Page 31 - HKMA Training Award 2019 Souvenir Programme

Silver Award
Best Campaign for Organizations with 500 Employees or Less
Best in Social Impact

“Generation X CLAP: A New Business-Youth Partnership”
Generation: You Employed (HK) Limited

Background
Hong Kong boasts some of the best employment statistics globally, but beneath the headline figures, a narrow definition of success leads to a unique
set of challenges in preparing youth for their career, including a talent mismatch between unfilled job openings and youth that are unable to find
a meaningful career; deep-rooted societal norms that suggest higher education is the only path to success, and concerns regarding the level of
preparedness of today’s youth for the changes brought by technological disruptions. .

“Generation X CLAP” and Project Design
Generation Hong Kong and CLAP for Youth @ JC join forces to bring “Generation X CLAP”, an innovative youth pathways to employment programme
as it seeks to overcome the aforementioned challenges. “Generation X CLAP” has blended in CLAP’s Career and Life Planning DNA into Generation HK’s
innovative boot-camp style training that emphasizes repeated practice in the most important skills for a role. On top of job-specific technical skills, core
modules related to behavioural and mindset training are also included in the curriculum. Besides, students are encouraged to discover their real self,
interest, potential and confidence, and develop the necessary competence to make informed choices about their career and life. CLAP’s CV360® was also
used to help students build their portfolio and engage employers on a valued based talent recruitment approach.
In the pilot year in 2018, “Generation X CLAP” started with 2 job types: Customer Service (Hotel & Property Management) & Digital Marketing, based on
research on four key filters: (1) Manpower needs (2) Potential to add value (3) Appealing to youth and (4) Technical feasibility for the target group.

Project Outcome
On the youth side:
92 youth completed the training, where 77% of them were with high school qualification or equivalent and 10 were even high school drop-outs. Despite
their low academic qualification, 90% of them launched a job within 90 days after graduation, with a 79% 180-day retention rate. Many of the graduates
managed to join positions which employers originally hire University graduates and/or with relevant working experience.
On the employer side:
For the over 20 employer partners who joined the project, they used CV360® in talent matching, and they indicated that these youth in general have a
better understanding about the job and perform better at work. The employer partners are also open to a wider talent assessment perspective other than
purely academic

Key Factors leading to positive project results
From our stakeholders’ feedback, there are 4 key success factors:
1) A unique methodology where employers are an integral part from curriculum design, bootcamp delivery, hiring practices, guaranteed job interview

opportunities and post hiring follow up, and their willingness to influence other stakeholders with their successful stories.
2) A meaningful connection between education and employment, through a value-based talent assessment approach driven by CV360® and VASK.
3) A Career and Life Planning approach: a career versus a job, which helped differentiate youth’s needs and status, and enhance youth’s engagement to

the programme.
4) Strong social support for youth, where youth receive one-to-one mentorship throughout the programme as well as on a regular basis for an

additional 6 months after they are placed.

Comments from Adjudicators
It was an extraordinary programme aiming to create a new eco-system in talent matching by empowering the youths to build sustainable careers and to
provide employers with skilled and motivated talents.
With its global perspective, the programme brought good insight to the training community in Hong Kong. The programme set well-defined
development stages to equip the youths with holistic know-how, from essential mindsets to practical skills. With substantial involvement of employers,
the programme was diligently designed to fit the market needs. A lot of efforts have been put in to bridge the gap between the youths’ competency and
the potential employers’ assessment so as to enhance the matching rate.
The results were impressive as the programme not only emphasized on monetary benefits of a career, but also the impact on lives. The youth benefited
from the job opportunities as well as the competencies for their long-term career growth. More importantly, employers were willing to hire from a wider
talent assessment perspective to tackle the deep-rooted problem of youth unemployment in Hong Kong.
Overall, is was commended as an impressive and meaningful programme, which has created a win-win-win situation for the youths, employers and
community at large.

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 2019 29