Pros
Good work-life balance. Most times you can head down to the bar/pub at 5-6pm, which is practically unheard of in Hong Kong. Decent compensation for fresh graduates, although the compensation fails to keep up with the market by the end of the 3-year program. When you first move to Hong Kong, rent-free accommodation is provided for you (although the cost of this is no doubt included in the calculation of your total compensation package). Good exposure to different industries and different business functions across those industries. One moment you might be doing marketing for a retailer, and another moment you might be helping to prepare financials for quarterly reporting in a car company. This is in contrast to many graduate programs which shoehorn you in specific function from the start, for example, a Finance Graduate Program or a Marketing Graduate Program. If you're a management trainee, you're exposed to senior management from day 1. Although, whether senior management are worth learning from, is another matter altogether.
Cons
First off, it baffles me how JM has 4 stars on Glassdoor. Knowing the HR team, they might have incentivized people to write reviews to game the rankings. As they say - don't believe everything you see on the internet. For some background, the founders of Jardine Matheson were engaged in the opium trade in the 19th century. This provided the initial pool of capital which was then spun into the legitimate businesses you see today. Who says that drug dealers only look like swarthy Mexicans? I don't need to tell you about JM's current businesses. Download the financial reports and see for yourself. They are mostly boring businesses that have obviously been chosen for wealth preservation rather than great wealth expansion. This is not a knock on the Keswicks - if you were the youngest one in the family, would you want to be the one to lose the family fortune? The biggest problem is that most JM's businesses are being disrupted in some form or another - brick & mortar retail, automotive dealership, hotels, etc. The senior management has made some earnest attempts to bring these businesses into the 21st century, for example, setting up digital transformation offices, bringing in a Chief Digital Officer, and creating an "Innovate Jardines" office. However, this is a case of having the will, but not the skill. It doesn't take a genius to see that no self-respecting technology expert would work for Jardines. The company doesn't offer the same amount of brand recognition, pay, work environment, or interesting projects that the American FAANG can offer (the Brits would never admit it, but deep down they know that the Yanks outclass them on practically every measure). What Jardines has had to settle for is former consultants, who are good with diagrams, frameworks, and Powerpoint, but lack the deep technical skill, vision, and personal charisma to bring about true change. I've seen senior management express an earnest interest in digital transformation, but unfortunately, they are simply too old and lack the mental flexibility to truly gain an understanding of the technological changes sweeping the world. Most have a background in financial, law, and other traditional disciplines. No doubt, smart and capable people for their generation, but past their use-by date. Anyone who has attended one of the Jardine "Strategic Direction" days would be able to tell you that whatever is being presented, is NOT a proper strategy by any measure. Final thoughts - I think that JM should be able to trundle along for the foreseeable future. Not a top company, but not in the gutter either. As long as the businesses don't collapse, you can cruise with minimal/moderate work and get that sweet moolah in your bank account. They have existed since 1832, so maybe there's something to be said for their survivability. Regardless, we all know that guy who was healthy on Monday and then dead of a heart attack on Wednesday, the result of years of neglect and bad habits. Let's just hope that you're not working for JM the day that happens.
