To improve the quality of its service and expand business, China Construction Bank (CCB) (Asia) Corporation will roll out a large-scale recruitment drive this year.
CCB (Asia), which has 50 branches in Hong Kong and Macau, boosted its workforce by 185 per cent from around 700 in 2007 to 2,000 last year, says Grace Lee, senior vice-president and head of human resources. It has just launched its private banking service and plans to open up to eight branches this year.
The bank recruited about 1,000 employees last year to fill new and vacated positions, Lee adds. "We expect to recruit a similar number of new hires in 2011. They will fill openings in frontline sales and marketing at various branches, and servicing and marketing positions in other divisions, such as commercial and private banking," she adds.
The bank welcomes fresh university graduates and experienced bankers who may not have university degrees but have other professional qualifications.
All employees are expected to have high ethical standards and integrity, Lee says.
"We encourage our staff to contribute innovative ideas to help the bank further upgrade its products and provide a more comprehensive range of services to satisfy our customers' changing needs.
"We emphasise 'service from the heart' and expect our employees to be passionate about providing services to customers with sincerity," she adds.
CCB (Asia) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Construction Bank, one of the four leading commercial banks in China and one of the world's largest banks by market capitalisation.
"CCB (Asia) provides a lot of career-development opportunities for its employees, with quarterly promotion consideration for individual staff at our branches," Lee says.
A comprehensive range of training programmes are offered at different levels, such as a three-year management trainee programme for fresh university graduates.
"In the first year, the new recruits will gain exposure and understanding of the operations of all divisions.
"After they have identified their interests, they will receive in-depth training focused on specialised areas in the second and third years," Lee says.
She expects labour demand in the local banking sector to remain high this year.
"The competition for high-quality talents will be strong."
