[rb1234]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help. I am looking to move from London to Hong Kong to continue working in IT in the finance industry.

Can someone please give me an indication as to what if any adjustment I need to apply to my current salary to give me a figure of what could be realised in HK ? Is it realistic to expect the same kind of renumeration as London or does it need to be adjusted up/down ? If so, what would be a realistic adjustment ?

What other things should I try and negotiate as part of a job offer ? I believe all the jobs I am looking at are 'local hire' rather than 'expat'. Should I expect some sort of housing allowance ? Is this more beneficial in terms of tax rather than paying rent directly out of your salary ?

Also, if anyone has references to good websites with this sort of data ?

Thanks in advance
RB

[larac]

Even if they dont offer you an actual housing allowance make allowances for one in your contract so they will let you submit your own leasing paperwork to then so you can claim some of your accomodaation costs tax free. Check out some of the other threads as these things have all been discussed quite recently.

[PhilE]

I started looking for IT work here recently (ex-Big 4 SAP consultant, not Finance sector tho) and its hard to generalise. My impression so far is that if you have good connections into a MNC then you may just achieve parity with a local package, but otherwise you will be looking at 10-20% less than in London and in some cases (perhaps if you are more junior, or your skills more generic) significantly less than that. As an example it seems an experienced SAP consultant makes about 400-500k HKD per annum here - which is equivalent (after tax equalisation) to about 40 - 50,000 GBP, which can be bettered in London.

Take a look at jobsdb.com, classifiedpost.com and monster.com.hk to get an idea for your sector - some of these have salary survey data on them too.

[jimbo]

Agreed with Phil on this one, I'm ex big 4 too from London and touched upon SAP before I left.

Small world!

[rb1234]

From my conversations far with recruitment agents, it does seem that they are trying to get me to lower my expectations. I just wanted to be sure that they were doing this because I had to and not so they could secure a job procurement for their commission.

Yes, I have been quoted a 20% drop from London salaries too from the agent I spoke too. With this 20% drop and considering the change in Cost of Living and the tax levels, do you think you end up 'better' or 'worse' off than doing the same job in the UK for the extra 20% ? ie, would you be saving more (in Sterling) in UK or HK ?

Also, I would be interested to know more about the leasing paperwork for housing. I had a quick skim of the forums but could not find anything. Anyone have a link to the most relevant thread/website ?

Thanks much in advance,
RB

[PhilE]

I don't think there's a simple answer to that - read some of the threads talking about expats surving (having a good time) on 10k HKD/ month after rent. I think most people would say you will have a comparable level of living here - you'll save a bit on tech purchases (no VAT), local transport is extremely cheap, but alcohol and going out seem expensive (but is not probably much more than central London). You may also have higher rent costs (or have to settle for less floorspace) if you choose to live in the centre - but the same would be true if you chose to live in Chelsea or Kensington.

From personal experience I would say you would be better off - not because of more money stashed in the bank - you might not be able to save as much money as you do in London. But if you're new to Asia, you'll travel to some amazing places, meet some great people and get to live in one of the world's great cities.

[ZunZhine]

Hi there,

I have the same concern as RB1234 about employment agent asking us to lower down our expectation. Even the entire process it appeared that they are overly worried about whether we secure the job or not and that sometimes create a sense of discomfort. So when they ask us to lower the expectation- is it because they are of the impression that we should in order to be in line with the market or as what RB1234 mentioned, just to close the deal and earn commission? if the latter, in the long run the expat will be on the losing end as commission is just one off for the agent, but the short fall of the expat will be a year or two. Such dilemma.

For employment agent reading out there- no offence Just a 5 cents worth of my mind and concern. As we both have different objectives sometimes uncertainties like these do occur, but most important to understand the scenario and resolve the matter. Can anyone offer some comment on this matter? Thanks a million again.

[freeier]

quote:
"in the long run the expat will be on the losing end as commission is just one off for the agent, but the short fall of the expat will be a year or two"

so you are doing the long run thingy or the 1 year or 2 thingy ?
that's quite conflicting message you are giving

[ZunZhine]

Hi there,

what I mean is... say the agent advised the expat to lower down expectation by HKD5,000- the agent will be losing out that amount (assuming she/ he is taking a commission equivalent to 1 month salary of the expat). But for the expat, he/she will lose out a lot in long run. Even considering a period of 1-2 years in HK, the expat will lose out HKD5,000X24 months! that's a considerable sum of money.

Maybe I am wrong- it's not fair to judge that way it's like making assumptions. On another hand the agent could be doing so as a good deed/ intention to help expat to secure the job. Sorry Don't mean to offend anyone cheers

[ZunZhine]

Hi there,

what I mean is... say the agent advised the expat to lower down expectation by HKD5,000- the agent will be losing out that amount (assuming she/ he is taking a commission equivalent to 1 month salary of the expat). But for the expat, he/she will lose out a lot in long run. Even considering a period of 1-2 years in HK, the expat will lose out HKD5,000X24 months! that's a considerable sum of money.

Maybe I am wrong- it's not fair to judge that way it's like making assumptions. On another hand the agent could be doing so as a good deed/ intention to help expat to secure the job. Sorry Don't mean to offend anyone cheers