To compete in the career market, students nowadays have to get well-prepared before they graduate from colleges and universities. The ACCA Hong Kong Business Competition 2009 has given a chance for business and accounting students to learn various skills that are required by employers.
ACCA Hong Kong Business Competition aims at equipping sub-degree accounting and business students with basic accounting knowledge, business and communication skills that are required in the career market. Before the competition, participating students have to take part in a business writing workshop and a presentation skills workshop respectively in October and November 2009. The business writing workshop, conducted by Rosanna Choi, Vice President, ACCA Hong Kong, gave useful tips on how to prepare a winning business proposal. Choi advised students to take note of the following key elements:
- Provide solutions to clients¡¦ problems
- Provide third-party endorsements of your capability
- Use appropriate jargon
- Show your passion
- Avoid typos and poor grammar
Having learnt these tips, participating students had to develop a business proposal for an international youth festival, and six finalist teams had to present their proposals in the final competition on 21 November 2009. They have to demonstrate not only their business and accounting knowledge learnt at college, but also the soft skills learnt in different workshops. All these are essential when they embark on their journey of career in the future.
The six finalist teams were shortlisted from a total of 517 teams of 1,900 sub-degree students. Their presentations were impressive to the judging panel. One of the judges, Kwan Chuk-fai, Group Director ¡V Corporate Affairs, New World Development Company Limited, commented that the proposals have shown that students have done lots of research work. In the presentation, they showed their creativity, for example, using dialogues in the introduction, creating memorable slogans, etc.
Another judge, Terence Yeung, Managing Director, TACSEN Management Consultants Limited, was pleased to find that students applied their skills learnt to their presentations. He said that the clear structure of their proposals showed that they have done much research and preparation work. Students were also reminded to improve their spoken English and be prepared for contingencies in presentations. In the career world, language ability and soft skills are definitely essential for everyday work and for future developments.
Source¡RJobsDB HK
Updated¡R3 Dec 2009
