This paper reviews the job expectations of 200 IS professionals in Hong Kong, all of whom have entered the job market over the last 5 years with professional degree qualifications. The issues related to IS career development are explored in a worldwide context before they are specifically examined within the Hong Kong environment. A critical issue of concern for Hong Kong organizations is IS staff recruitment and retention. This is reflected by a growing commitment from Hong Kong tertiary institutes to develop academic programs which more closely support market needs.The paper describes the first part of a research model used and analyses the results within Hong Kong but also compares these with the findings from a number of other international studies. Finally, the implications for Hong Kong are discussed and extended into global concerns with respect to job expectations within multinational corporations and academic developments for a global IT society.Note: In this paper, IS professionals cover all those involved in the implementation of new business processes built around information technology. With respect to their academic qualifications this may be in IS, Computing or IT.
