eFinancialCareers

The job market in Hong Kong is no longer a horror story, but it’s not exactly a fairy tale either. In summary: hiring is stronger than six months ago, but still lacks scale; seniors beat juniors; vacancies are specialist; and staff seem stuck in job-specific silos.

Baby recovery takes its first steps

First up, some good news. Industry experts agree on at least two things: the recruitment market has improved since early 2009 and large-scale layoffs have ended. If you’ve just been retrenched, it was probably part of a standard annual cleanout of underperformers. As far as redundancies go, things are getting back to normal.

The prospects for employment seem positive too. The range of hirers has broadened significantly, so it’s not just the odd bank trying to find talent in turmoil. Most firms – from market leaders like J.P. Morgan to bailed-out banks like RBS – have recently eased their new-headcount freezes.

But while vacancy volumes are on the up, they are still far from hitting their 2007 highs. Hong Kong’s recruitment recovery remains in its infancy. Aside from boring back-to-mid-office perennials (compliance, risk and internal audit), not many job functions are pulling away from the pack.

Replacement roles outnumber growth hires, and banks are focused on getting senior professionals (VP and above) for specialist positions. Some recruiters think juniors will soon follow, but it’s a bit too early to say for sure. In the words of one HK hiring manager: “We need to bring revenue generators on board first before we start recruiting less experienced people to support them.”

Is this all leading to gridlock?

Because hiring isn’t yet happening en masse, banks can afford to be picky. They generally demand 100 per cent skill-set matches and prefer to poach from competitors at the expense of the unemployed.

Candidates aren’t exactly leaping over the line to change employers either, unless they’re going to the likes of Goldman Sachs. The fear of being canned during their probationary period is still haunting job seekers, despite the market pickup.

So the old (credit-crunch-induced) conundrum remains: firms are too fussy and candidates are too cautious. Throw in additional hiring hurdles – like continued head-office interference and a recent rise in counter offers – and it’s no wonder that sign-off is still slow and sticky.

But that’s not to say that some canny candidates can’t take advantage of the gridlock. In contrast to late 2008/early 2009, there are fewer opportunities for Hong Kong banks to scoop up staff on the cheap. If you’re in work and your skills are in demand, it’s not unrealistic to expect a 20 to 30 per cent pay increment from a new employer to help off set the risk of your move.

Career change in HK? Forget about it

One move you might not be making at the moment is to a different job sector. Career changes within financial services that would have been possible 18 months ago aren't an option in today’s tight labour market. Employers are still cost conscious and don't want to train up new recruits.

This is leaving employees stuck in job-specific silos from which there is no easy escape. Switching sectors is the hardest task. The path from insurance to banking, or from the sell side to the buy side, is a lot rockier than during the boom.

Even getting a closely related role – for example an internal auditor applying to compliance – is challenging in the current climate. So try a vertically move within your particular silo, rather than an unrealistic horizontal shift.

When will things start loosening up in Hong Kong (and across Asia)? When will banks start considering candidates who are less than perfect? Let us know below.