Posted on 30/03/2026 by
As Director of Charlotte Frank, I’ve spent many years guiding graduates, experienced business support professionals, employers, and institutions on navigating Hong Kong’s evolving job market.
At Charlotte Frank we know from experience, that whilst many of our candidates' aim is to build a long term, highly successful careers in roles as Executive Assistants or Office Managers while for others, business support positions can serve as stepping-stone roles into broader corporate functions (HR, operations, project coordination, etc.).
Whilst Hong Kong’s overall unemployment rate in late 2025 was a stable 3.8%. Unemployment for those aged 20–24 reached 12.3% in late 2025, the second-highest level since records began in 1985. With approximately 17,500 young people in this age group unemployed during this period.
This coincides with data from the Joint Institution Job Information System (JIJIS) highlighting a dramatic decline in graduate job vacancies. With the 2025 figure of 30,798, being the lowest number of open graduate job vacancies in at least five years. Even below that at the height of the pandemic in 2021 with 63,543 open graduate job vacancies.
For graduates therefore not progressing through the traditional graduate programmes. We have seen a noted increase in business support roles becoming one of the most transient routes for them into corporate organisations. This has created significant changes for the business support sector, creating one of the most dynamic talent pools in the market.
With positions such as Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants, Office Managers and Admin specialists powering organisational effectiveness and directly influencing workplace productivity. Our clients understand that that hiring the right Business Support professionals, is more important now than ever.
We have therefore seen our focus as true consultants to both our candidates and our clients. From advising graduates on how to position themselves for corporate environments, whilst also encouraging our clients to re-think their ‘go to market strategy’. By focussing on more defined career paths, such as progression from EA to Office Manager to make roles more attractive across this dynamic talent pool, also enabling them to retain their top performers.
If you would like to discuss about the current market please reach out to the team and they'd be happy to have a discussion with you.