EO Sharing Session (Jan 28)

MPUP will co-organize an experience sharing session on the recruitment exercise of the HKSAR Government for the Executive Officer (EO) with the Career Planning and Development Centre of the Office of Student Affairs, CUHK to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of the job nature and to help students gain insights to better prepare for the upcoming interviews.

Details are as appended and follows:

The latest issue of MPUP e-newsletter is now available here.

Please feel free to read and circulate.

For further programme updates and development, please stay tuned with us.

MPUP co-organized an experience sharing session on the recruitment exercise of the HKSAR Government for the Executive Officer (EO) with the Career Planning and Development Centre of the Office of Student Affairs, CUHK on 28 January 2019 (Mon).

Three serving EOs of the HKSAR Government have been invited by MPUP, including two MPUP alumni and one CUHK alumnus, to share with participants their work experience as an EO and the interview tips.

The session was a full house with participants aspired to join the civil service.

Through the speakers’ experience sharing, participants grasped a better idea of the job nature, possible challenges and career satisfaction of an EO.  They were also reminded of the pitfalls to avoid in the EO interview and had the opportunity to interact with the speakers during the Q&A session.

***Furthermore, to thank you for your continuous support, MPUP would like to share with you exclusively some sample questions of AO/EO interview for your preparation and practice.  It will be posted on MPUP website soon and please stay tuned with us.

Prof. Annie Tam, former Permanent Secretary of the HKSAR Government has committed herself to education after her retirement.  She does not only teach but also coaches MPUP students and alumni who aspire to a career in civil service.

Thanks to Prof. Tam’s coordination, Prof. May Chu, MPUP Programme Assistant Director and a few MPUP alumni visited “The Tanner Hill” of the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) on 2 February 2019 (Sat). “The Tanner Hill” is the first non-subsidised quality elderly housing project in Hong Kong with incorporation of age-friendly features and advanced technologies.

They were given a tour by the HKHS staff to learn more about the project and the living environment of the residents.

The MPUP alumni appreciated the precious opportunity to have first-hand knowledge about this housing project.

MPUP always values professional training provided to students and alumni. Building on the theoretical foundation of our courses, MPUP provides support for their career development, including but not limited to preparation for interview for Administrative Officer (AO) and Executive Officer (EO) of the HKSAR Government.

In October 2018, MPUP invited Mr. Raymond Wong, former permanent secretary of Civil Service Bureau (CSB), HKSAR Government, to conduct a sharing session with students about the AO grade. Students aspired to a career in civil service have gained insights from Mr. Wong’s sharing, including the criteria an AO should possess and core values of the AOs (see photos below).

In addition to the sharing session conducted by Mr Raymond Wong in October 2018, contributed by MPUP students and alumni, we would like to share some sample questions of AO/EO interview below. They are not meant to serve for any formal training purpose. The best preparation for a career in the civil service is an integration of theory and practice to combine knowledge and experience, which is exactly what MPUP is about. But they should serve as a vehicle for enhancing the understanding of the format and nature of the interview process. You are still encouraged to visit the website of the Civil Service Bureau of the HKSAR Government for latest updates on recruitment and selection, if any.

Executive Officer (EO) Interview

The interview will be conducted in both English and Cantonese for 20 to 30 minutes. In general, there are three types of questions, including (A) Questions on your experience and duties of an EO, (B) Situational Questions and (C) News and Current Affairs.

1. Questions on your experience and duties of an EOPurpose: to assess candidates’ understanding of the duties of an EO and their suitability

   Sample Questions

   1. What are the duties or functions of an EO?
   2. Why do you choose a government job instead of working in the commercial sector?
   3. Have you ever taken any leadership roles in the University? Mention one occasion in which you motivate your teammates to achieve a goal.
   4. How many subordinates do you have? How do your subordinates perform and how do you work with them?
   5. Have you also applied for AO? Which position appeals more to you? Why?
   6. If we don’t offer you an EO position, what are you going to do?
   7. What makes one a competent EO?
2. Situational QuestionsPurpose: to see if candidates keep themselves abreast of current affairs and examine their ability in analyzing how the operation of HKSAR Government and the EO job functions could be affected by current affairs

   Sample Questions

   1. Suppose you are assigned to plan for a fire drill for the whole department. What steps will you take?
   2. The clerical officers under your supervision are almost all older and more experienced than you in the department. How are you going to lead them??
   3. A clerical officer I, who is going to retire in 2 years and has already reached the top salary level, has been demonstrating deteriorating performance lately. As a direct supervisor, what are you going to do?
   4. Suppose you are the supervisor of ten foremen. What will you do if all of them apply leave together?
   5. If your boss ask you to work overtime on a day which clashes with a very important family gathering of yours, what will you do?
   6. Assuming your serving department receives public demand to extend business hours as the department accepts application form but people can come only before or after normal office hour from 9am – 5pm. How would you assess the feasibility of responding to this public demand? If you are to extend the office hour, how would you plan and execute?
   7. If you were informed by the security guard of the building that the office was flooded before the office hour, what will you do? Also, would you inform your boss of that, given that was only 4 or 5 am in the early morning?
3. News and Current AffairsPurpose: to see if candidates keep themselves abreast of current affairs and examine their ability in analyzing how the operation of HKSAR Government and the EO job functions could be affected by current affairs
   

   No Sample Question

   Please read the news and good commentaries of current affairs regularly and critically.

   Administrative Officer (AO) Final Interview

   The Final Interview consists of (I) a three-hour group discussion and (II) a twenty-minute individual interview.

1. Group DiscussionCandidates will be divided into groups of six members. Each group will be assigned three discussion projects with two tasks each. Each candidate will take turn to chair the group or play a designated role to work on one task. The language for discussion (i.e., English or Chinese) will be explicitly indicated.

   Chairperson would be expected to gather and sum up opinions from members and make policy recommendations. Other roles such as representatives of bureaus would be expected to discuss from respective perspectives while general members would work with chairperson and contribute.

   Sample Questions

   Project Theme: Transport

   Task 1:
   The budget airlines in Hong Kong are taking up around 20% of market share. It is proposed to build a new terminal to facilitate their expansion. Should the Government support the proposal?

   Task 2:
   One of the ferry routes running between Hung Hom and North Point is owned by a private company, which would like to cancel the service. They would continue the service only if the government provides subsidy. Should the Government support with subsidy or cancel the service?

    

   Project Theme: Natural Environment

   Task 1:

   It is proposed to pass a tree law in Hong Kong to protect the large diversity of trees. Should the Government pass the law?

   Task 2:

   Some of the firemen sacrificed their lives when fighting a hill fire. It is proposed to set a firebreak on hills every 50m in order to reduce the risk of large scale fire. Should the Government set a firebreak on hills?

    

   Project Theme:Gender Issue

   Task 1:

   It is proposed to introduce women-only compartments on train (MTR). Should the Government support it?

   Task 2:

   There are different laws on anti-discrimination. Also, there is a women’s association but none for men. But men are also being discriminated in different aspects like work and study by the dominated values in the patriarchic society. It is proposed to set up a men’s association to voice for men. Should the Government support it?

2. Individual InterviewQuestions like viewpoints on current affairs in Hong Kong or the world, self-evaluation of performance in the group discussion (the morning session), etc. could be asked.

In addition to the Executive Officer (EO) Sharing Session in January 2019, we are pleased to share with you that MPUP and the Career Planning and Development Centre of the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) of CUHK are also co-organizing the Administrative Officer (AO) Final Round Interview Sharing Session, for participants to familiarize themselves with the AO recruitment process of the HKSAR Government and be equipped with strategies and skills for the interview.

Details are as appended and follows:

Prof. Eduardo Araral, Associate Professor and former Vice Dean for Research, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore is invited to give a talk on “AI and Job Losses: Competing Approaches of Estimation and Policy Implications – Using Singapore as a Case Study” as follows.

Date:      11 March 2019 (Mon)

Time:      4:30 pm

Venue:   Room 520, Chen Kou Bun Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Further details are as appended and registration can be done via below form.

For enquiries, please contact MPUP office by email at publicpolicy@cuhk.edu.hk.

Application Deadline for 2019: 15 March 2019

Review of applications has already started. Early applications are encouraged.

Applications must be made online. Please visit the website of the Graduate School, CUHK via http://www.gs.cuhk.edu.hk/ for details.

As announced earlier, 5 MPUP students were nominated to participate in the NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition on 23 February 2019 in Sejong, Korea with coaching from Prof. May Chu, Assistant Programme Director of MPUP and sponsorship from the Programme. We are proud to give an update that the MPUP team is one of the Top 5 teams in the competition.

The MPUP team competed head-to-head with 12 other school teams, including National University of Singapore, Tsinghua University and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, formed by graduate students in public policy and related fields.  Each school team represented a virtual country and four school teams represented a virtual world. MPUP team represented the virtual country, Durrit in the World 2 with Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University and KDI School of Public Policy and Management. The competition was a whole day event with rounds of simulation games for students to make policy decisions in designated theme areas based on real-world data, with this year’s theme on global migration and refugees. Each student in a team took turns to be different cabinet-level positions of the virtual country and each team entered their policy decisions to the simulation software to see how their policies affect various factors of the country including GDP, human right index etc.  The competition did not only require the teams to work with out-of-the-box thinking and professional co-operative skills, but also it required teams in the same virtual world to collaborate strategically to achieve win-win outcomes.

After the simulation games, the teams were asked to draft policy memos to evaluate their decisions made in the games and to give recommendations for future policymakers. Top scoring teams would be invited to present on their policy memos.  MPUP team, the other 3 school teams in World 2 and the National University of Singapore in World 3 were the Top 5 teams to present their policy memos.

Congratulations to the MPUP team again and we are glad to see the team’s hard work and efforts have paid off!