While Wall Street investment bankers are fighting for their jobs in the midst of massive layoffs, their peers in Hong Kong are faring much better.

The government says employment in the financial sector grew by 9 percent last month.

But there's a downside. All that growth means high demand for talent - demand that has resulted in painstaking shortages in the industry.

"Some employers just give up because they can't find any qualified personnel, especially in the field of compliance," said Professor Ho Lok Sang, director of Lingnan University's Center of Public Policy Studies.

According to a recent survey done jointly by Lingnan University and the Hong Kong Securities Institute (HKSI), the talent shortage in the finance industry continues to be a serious challenge. The survey, which aimed at gauging the skill sets needed for people to succeed in the industry, found that soft skills such as communication are relatively lacking.

HKSI Research Committee Chairman Richard Winter said that of those employers surveyed, many seem to think their employees lack initiative and creativity. "They need to be less insular and acquire more knowledge of industrial and global development," he said.

Both HKSI and Lingnan University hope that the survey will stimulate more educational programs that can help young people equip themselves with these core skills. "Employees often rate themselves higher in those skills than employers," Ho said. "So, I believe this is mainly a problem of perception."

He added that it is up to the employees to demonstrate their capabilities and engage in their career, rather than be docile participants.

The HKSI said that in the coming quarters it will roll out a series of programs to target the development of these soft skills, specifically to groom young people for the increasingly competitive financial sector.

Other than being well-presented, professional qualifications are also becoming golden tickets to moving up in the ranks.

Jan Squires, managing director of CFAs (chartered financial analysts) for Asia Pacific operations, said that more and more people are arming themselves with professional qualifications, especially in Asia.

"The number of people taking the CFA exam increased significantly in the past decade," Squires said, referring to both Hong Kong and on the mainland. He added that a CFA qualification is becoming one of the pluses, if not prerequisites, when employers hire or short-list promotion candidates.

According to statistics provided by the CFA, the number of charter holders in Hong Kong, as of this month, stood at 3,977 people - a substantial jump over the 660 CFA holders in 1999.

(HK Edition 06/24/2008 page2)