| Q: |
Tell me about your background.
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| A: |
I'm from Italy and I've been studying in University in Canada
for three and a half years. After finishing my studies in Hong
Kong University I started an internship which will finish at the
end of August. I work for a global Market Research firm called
Synovate.
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| Q: |
What is Market Research?
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| A: |
Telling companies what consumers are thinking about their brand
and the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. We also give
companies recommendations on how they should plan their marketing
strategy.
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| Q: |
How do you find out what consumers are thinking?
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| A: |
We start of with face to face or phone interviews and questionnaires
filled in by users of the product. We then put this data into
a data engine and analyse the information. One method of analysis
is to compare the company's data with that of its main competitors.
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| Q: |
What sort of attributes do you look for in your questions?
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| A: |
In one case where our client was a large air express company
with large operations in Asia. One of the things we looked for
is brand awareness, how much their brand is known by consumers.
We ask people "if you think of a shipping company, which
one comes to mind first". We also look for ad recall. For
instance we would ask people "Have you noticed any ads from
ABC Shipping Company in the last 6 months" or "which
ads from this company do they like the best, and why". This
kind of method is called aided awareness. Other things we try
and find out are more emotional and subjective. For instance we
would ask people which company has the best quality of staff.
The raw data is then analysed and presented to the client. We
also provided the client with summaries of what happened and the
key issues. We then give them recommendations based on the data
gathered.
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| Q: |
What is your role in the company?
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| A: |
As a new employee my first job was to understand how the company
works. At first I did not have that much responsibility and checked
the data coming in from the field. I also had to check for consistency
in the data by checking for divergence from previous waves of
the study. It was a somewhat interesting though repetitive task.
After I proved able to handle this task I started to check other
things as well such as computer assisted telephone interviews.
I had to make sure the program was run in the correct way. Responses
from consumers are assigned a certain code and I had to check
the correct code was assigned to the appropriate response. I also
had to group codes together and extract information useful to
the client from junk information.
I then moved on to doing reports which involved using PowerPoint
and Excel a lot. Currently I'm working on tasks that involve more
decision making and subjective thinking which means more responsibility.
For instance I'm now writing summaries of the whole study so I
have to decide what is most relevant to the client. Clients don't
have time to look at the whole study so I have to give them what
they are looking for, the "key story". I also have to
write the recommendations on what the client should do in the
future and why based on market intelligence data and what their
competitors are doing in addition to findings of their own study.
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| Q: |
How long did it take you to progress from checking data to writing
recommendations?
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| A: |
I still have to check data sometimes as that's a job a researcher
has to do. It's a little bit repetitive but you get used to it
and it's not that bad after all. Initially it took two weeks for
me to move up from just checking data.
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| Q: |
How did you find this job?
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| A: |
I came to Hong Kong wanting to combine my university education
with something practical. I was studying business and wanted to
do something in Marketing because it was something I am interested
in. That would be my dream internship for the summer. I called
up companies in Hong Kong that had a large presence and Synovate
was one of them. They had a recruitment talk scheduled for Hong
Kong University. I turned up only to find the even was conducted
in Cantonese, a language I don't speak. Still, I stayed till the
end and asked questions from the Human Resources manager. As I
learned more I found this company matched what I wanted to do.
I then asked the company direct if I could help them out on an
intern basis during the summer. After some consideration from
their side I was given an interview and got the internship thereafter.
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| Q: |
Whilst you were waiting for a response did you send the company
any reminders?
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| A: |
Yes. I believe sometimes people are genuinely busy and don't
reply for this reason and not because they don't like you. Especially
with emails, if someone's inbox is full of unread messages your
email is easily forgotten. I think it's a good idea to kindly
remind them you are still patiently waiting and would like to
hear back from them. From my experience I've found usually people
are just busy and will reply eventually.
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| Q: |
Do you know why this company was interested in hiring you considering
you are from overseas and not staying in Hong Kong long term?
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| A: |
They saw I was very interested in the company and not just someone
sending them a random resume. I showed I knew a lot about the
company through my own research. I also had a little bit of work
experience in Market Research in Canada where I was part of a
marketing consulting group. This showed that I had the right mindset
for their company. Also the company was interested in getting
some international exposure and seeing how an intern from overseas
would interact with their local staff. The company is a multinational
but their Hong Kong office has mainly local staff. I think they
also liked me as a person. It's not only your resume that talks
but how you treat people.
Initially I was not thinking of getting an internship there. At
first I just wanted to know how a market leader in this field
in Hong Kong did things. I had a few informational talks with
some contacts I made with staff from the company through the HKU
recruitment talk. At the same time as I did more research on the
company I found it a good match for me and then asked if it was
possible to do an internship during the summer.
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| Q: |
Apart from this internship, what else have you been doing in
Hong Kong?
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| A: |
I think Hong Kong is a great city with lots to do. Apart from
going out at night with friends from University I also enjoy participating
in Chamber of Commerce events. Hong Kong is a very multicultural
city and these events give me a chance to meet people from my
own country and other countries which I am interested in. It's
a great way to meet potential future business contacts and also
a great way to meet friends. Hong Kong University is also well
known so when I turn up to these events I'm well regarded even
though I'm just a student. I enjoyed going to the monthly happy
hour events put on by the Canadian, Italian and Hong Kong Chamber
of Commerce. Even when I was busy with classes or study I would
go to these events because they were very rewarding.
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| Q: |
Were you ever nervous going to these events because of your young
age?
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| A: |
Although I was one of the younger people at these events there
were also a few other people around my age. You may feel a bit
unsure of how to start conversations and wondered if people would
not find you interesting enough to talk to. You shook this off
by telling yourself by talking to these people at least they will
know you and I found that when I introduced myself people were
always friendly. Also you can use this experience to improve your
self image from nothing to something, and that's better than nothing!
There is nothing to loose and everything to gain from these events
so just be yourself and start some conversations. Furthermore
people at these events have the aim of networking are eager to
meet other people so they are easy to talk to. People rarely go
in groups and are proactive with talking to strangers.
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| Q: |
How do you go about starting a conversation?
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| A: |
Breaking the ice is the hardest part. You may be nervous at the
first event you go to, but as you go to more your confidence increases.
Start with light conversation and not with giving out your business
card. Also don't start with job related questions like asking
them straight up for a job! Things like that are consequences
of the reason why people attend these events, not the other way
round. An example of a light icebreaker could be asking the person
what they think of the venue dˆmcor, crowd. Or wondering how there
are so many people from the same country or that pretend to be!
It's a good idea to be light hearted and show you're not only
about looking for jobs. After the introduction usually the conversation
will go towards what you and the other person are doing in life,
and at some point you will find common interests to talk about
like sports, hobbies, food, etc.
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| Q: |
Where did you learn these social skills?
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| A: |
It was advice from my Grandmother in Italy. She told me when
I go abroad to go to these events to meet people. Of course it's
a bit hard at first but if you just jump in eventually you get
the hang of it.
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| Q: |
Do you have any advice for foreign international students in
Hong Kong?
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| A: |
First of all, Hong Kong is a great place. It's one of the most
international places you can be. Try and take in as much as you
can. Although you are a student you should not limit your education
to just your books. It doesn't have to be a job. You can volunteer
or get into other extra curricular activities. Keep yourself busy,
not just with drinking (although it is an important part of life)!
Regardless of where you're from you will find expatriates from
your country in Hong Kong and you can use that network as a starting
point. Because I was studying business I found the Chamber of
Commerce useful. However there are similar institutions for different
educational disciplines so you can find the one that suits you.
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