Students

To Keep the Work Ethics and Remain Competitive

In the job hunting process, do you ever concern the following work ethics and responsibility?

Make a prudent choice

When you receive job offers from more than one organization, try to think over the merits and demerits of each post before you make the decision. At the same time, please remember to decline any untaken offers politely either by phone or in writing.

Attend the interview/written test

When you are invited to an interview or written test, you should take it seriously. Prepare yourself well and be on time. In case you are unable to attend the interview or written test for important reasons, you should inform the employer well in advance and ask him/her, if possible, to make another arrangement.

Keep your promise  

When you have accepted an offer, you have to honour your commitment. Be faithful to your choice. Do not take it casually. Be a person with credibility and keep your promise!

Be responsible

Unless you have no other alternative, do not defer the date of reporting duty, quit the job or terminate the contract too readily. In case the action is deemed necessary, you should discuss with your employer as soon as possible, explain your reasons and apologize. This allows the organization to have ample time to make proper arrangements.

Work attitude

Laziness and hastiness are big 'no-noes'. Being late for work, leaving early or idling your duties will give negative impression to your employer. Be rigorous in your work. Upholding the work ethics is one of the essential elements of keeping your competitiveness. Therefore, don't overlook the above mentioned work ethics if you want to excel in your work.

Work Ethics : the No.1 Consideration for Employers

Read the following cases that were reported to the career centre. What do you think?

Case 1

A graduate was employed as a temporary account clerk in a jewellery company. According to their verbal agreement, the graduate should be employed for 2 to 3 months until he took over another permanent job in October. However, the graduate quitted without explanation after just two days of work. He even asked back the two-day salary from the employer.

The Financial Controller of the company sent in a letter of complaint. In the letter, he presented a strong sense of contempt and disappointment. He accused the graduate of breaching the verbal contract, not giving a proper explanation for his leave and asking back the two-day salary in a mean manner. He pointed out that the graduate had wrongly interpreted that an employment on contract basis was a short-term contract with probation. He even provoked the Financial Controller’s anger by casting a doubt on his knowledge in the Hong Kong Law and the Labour Law. The Financial Controller had explained clearly to the graduate that it was a contract without probation. If either side wanted to terminate the contract, the other side must be notified with one month's advance notice. As the graduate did not inform them of his leave with advance notice, the company refused to pay the graduate the two-day salary. Nevertheless, the graduate still insisted that he was entitled to the two-day salary and claimed that he would file a complaint to the Labour Department.

Case 2

A student applied for an auditing position in an Accountancy Firm. The employer had stated clearly for a couple of times that he must work till the end of the 3-month employment. Afterwards, the two parties entered into a contract which stated that the work would last for two and a half months. Early termination was not allowed to avoid any disturbance to the progress of the work. However, the student quitted after one month of work and the reason was that he was going for an exchange programme. The supervisor of the company requested to discuss with the person-in-charge of the exchange programme but the student refused to provide him with the contacts. Later, the student terminated the contract himself and handed over his completed report to his colleagues during the leave period of his supervisor. However, the report was finally found to be full of mistakes and errors.

The person-in-charge of the company wrote to the University and presented his accusation on the behaviour of the student. He listed a number of dishonest and irresponsible behaviours of the student, which included the breach of contract, quitting without proper reasons and handing in a report full of mistakes and errors. The person-in-charge of the company emphasized that they had no intention to ask the University to punish the student. They just hoped that the student could recognize his improper behaviour and realize the importance of work ethics.

Follow up from the career centre: The student did not join any exchange programmes. The reason for his quitting the Accountancy Firm was owing to the fact that he was offered with a summer internship position by another company.

Case 3

A local corporation has employed two of our graduates for its management trainee programme. The corporation organized a series of pre-employment training activities for the trainees, which included visiting its major departments and meeting with senior executives of management levels. The activities aimed at letting new staff understand the operation and culture of the organization. However, one of the graduates quitted the job by phone on the first day of work, while the other also quitted after the first week. The latter graduate was once found dressing improperly in the office.

The personnel department of the organization complained that if students decided to take up another job which they considered as better, they should have informed the employer earlier. The company could then make other arrangements and avoid wastage. The corporation was particularly contemptuous of one of the graduates' behaviour as his has an attitude to simply go to the company to have a tour. The corporation was considering blacklisting the two graduates for future employment by the company.