HR Corner Internship programme builds bridges by Priscilla Chong By giving students hands-on experience, companies enhance the pool of talent Data network storage involves cutting-edge technology and is one of Hong Kong's fast emerging industries. However, a direct result of that is the difficulty employers have in recruiting staff with experience and specialist knowledge in the field. From the HR perspective, there are two options: you can either try to attract people from the competition or invest in a programme to recruit and train your own talent. "Targeting your rivals may appear a quicker method, but it will distort the development of the labour market and, ultimately, the growth of the sector," says Paul Mao, regional service director of the Greater China region for EMC Computer Systems (FE) Limited (EMC). "Therefore, we introduced a summer internship programme this year to reach out to potential recruits as early as possible." Though not everyone realises it, network storage solutions now play a critical role in our daily lives. They make possible, for example, the reliable high-speed data retrieval systems that allow ATMs to function around the clock, updating transaction records and account balances almost instantaneously. Aware that such systems will become even more important in future, EMC decided to take a proactive approach to giving students hands-on work experience and letting them learn what goes on behind the scenes. Eye-opening Jacob Yu, a final-year computer science major, was one of the first summer interns in Hong Kong. His first week was devoted mainly to picking up product knowledge and understanding installation procedures, after which he had the chance to visit clients' data centres along with customer engineers. "Those visits were truly eye-opening experiences," Mr Yu recalls. "I had never before seen places like that with so many computers and cables, and the engineers explained everything that was going on in each of the data centres." EMC's clients include hospitals, telecommunications companies and leading commercial banks. The data they use could be in the form of scanned fingerprint images, X-rays or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) films, not simply numbers or text. This makes it necessary to have a wide range of products incorporating the very latest advances in technology. Mr Yu learned about things he would never have encountered in the classroom. "Even though I had some previous experience in hardware installation, network set-ups and systems administration, the internship showed me exactly what is happening in the industry," he says. Dixon Yeung, who is a regional software specialist at EMC, acted as Mr Yu's mentor during the internship programme. At first, he focused on explaining the concepts of information lifecycle management (ILM) and storage area networks (SAN), which were not part of the university curriculum. He also showed how to analyse specific client requirements and deal with them effectively. "The aim of the internship is to pass on technical knowledge and make clear that our focus is on customer needs," says Mr Yeung. "There is a lot to learn that isn't covered in the school syllabus." Range of courses As a matter of HR policy, EMC believes that if employees are well-trained, they will have the skills and confidence to solve any kind of client problems. Mr Yeung has greatly benefited from this philosophy and has already taken short-term courses in Japan, Singapore, Australia, the US, Germany, and the mainland. "The different courses cover technical aspects of the business, as well as managerial skills," he says. Explaining further, Mr Mao notes that training has a direct impact on service quality and levels of customer satisfaction. Therefore, each member of staff spends no less than 15 per cent of their total working hours on in-house training. "When hiring, job knowledge is not our prime concern, but we look for qualities such as integrity and creativity in all candidates," Mr Mao says. "We believe that every individual employee represents the whole company." He adds that IT problems can always be solved in different ways, which makes creativity and flexibility an important part of any troubleshooting assignment. "Information and systems are now at the heart of so many businesses that we expect all staff to be committed to and accountable for a client's interests and to have a strong sense of responsibility," Mr Mao concludes. Salient points - Network storage solutions now essential for many businesses - Internship programme to give students hands-on experience - Short-term courses cover technical and management skills - Staff spend at least 15 per cent of work time on training Taken from Career Times 10 November 2006, p. A18 Your comments are welcome at [email protected]