The Kiwis do it, why not HKers?
Working holiday as a mainstream norm in Hong Kong?: Looking at New Zealand’s experience
“Many are still living with their parents before they head overseas, so they learn to work it all out themselves,” Ms Jenkin said.
In Hong Kong, mainly those better-off families or a few elite kids can have an overseas experience before they graduate from secondary schools. A more common option is going for an exchange semester at university. However, only about 15,000 students can enter university each year and not all of them choose to go on exchange.
Therefore it is still their first time of going overseas for many of the previous participants as the Kiwis. The difference in popularity between Hongkongers and Kiwis lies on the mind-set.
For all of the Asians interviewed, they said the westerners have a more laid-back lifestyle and are more chill. They do not have plans for future as rigid as Asians while Asians are more hard-working but without work-life balance.
The main goals after graduation in Hong Kong are finding a well-paid job and buying a flat for many. It is common for them to believe that they should develop their career well when they are young instead of going for working holiday.
“HKBackpackers” is a NGO founded by returnees from working holiday hoping to promote it. Ejoe Tso Kar Ho, the founder and ex-chairman, believes that young people do not have to worry about what to do when they come back since their education background and working experiences would not be cleared out.
“For me, I am proud of going on working holiday. This can prove you are more mature with skills of problem solving. A lot of the young just can’t put aside these concerns,” he said.
Even though some of the working holiday makers may come back to Hong Kong after two or three months as they get lost in their journey, he does not consider those as failures.
“There is no success or failure for backpacking. The moment the youths step out and look for changes, they are successful already as they have the courage to take up the challenge. They are just not well-prepared for their backpacking yet.”
Some of the practical limitations also contribute to the reasons of working holiday not being as popular as in New Zealand.
For most of the countries that Hongkongers can go for, the maximum allowed period of stay is only one year except Australia and the UK. Not allowing them to work for the same employer for more than three or six months also makes the job opportunities narrower.
However, as a member in Commonwealth, New Zealanders can be granted a two year working holiday visa easily for their OE.
Sharing the common language is one of the important factors for them to go for London, according to findings of Dr Wilson. While in Hong Kong, some of the young people are worried that they may not have good language skills for working holiday. According to the study done by the Beacon Pop Index, more than half of the interviewed had this concern.
Also, with older parents or grandparents living in the former British Dominion, many of the New Zealanders want to go and discover their heritage in the UK after they have grown up.
In Dr Wilson’s research, she found that the working holiday in Britain for New Zealanders at the early stage was like young people in the colonial outposts going “home”. Going on an OE has become part of the social norm after years.
Ms Jenkin’s mother and her family were from the UK so she also had this kind of desire of “going home” and chasing the roots there.
“It's also interesting as for a white New Zealander like myself, this is where my colonial ancestors are from when they first left England in the 1850's to colonize New Zealand with whites,” said Mr Sammons.
After decades, the “stereotyped travel mode” in the UK developed, including living in a flat in London with 15 Kiwis, doing a tour in Europe and having excessive drinking, according to Dr Wilson.
For people with religious beliefs, they have a ritual symbolizing the change from an adolescent to adult. For many New Zealanders, going on an “Overseas Experience” (OE), which is going to a foreign country for working holiday, is a “national ritual” and a “symbol of adulthood”.
London in the United Kingdom remains the top destination for Kiwis to do their OE among the 40 countries they can choose. The reasons were found to be history, tradition, familiarity, role modelling and convenience, according to the research done by Jude Wilson, researcher at Lincoln University in New Zealand. OE has become a cultural norm for many of the New Zealanders as generally they look at working holiday positively.
In Hong Kong, as working holiday is still relatively new, misconception like “wasting time just for fun”, “sacrificing potential career development doing low-skilled jobs”, “being trapped in farms” were some of the stereotypes that the friends or relatives of the outgoing interviewees from Hong Kong have.
Is it possible for Hong Kong to have working holiday as a mainstream? The experience of New Zealand provides some clues for it.
The average number of working holiday visas granted for New Zealanders by the British government each year was as high as about 5000 to 6000 from 2004 to 2007. It dropped to about 3500 thereafter up to 2012 due to the hit of financial crisis, according to the report of stuff.co.nz.
Jessica Jenkin and Louis Sammons have been in London for 16 months and eight months respectively holding a two-year visa. Both of them believe that doing an OE helps the majority of the young learn to be more independent and it is a big trip for them to get to the other side of the world.
With the rich beauty of nature in New Zealand, many working holiday makers love to go to New Zealand; A lot of New Zealanders go to the UK for their OE at the same time.
Mr Sammons said he would agree with that stereotype. “Kiwis love to drink and they do tend to stick together quite a lot in London. I am living with two English people but I plan to move in with some Kiwis for my second year.”
Ms Jenkin has met a lot of kiwis in London as well. She said it was important for people sharing a similar background and feel the same way to meet up, especially when she got homesick. She chats with her kiwi friends twice or three times a month.
She is the only New Zealander in her office so she also socializes with English people. Spending time with English and getting to know their cultures are also essential for her. Without the language barrier, she also found her partner who is an English.
She is working in an office as a sales coordinator and mostly responsible for sales and administrative work. Mr Sammons is working at a high school coaching rugby.
Dr Wilson said the job varies a lot for kiwis doing working holiday in London. This is different from the stereotyped “farm or factory work” for many of the Hong Kong working holiday makers.
She said that the many employment and social support and specialized travel services in Britain for New Zealand working holidaymakers that emerged in the UK were attractions. It also helped that New Zealand qualifications are recognised in the UK.
The New Zealanders going to London for an OE is a phenomenon with a history of about 40 years. In Hong Kong, it has established for about 15 years. Whether it would develop its own type of stereotyped working holiday like in New Zealand is still a question.
Ms Jenkin also goes on a Europe trip and drinks with Kiwi friends as stereotyped.