Facing nonsatisfied clients is among the challenges that I expect to incur during the process of working; knowing how to handle such clients I among the top things that help me get through the challenge. In employees who are non-cooperative, I encourage each of them to work along with each other focusing more on the company rather than oneself.
Evaluation of Skills and Development
To attain the position, one requires having a certified degree in marketing or related course from a certified university, with general computer skills, alongside good communication skills. Teamwork is also another requirement alongside attention to detail with market analysis skills.
In the marketing industry, communication skills are among the top requirements; marketing is all about communication and creating links. With good communication skills, one will be able o attain the god of creating intense communication with clients to improve the product. Knowing how to analyze the market will help the candidate come up with reports of suggestion strategies to improve the competition level of the company (Yeh & Chao 2020). With the current technology, having the skills can help transfer the marketing to online platforms that’s seems cheaper and effective in reaching larger audiences in a short time.
The gap between Required Skills and Possessed skills
I need improvement in quick decision making after group discussion. I will also need to improve my numerical skills to ensure that the calculation of market sales and variants within the field is adequate.
Conclusion
Developing skills and improving skills daily is among the effective ways of reaching the employment qualifications in the marketing department in Hing Kong. Applying the knowledge learned in class is also another key factor to consider. To increase long-life learning, I am going to take a course on mathematics to increase my numerical skills and also carry out benchmarks on how to cope with non-cooperating employees. Getting through different websites to be updated with the newest technology is am an everyday task to ensure the company procedures are always updated.
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