Becoming One of Us

AO Stories


Koronis Leung

quotation marks
I wanted to be an AO, so that I can gain wide exposure and grow as a professional.
Qualifications
  • B.A. (UCLA) Anthropology (2017)
Date of joining
September 2017
Recent Postings
  • Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau
  • Tuen Mun District Office

My AO Story

To begin my AO story, I will have to travel back to the autumn days of 2016. I remember waking up from an 8-hour bus journey to San Francisco at dawn, walking through the empty streets to get to the venue and taking the Common Recruitment Examination and the Joint Recruitment Examination. At that time, all I heard about being an AO was how hard the recruitment process would be, holding back many from applying for the position. I did not really know what journey would lie ahead, but I did know it is an opportunity that I would not want to miss.

Fast forward to September 2017, I was first posted to the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau. I was involved in different projects and seminars to promote the Constitution and the Basic Law. On top of that, my team also organised several large-scale celebration activities and delegations to the Mainland. It was an intense but rewarding experience, as we worked closely with counterparts both within and outside the Government to deliver various projects under tight deadlines.

I was then posted to the Tuen Mun District Office as Assistant District Officer in December 2019. It was a very different experience from my previous posting, for I could serve the public directly in the district. We listened to voices from different walks of lives, devised strategies and solved longstanding problems in the community. Working in the district office, I find that there are no problems too big or too small, and I find joy in helping to make our community a better place.

Why did I want to be an AO?
Koronis
I love being exposed to new tasks and constantly challenging myself. I have come to believe that an enjoyable job should be one that would enable me to learn new things continuously. As an AO, we will be rotating to a new position every now and then, and acquiring experience in different areas of public administration. I wanted to be an AO, so that I can gain wide exposure and grow as a professional.
What is my most memorable experience in the AO Grade so far?
Koronis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the district offices put all our efforts into the Universal Community Testing Programme. To ensure the smooth implementation of the Programme, we see retired and serving civil servants and medical professionals joining hands together and working day and night to operate the community testing centres. I was working at a community testing centre in Tuen Mun at the time. On the last day of operation, I recalled one of our centre staff who was a retired civil servant came up and wholeheartedly thanked me for giving him an opportunity to participate in this Programme and serve the community. His energetic spirit and commitment to serve will forever be ingrained in my heart. It also made me understand that the success of the Programme is not one man’s effort, but individual commitment to a group effort.

Any tips for potential applicants for the AO post?
Koronis

Be yourself and be confident. Be well versed with local and global issues. Go ahead and give this job a try, you never know if this will be the start of a meaningful journey.