What will be the most in-demand roles in Hong

The thought of planning your future career can be such a daunting task. Questions such as “what industries are currently doing well?”, “what roles should I be looking for?” and “what skills do I need to refine?” constantly float in our minds as we make such big life-changing decisions.

Here are eleven in-demand roles and skills that you should be aware of that may be of help to you when the time comes to make that decision in the future.

1. Software Engineers: With mobile tech, disruptive technologies and developments in AI (Artificial Intelligence) changing the way businesses operate around the world we only expect this demand to continue for qualified IT Professionals with development and programming skills. Knowledge of iOS, Android, C++, Java etc. skills sets will be highly sought after and the challenge for professionals in this area is staying up-to-date with the latest programming languages!

2. Private Bankers: According to a press release from Verdict Financial, Hong Kong is to be home to world's richest residents by 2020. Banks aim to capitalise on this by expanding their private banking businesses and demand will be high for qualified professionals, especially those with China experience and Mandarin language skills.

3. Customer Experience: In both the Commerce and Industry sector and Banking and Financial Services, a growing trend is the hiring of specialist ‘Customer experience’ (CX) professionals. CX is the interaction between an organisation and a customer over the duration of their relationship. It incorporates the customer journey, the brand touchpoints the customer interacts with, and the environment (physical and digital) the customer experiences.

4. UX/UI: Extending the CX trend further, the demand for UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) design professionals to enhance user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction with organisations will be high.

5. Financial Analysts: Hong Kong will remain a leading Asian financial hub and a platform for investment into China. Demand for professionals with strong financial analytical skills coupled with excellent business acumen and commercial insight will remain high.

6. Innovation: Whilst intrinsically linked to technological developments, innovation also requires a deep understanding of existing and future trends in specific industry sectors and roles focusing purely on driving innovation are growing. These professionals identify future demands of consumers, spot trends & drive technological developments to enable companies to stay at the forefront of their industry.

7. Cyber–Security: Large multinational corporations and global banks around the world continue to hit the headlines with high-profile security breaches of their IT systems and loss of data. IT security will remain a high priority and IT Security Analysts through to CISO and Director level IT security professionals are in demand.

8. E-discovery: Closely linked to the growth of the Cyber-Security sector is the growth in demand for E-discovery (or computer forensics) experts. With a reliance and increase in the usage of technology, there also comes a higher demand for niche expertise to track fraud as well as seek and track electronic data with the intent of using it as evidence in legal cases.

9. Data Scientist: The advent of ‘Big Data’ and the rise of the digital age has meant a rise in the number of data analytics roles in the market. ETL (Extract Transfer Load) experience; Python, R, SAS are all in-demand skills sets.

10. Digital Marketer: By 2020, we are in a more mature market and there is larger talent pool with a higher level of skills. However, highly qualified professionals remain high on employer’s priority list and digital marketers, content managers, social media managers, data analytic specialists, e-commerce managers, SEO/SEM experts are highly sought after.

11. Project Management (Fintech): Fintech is possibly the hottest sector in Hong Kong right now. As organisations continue to seek to upgrade or implement financial systems to give them a competitive edge, demand for high-quality project managers and business analysts to deliver these large-scale projects on time and to budget is high and is expected to continue.

Do you agree? If you think I have missed any ‘hot’ jobs that you think will be in demand in 2020 then let me know!