Opinion-The Wonderland of Macau’s Talent Development

Macau Business | June 2022

Keith Morrison – Writer and Educator

The world is full of interesting paradoxes that confuse the mind. Or, as Alice’s Fun Chapter in Wonderland stated it: “Curious and curious!”.

Please try this. Imagine I’m sitting in a government agency in Macau and looking at the dark outlook for Macau’s economy. That way, I have brain waves. “I know, encourage the talent to come to Macau from abroad to improve local expertise and develop the capabilities of the local workforce.” Sounds like a good idea? Yes, so the government will pick it up.

So why so far it is almost impossible for non-local non-resident experts to enter Macau, and when they do, why is it difficult to be trapped and released in a hotel room? Is it? How to work on a fragile contract? So how does this work? One party says “bring them in” and another says “keep them out”. Odd number.

Curious and Curious: The Macau Labor Department (DSAL) believes it knows better than Macau’s employers, and non-expert locals can be trained by locals. He claims that he doesn’t need a local expert after all because of his sex. DSAL follows up with its own amazing burst of inspiration by refusing to work for non-locals. This allows you to step into an employer who knows what you need and is not found by the locals. Now you have an omniscient and omnipotent DSAL that not only knows more than your employer, but also directs your employer to the staff recruitment strategies you need. In short, DSAL manages the workforce and employment institutions. Odd number.

For example, let’s say your employer wants someone with the expertise and experience to work with businesses in mainland China. The employer advertised his position, received an application from an employee who would become a local Macau employee, and interviewed him, and found that none of them were appropriate. The employer identifies a non-local expert who has the necessary experience and expertise in her and goes through the process of bringing her from outside Macau. “It’s been very good so far,” said the employer, and with the problem resolved, she dropped in at DSAL with a cheerful feeling. However, DSAL is a local work spirit for employers, the application is rejected, and employers and their staff who do not have a background, expertise, or experience in the field are on-site. Locals with no background, expertise or experience.

So who trains ignorant and inexperienced locals? Are non-local professionals hampered and no local specialists to train them? The employer scratches his head and asks himself what is happening here. The point was that no locals had the expertise and experience, that is, no one trained or worked.

Oh, the government has a solution. It promises training. This is where Macau’s Human Resources Development Commission intervenes. For example, the website shows that the Human Resources Development Commission and the Macau Institute for Financial Services have signed a contract in 2018 to organize a series of training activities in the form of seminars. Workshops and short-term courses from 2019 onwards. That’s great, and it sounds it'[t]The three seminars held in 2019 were named “FinTechstic: FinTech Innovation and Opportunities”, “Financial Leasing: Origins, Law, Business Activities” and “Macau’s Characteristic Financial Opportunities and Challenges”. It’s a supercharged, rocket-boosted talent development for you. So we have it: all you need is a few seminars, and you are ready to become an expert in a home run to wealth and luck. Odd number.