University recruitment ads must be more transparent

Victor Fung Keung

Hong Kong’s education business is booming. Every Saturday when we read the Classified Post, about one-quarter of its advertisements are university jobs. Unfortunately, due to a lack of transparency, thousands of potential applicants encounter nothing but frustration.

Yes, in a commercial world, salaries on certain positions should remain a secret because of fierce competition for talent in the marketplace. But local universities are funded mostly by the government and usually adopt practices similar to the government’s, except when it comes to disclosing salary scales.

This secretiveness causes only headaches to the administrators of public education institutions and applicants. The institutions, after posting advertisements, may receive thousands of applications. Many applicants either are overqualified or under-qualified. The result is a tremendous waste of time for university staff, not to mention time wasted by applicants falling above or below the skills demanded for the position. Why can’t universities set out the pay range in their ads?

Worse, most public education institutions require applicants either to fax or mail their applications. Just imagine how many trees need to be chopped to manufacture those pieces of paper. If universities disclose the pay range, I am sure waste paper will be cut by two-thirds. University dons, please try a little kindness and help save the Earth!

In this regard, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) should be lauded for its ground-breaking move. Since January, the university has been publishing pay scales for positions it has advertised. For instance, on Jan 14 it posted an opening for a senior officer (public affairs) with a pay structure of HK$18,000-HK$27,000. This is great. People earning more than HK$30,000 a month wouldn’t consider applying unless money were of no concern to them. Transparency helps both the university administration and thousands of job seekers.

On the same day, another university posted a position for a senior manager (branding and events). The posting reads only that “applicants should have substantial relevant work experience” and “starting salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience”. I am sure there will be hundreds of letters but many of the applications will be thrown into the dust bin. At least, the university offering the position could have spelt out that the job is almost equivalent to the rank of executive officer 2 (maximum salary around $28,000 a month) or similar to the rank of executive officer 1 (maximum salary around $42,000 a month). Many people, such as I, have absolutely no idea what “senior manager” means and how much the job is likely to pay per month.

Being more transparent will help universities to save time screening potential candidates, help applicants by not wasting their time writing letters for jobs that they would never apply for should they know the pay structures and help the society to save thousands of tons of paper. HKBU has made a move. It is high time other universities and public education institutions followed suit.

The author is director of the MA in International Journalism Program at HKBU.