SG
View from the bottom: my Hong Kong horror story
1 April 2009
In the second of her regular “View from the bottom” series, our columnist tells us about her trip to Hong Kong in search of work. The writer is a young Singaporean banker who worked on Wall Street and is now searching for a job in Asia.
I had been scheduled to interview for a position in Hong Kong as a replacement hire at an investment bank there. However, due to repeated conflicts with client meetings, my interview was rescheduled not once or twice, but three times.
Ultimately I had to fly back to Singapore without having the interview. Perhaps it was just an unfortunate series of events, but I thought the bank would have at least made an effort to meet me, given that I paid for my own flight and had a fixed departure date.
But alas, in this employer-led market, there is no shortage of candidates from which banks can cherry pick at their own convenience. They won’t be losing any sleep about not meeting me.
I did manage to see several headhunters in Hong Kong. While it came as no surprise that they are all being inundated with CVs from the US and Europe, I was shocked to discover that many foreign job-seekers are flying to Asia to meet headhunters, even before they have any interviews lined up.
Although a background in US or European financial services is sometimes valued in the Hong Kong job market, the recruiters also said that, more often than not, a lack of Asian work experience (or lack of fluency in Asian languages) is frowned upon. Having only worked on Wall Street - strike one against me!
Generally, the headhunters echoed the public sentiment that investment banks have both over-hired and over-compensated their staff. In fact, until very recently, the high pay and benefits on offer in Asia helped attract many senior US bankers to the region, resulting in less promotion opportunities in local offices. Some of these high-flyers also transferred in the hope that Asia would be a safer haven for their jobs and would be more insulated from the current crisis.
However, in reality, banking chief executives are based in New York, not Hong Kong, so their current priorities are with Wall Street. And their deputies in Asia are inclined to take a cautious, wait-and-see stance before embarking on any hiring plans here.
By contrast, I was told that some smaller institutions or regional banks - which are not so impacted by toxic securities on their books - are looking to expand their operations. This is especially true with respect to commercial banking or in-house M&A strategy teams.
Unfortunately on the investment banking front, with fewer deals in the market, hiring is concentrated on poaching senior relationship bankers, rather than juniors like me.
In fact, most headhunters reckon that Asia could suffer even more finance-sector layoffs. They might well be right. I have friends who were recently retrenched for the second time – that’s certainly disconcerting.
The business environment in Asia is fraught with 'quan xi ' and business deals mostly depend on who-knows-who and who has done what , past current and will do in the future. More so now-- with the 2008 financial debacle originating from Wall Street , I-Bankers are more the focus and 'dirty word' would- be employers like to trample on given the chance. The writer should be better armed in developing general , down-to- earth banking skills and return to add credibility to a much frowned upon but necessary industry. Go back to school on market psychology and concentrate on risks and controls. Good luck and be humble always
A Leong 21 Apr 2010
RECOMMEND
Recommended 0 times | Alert Moderator