Mr. Horace L. S. Ho, former Chief Human Resources officer at two major international companies, Finning International Canada, and Johnson Electric Group Hong Kong, met informally with the second-year International Business Cohort Students on November 7th. Prof. Eva Khong, Associate Executive Dean of the FOB, Prof. Priscilla Roberts, IBC Coordinator, and Dr. Irene Ho of the FOB all attended this session.
Mr. Ho had met with the second-year IBC students when he visited Macau a year earlier. This session was a follow-up session, to find out how their studies and lives had progressed since he last saw them. The second-year IBC students described their summer school trip to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, their academic experiences, and their personal impressions of Alberta and Canada.
Some students asked about Mr. Ho’s own career path. Mr. Ho replied by talking very informally about his own international business career, and how he moved into Human Resources after studying Physics at London University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics. A job in the actuarial section of a British firm in the 1970s brought him into what was then known as personnel management and labor and industrial relations. He also ran a factory operation for some time. He later moved to Canada, and then spent seven years in Hong Kong, working for the Johnson Electric Group, before moving back to Canada. He advised students to gain as much business experience as possible, and to be willing to make lateral career movies into different areas of business.
The students asked Mr. Ho to compare working in Asian and multinational businesses. Mr. Ho advised students to develop their English skills, not just through English classes, but also by watching movies and reading English books. He also advised them to be proactive at work, taking the initiative when tackling problems, and to be willing to challenge the status quo and suggest changes. He hopes to return to the class in a year’s time, to continue their dialogue.