Careers: What it's like to work for ... Ocean Park

<p>Who's the boss? </p><p>Paul Pei, sales and marketing director, Ocean Park. </p><p>How many staff? </p><p>There are six in marketing. </p><p>Marketing responsibilities? </p><p>Strategic marketing planning and programme development, annual budgeting, all above- and below-the-line advertising and promotion, online marketing and relationship marketing. </p><p>Who's the competition? </p><p>In a broader sense, competition for the local market includes all entertainment facilities targeted at families with kids or teens. For the overseas tourist market, however, the park competes against other local tourist attractions. </p><p>In the face of the competition from other theme parks in Southern China, Ocean Park has a very definite identity and competitive advantage linked with its sea life and animal offerings, education and conservation programmes, and, moving forward, these are likely to be central to its competitive positioning. </p><p>How do you get a job there? </p><p>Ocean Park advertises to its staff, also through newspaper and via the Ocean Park website. </p><p>Department or office transfers? </p><p>Yes, it's possible. </p><p>Any training offered? </p><p>Our human resources department provides regular training courses, including leadership training courses such as 'Moving your organisation forward - defining your team's contribution', and 'Gaining commitment to present goals'. It opts for external courses if in-house training is not available, for example, courses in marketing strategy and copy-writing. </p><p>Pay and perks? </p><p>Good, and it's actually quite fun working at Ocean Park as it allows people to create different entertainment ideas for different people. Brain-storming sessions are fun as staff can come up with all sorts of ideas, some of which can be realised and others which can't. Marketing staff also need to be on duty one weekend every two months, pretending to be a guest at the park. The person can bring along the family to find things that the park can improve on from a guest's perspective. Direct family members also get a free pass to the park. </p><p>Long hours? </p><p>Around 10 hours per day. </p><p>Business travel? </p><p>Mostly in Southeast Asia to key markets like China, Taiwan, Singapore, and annual industry trade show IAAPA in the US. </p>