Career Prospectus in Food Related Business & Industry

Today, Ms. Minda Chiang (Secretary of Hong Kong Society for Quality - HKSQ) was invited to be one of speakers for the Career Prospectus in Food Related Business & Industry, which was organized by Hong Kong Food and Science Technology Association (HKFSTA). The career talk was summarized below.

In the beginning, Mr. Allen Wong (Chairman of HKFSTA) gave a welcome remarks. He introduced 4A to the students. 4A indicated Action, Attitude, Adjustment and Application. Moreover, he said the Cantonese "Hea" was collected in English, the word came from "hang around" which was emotion action. He told student don't to be "Hea".

Speakers Group Photo

The first speaker was Mr. Thomas Yau (HR Manager, CMA Industrial Development Foundation) and his topic was "Testing and Certification Industry: Manpower Requirements and Career Opportunities".

Mr. Thomas Yau mentioned the persons engaged in T&C industry and then he briefed the manpower requirements on testing sector such as education and training. Usually, a new staff would receive about six months on-the-job training. After that he introduced some testing from Food and Pharmaceutical Division to the student.

Then Mr. Yau briefed the career path in the laboratory from Laboratory Assistant to General Manager.

He said the continuous education and training was important to equip your technical and soft skill. The following table showed some requested competency from Technician to Professional.

At the end, Mr. Yau said the career planning of laboratory depends on the equation: P + C > IQ, where P is Passion and C is curiosity.

The second speaker was Mr. Andy Ko (Technical Director, China Inspection Co., Ltd.) and his topic named "We Care for your Quality Assurance Needs".

Firstly, Mr. Andy Ko showed the video to introduce China Inspection Co., Ltd. It established in Hong Kong since 1982.

Then he introduced food testing service in his company. Moreover, he shared his experience for the student in three points. The first point was "Willing to do more". The second point was "Proactive" and the third point was "Responsible".

The third speaker was Ms. Becky Cheung (CEO, Best Key Consultant) and her topic was "Career Path - Sharing".

Ms. Becky Cheung shared her experience and showed the general career path in food industry. She pointed out three key items to the student:
i) Set your target
ii) Turn your mindset and attitude
iii) Find challenge

Then she shared some tips to the student for interview such as searching company background, understanding HACCP and ISO 22000, etc.

The forth speaker was Ms. Minda Chiang (Secretary of HKSQ) and her presentation entitled "Development of Quality Professional".

Ms. Minda Chiang presented the positions in Pharmaceutical Industry and some basic requirement of quality professionals in that industry. The following diagram showed different QC Functions in GMP industry.

Then She introduced different quality professional societies included HKSQ and HKFSTA.

Finally, she mentioned to use Myers-Brigges Type Indicator (MBTI) to test yourself personality, so students could be more understand theirselve for their future career selection.

The last speaker was Dr. Popsy Poon and her presentation was "Further Study and Training in Food Area".

Dr. Poon introduced different BSc program related to Food Science to the student who would like to further study.

Then Dr. Poon selected some food related job requirement and shared to the student.

After the Q&A Section, we took a group photo.

Reference:
HKSQ - http://www.hksq.org/
HKFSTA - http://www.hkfsta.com.hk/index.html