“As a recruiter, we don’t like employees who change jobs very often”-Hello Jobs in Macau Business Daily

2014/8/11

From：Macau Business Daily

Given the constant growth of Macau’s economy, supply cannot meet demand. In an interview with Business Daily, the managing director of MSS Recruitment Limited, Jiji Tu, says that it is especially true for some positions.
She also says that, considering the biggest job openings are in the service field, Macau’s university graduates might not be interested in such positions, creating a mismatch between supply and demand. With the Cotai developments expected to create further job openings, Ms. Tu believes the future of the labour market will continue to be challenging with a lack of human resources and high turnover rate.

Is the major problem of the labour market in Macau the restrictions on the employment of overseas labour?

It’s a fact that local supply cannot meet the demand for some positions. For example, the university graduates may prefer office work but then a large number of positions created are service [positions] — it can be waiter, cleaner, dishwasher: so there’s a mismatch, as well as supply not meeting demand. There’s a high turnover rate.

Still, do you believe if there were more flexibility in hiring overseas labour, that problem would be partly solved?

That would solve some of the problems.
I guess in future that overseas labour will be needed for the type of position I just mentioned because it’s difficult to find this large number of employees for this type of position. So, it will help. And for other positions, because Macau has only been developing in the recent 10 years, there aren’t enough people who have the required skills or experience.

What are the major complaints from companies?

Lack of human resources and everything related to lack of human resources. Lack of quality in human resources in some positions, not for all — can be senior level, management level. In Hong Kong or Singapore, for management level, they look for someone that has held a similar position in the past five years, but in Macau they’ve reduced the requirement to two years.

You mentioned high turnover rate. Is it still difficult to keep people in the same job in Macau?

It’s challenging, because there are many opportunities, so they can choose what they want and be more selective. Some of them leave for an increment in salary; some are simply not happy and quit their job because they can find another job very easily.

What kind of advice do you give companies about keeping staff?

For smaller companies, of course, salary and benefits are definitely the most important factor, but put that aside; smaller companies should really provide a really good working environment. This is something Macau people actually do value. So, in addition to salary and benefits, this is one of the most effective ways to keep an employee.

Is it easier for big companies or big resorts to retain employees or are they also fighting other casinos?

They’re fighting other casinos and have different initiatives. For instance, Wynn gave out stock options. So, they’re trying to create ways to maintain their staff. Instead of looking for staff from other casinos, they’re trying to see if they can retain their current staff, so it’s very competitive.

What will happen with the new Cotai developments? There won’t be enough labour for all the existent vacancies.

Yes. The turnover rate will be very high. When big casinos start hiring, then you’ll see employees change jobs between casinos and the smaller companies will also get affected. It will affect the whole market because it’s the main industry and they hire a lot of people. In the smaller companies and in the bigger companies staff will start changing jobs.

Will the government by then be forced to open up their overseas employment restrictions?

For overseas quota, the fundamental policy is that if they hire foreigners if they can’t find such employees locally you also need to comply with a certain local employee ratio. So, there will always be guidelines on how you’re going to approve the overseas quota. It’s a matter of evaluating their future manpower needs and what type of position will be allocated more quota.

Given the high turnover rate, do you believe this is good for their career development?

In the long term, no. By changing too frequently, for us, as a recruiter, when we read the resumes, we don’t like employees who change jobs very often. Actually, no employer does. But the duration, if they stay one year in a company, probably in Macau they will consider it’s OK. If it’s in another country, they need to stay at least two years. In Macau, if they stay one year, it’s already acceptable. For some positions, in casinos, lower level positions, I guess if you want to join, they sign you up on the spot.

If the locals want to work in a Hong Kong or Singaporean or foreign company, outside of Macau, will they have any opportunities, considering a resume with a short duration time?

[One year] is definitely considered very short.

Do you give advice to employees stating that?

Because we work for our clients who engage us to look for candidates, when we’re looking for candidates and if we have five resumes that are relevant, if one or two of them are extremely jumpy, and change jobs every eight or nine months, normally we won’t give to the clients, even if the resume is relevant.
The clients engage us to look for good employees, a career fit, and also they want someone who is more loyal because they pay us as an agency. As a result, we will shortlist a few candidates with relevant skills and screen out the ones who are [job-hoppers] and won’t give it to the clients.

Where do you see the future of the labour market heading?

It will continue to be quite challenging in the next few years.

What do you mean by challenging?

Challenging in terms of shortage of manpower.

Copyright@Macau Business Daily