Ambition knows no boundaries – and the emergence of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), covering Hong Kong, Macau, and nine cities in Guangdong province, signals an exciting new era of opportunity for aspiring young Hong Kong people.

Bolstered by supportive policies and exceptional transport links, the GBA has triggered a cross-border flow of talent and in 2020 overtook the San Francisco Bay Area economically with a population of 86 million and GDP of US$1.7 trillion.

The Hong Kong government has launched a series of initiatives to speed up the creation of the economic and business hub spanning the Pearl River Delta, and to encourage young people to study and work across the boundary.

The initiatives include the Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme – GBAYES – announced in the 2020 Policy Address to encourage enterprises to recruit and deploy university graduates to work in the GBA.

CLP joined the scheme by selecting six young people out of more than 300 applications to take part in 18 months of on-the-job training in the GBA from July 2021 to January 2023, increasing the pool of young talent for the company’s future manpower needs.

In the first month, the interns were given an intensive orientation programme, including site visits to business units in Mainland China and Hong Kong, to familiarise themselves with the company’s core values, culture, and operations.

They were then posted to CLP’s offices in Shenzhen and Guangdong province to get their first experience of working life in Mainland China.

Gaining fresh perspectives

Many Hong Kong students who study abroad choose to begin their careers overseas after graduating to gain international work experience and exposure. However, Timothy Tam decided to come home after graduating from the University of Oxford in the UK and seize opportunities in the GBA.

“I was sent to study in England with my brother when I was a teenager but – despite studying abroad for many years – I found myself increasingly fascinated by Chinese culture, traditions, and work ethics,” he explains.

As a mechanical engineering graduate, Timothy recognised that the GBA was a better place to begin his career because its geographical size, improved infrastructure, and booming economy offered a host of opportunities.

He currently works at Huaiji Hydro Power Station in Guangdong province where he focuses on the maintenance of assets and equipment. As well as routine inspections, he is responsible for regular reporting on the installation of equipment and systems integration, helping ensure operational safety.

Reflecting on the differences in workplace practices in Mainland China, Timothy says he quickly discovered WeChat is ubiquitous in Guangdong and used for everything from organising meetings to sending documents and issuing announcements.

“This is because many employees, particularly those working in power stations, do not have computers, but everyone has a phone,” he says. “This is very different to Hong Kong where almost everything is communicated or organised using email.”

In his free time, Timothy enjoys playing card games with his new friends as well as travelling and sightseeing.

“Travelling by bullet trains in China is very convenient. It takes just 80 minutes to go from Huaiji to Guangzhou, and I recently went to Chaozhou and Chengdu with some of the other interns,” he says.

Broadening horizons

Jennifer Wong, a graduate of Hong Kong’s City University who majored in Human Resources (HR), worked for a telecommunications company for a year before joining the GBAYES programme.

Switching to the programme and moving to the GBA has given her a wider range of training opportunities and broadened her horizons both professionally and personally, she believes.

Caring colleagues

Witnessing an economic miracle

Sylvia Chan, born and raised in Hong Kong, set eyes on Mainland China when she was a teenager. Instead of Hong Kong, she studied across the border in Jinan University in Guangdong, hoping that it would give her an advantage in pursuing her career in China.

As a graduate of economics and statistics, she was posted to CLP’s Shenzhen office where she has been able to put her education into practice.

Gaining a competitive edge

The GBAYES initiative has given CLP the opportunity to nurture future talent, supporting young people as they set out on their careers and helping them grasp some of the extraordinary opportunities of the GBA.

Cynthia Lam, CLP’s Head of Human Resources for China, says graduates taking advantage of the programme can gain a skillset that gives them a powerful competitive edge.

“Having a global and cross-cultural perspective, good language proficiency, an agility in learning new skills, and adaptability to new environments will give young Hong Kong people unique strengths as they compete with counterparts in Mainland China,” she says.