Presenting Author The Chinese University of Hong Kong SHATIN, Hong Kong
Career development of Biochemistry graduates from the Universities has drawn some attention to the educationists in Hong Kong these days; on the one hand, the unemployment rate among the youth was high. On the other, Biochemistry graduates might be unsure about their niche in the labour market. We conducted a pilot study focusing on the career development and personal values among students studying biochemistry: Secondary School Students (a) studying general Biochemistry; University Students studying Clinical Biochemistry (b) and Exercise Biochemistry (g) were surveyed. The three groups of students were asked if they knew their own career preferences; a, b, and g rated 6.64±0.77, 6.83±0.53, and 6.18±0.71, respectively. For the nature of their preferred jobs based on Holland Codes, most a (64.3%) preferred ‘investigative’. While most b (66.7%) preferred ‘conventional’ and most g (63.6%) preferred ‘social’. The Holland Codes of a, b, and g were found to be ‘IRC’, ‘CIR’, and ‘SR’, respectively; all groups shared ‘realistic’ as the common component, implicating their interest in conducting experiments. Considering the satisfaction of their resume, the ratings of a, b, and g were 5.29±0.51, 4.56±0.39, and 5.18±0.53, respectively. For interview skills, their ratings were 4.43±0.76, 5.33±0.41, and 5.82±0.74, respectively. Regarding their confidence in career development, the ratings were 6.00±0.49, 4.94±0.45, and 4.73±0.64, respectively. In terms of personal values based on the Barrett Model, clusters were observed: the most popular personal values in a were wisdom (8.04%) and accountability (7.14%); adaptability (6.92%), well-being (6.92%), and self-discipline (6.15%) were reported in b. Whereas in g , health (6.92%) and ease with uncertainty (5.75%) were the most popular. Taken together, about two-third of the students knew their own career preferences, which appeared to be associated to the courses they took. The students were observed to have diverse personal values dependent on their age and the subjects they chose. Overall, the University Students with various personal values appeared to be less satisfied with and less confident in their career development. Some follow-up measures should be tailored and implemented.
