Fresh grads' salaries up 9.5% to $14,685

And they landed a job within three months post graduation.

Nearly all of Hong Kong’s most recent batch of university graduates (89%) found a job within three months of leaving school, and the majority of them (76%) are satisfied with their position, according to the latest jobsDB Survey on the Employment Status of Hong Kong’s Tertiary Students 2016.

The survey canvassed the opinion of 757 local graduates and undergraduates from various disciplines. It revealed that fresh graduates are getting an average monthly salary of HK$14,685 in their first job, which is higher than 2015’s HK$13,413.

According to the jobsDB student survey, 7% of undergraduates are planning to take a working holiday rather than go directly to work after they graduate, compared to 2% in 2015. The percentage of students who intend to continue their studies remains steady at 12%.

The top three job industries for undergraduates to target when they do leave school are accounting (20%), advertising/PR/marketing services (11%) and the civil service (10%). This year, over twice as many respondents (41%) want to stay in their first job for more than three years, compared with just 20% last year, which may indicate a preference for stability amidst economic uncertainty. In particular, over a quarter (27%) would like to stay between three to five years.

Students value salary and benefits most (27%) when choosing jobs, followed by room to develop their interests (15%), company environment, culture and reputation (11%), job security and stability (11%), career development and on-the-job training (10%). A lot of them (56%) expect a monthly salary of more than HK$14K, compared to 41% in 2015.