[geestah]

Well I’ve been lurking on these forums for a few months now and have been getting some good advice on the job hunt in Hong Kong. But the job hunt itself has been driving me insane and I’m hoping someone out there in geoexpat land can help me out.

I’m looking for work within financial services preferably with an Ibank but am open to IM, PB, Hedge funds or PE firms. I’m a qualified chartered accountant with a little over 9 years international experience with the big 4s and in industry with financial services firms. My background and prior roles in industry were a mix of senior level MIS, financial control and project management. Admittedly I don’t speak Cantonese or Mandarin but given the roles I’m going for are regionally focused with the foreign banks that doesn’t seem to be the stumbling block.

With regard to the job hunt I’ve contacted all the major recruiters servicing the foreign banks whilst also networking and contacting people direct but to no avail. My background seems to get favourable nods from those I speak to. The recruiters are quick to call when I send them my resume and although they have nothing suitable at that time after interviewing me they're adamant something will come up. Networks have felt the same. Translating that into interviews, however, has been virtually impossible. I understand how competitive the market is in HK but given my background I’m really left at a loss as to why I can’t even get interviews. Even moreso given the amount of hiring activity this year.

Does anyone have any suggestions for alternative avenues for the job hunt? Or does anyone have any contacts or personal networks they can offer to help out the job hunt?

Any other help and advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks all.

[jimbo]

try a company called principle one in hk, they're recruiting a lot and will have something for you i'm sure.

[geestah]

Thanks Jimbo. I did a quick google search, is this the company your talking about?

http://www.principleone.net/

These guys appear to on the tech side which unfortunately is not where my back ground is.

[expat sam]

Are you looking for a role in your field/experience? With your experience I would have thought you should have no problems at least securing an interview. However, as the banks are near the bonus cycle you will find no-one is really hiring at this time of the year.

[freeier]

no one hiring is not true i think. ppl are hiring but not very aggressively because they know not many ppl are keen to move. but yet that makes a person willing to move quite attractive if there are immediate vacancies to fill.

i think end of the day, its the supply and demand issue. everyone wants a job in an IB. not many jobs there are. so u have to be absolutely convincing for them to want to talk to u.

[geestah]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

expat sam - I'm looking for work in my area of expertise - MIS and financial control. My background is in investment management and I'm looking for similar roles in IB, IM, PB PE or the hedge funds. In addition to my industry background I've got big 4 experience and have a broad exposure to the debt and equity products. My skills (as I understand it and as banking networks have said) seem to be transferable to across the financial services industry, including the Ibanks.

The reaction I get from others is pretty much the same as yours - given my background they're really surprised I haven't gotten anything since I've been here let alone had interviews. Yet when it comes to the crunch these guys (recruiters and networks) are unable to find anything for me mainly due to the long list of arbitrary requirements the hirers have.

As for the hiring slowing down. I agree, people are willing to hang on for an extra 3 or 4 months to secure their bonuses. That and coming up to year end head counts tend to freeze in preparation for the 2007 budgets. So the roles at this time of year tend to be replacements which tend to be far less than in Q2.

feeier - it's just the frustration that everything seems to be done through the recruiters in this industry. I've even come across roles through networks and contacted the hiring managers directly. Regardless of saving them anywhere between $250 and $300,000 in recruiter fees these guys just don't want to deal with someone direct - fear of making a hiring mistake, fear of being unable to make a proper assessment/ask the right questions??? But it's amazing that they'd say speak to the recruiters first when I'm in front of them now.

And the biggest frustration - regardless of how strong the candidate behind the resume is, getting the recruiters to take a more dynamic approach to feeding candidates to clients is a task in itself. I'd like to think my presentation skills are quite strong - it's been part and parcel of my career. But rather than using their supposed "HR expertise" to educate clients as to the types of candidates out there to provide a value add service they seem quite happy to play the process oriented data base of candidates approach only sending off the exact perfect match. It seems the best on a piece of paper for today seems to get the interviews rather than the potentialy better long term solution.

Anyway, thanks again.

[JonnyC]

What about the visa issue and how much do you expect to be paid? If they can get locals with similar skills for cheaper and no need for sponsorship that probably explains it

[freeier]

i think even a local in this job scope with that experience are probably paid near the same value that geestah is asking.

anyway geestah mentioned about papers. do u have issue with your qualification ? degree ? etc ?

[geestah]

The visa doesn't seem to be the issue. The roles I'm going for are at the more senior levels and the organisations I'm targeting are the foreign banks who are more open to sponsoring. I have kept the job hunt quite open with regard to salary levels and seniority and am happy to take step backwards if that means getting local experience (even though I have HK experience from the late 90's in addition to my other international experience). But this still doesn't cut it with regard to getting interviews. As Freeier says they're not positions where they're trying to fill the role as cheaply as possible.

As for my qualifications, there's no issues that I'm aware of. Qualified accountant with significant post qual experience. Undergrad degree from a well regarded university.

Oh well thanks for the opinions guys. Guess I'm just going to have to continue plugging away at it. I'm sure something suitable will come up soon it's just frustrating going through the process and waiting for the when.

[jimbo]

Could it be deemed as an age thing?

I'm seen as past it in some industries even though I'm only 34 and I'm being penalised because I'm at that age and not in a management capacity within the I.T sector.