Employment focus

[Ajay4hk]

Hello Everybody,
I'm a recent graduate with a Bachelors in Management from Rutgers in New Jersey. I started out in Hong Kong where I finished my Secondary and some college. I decided to return back to look for employment here as I plan to move eventually towards finance with an International focus. Having worked in the US for a year in telecom sales, and some minor experience in India.. I'm going for the whole 1st/2nd/3rd world experience. I have a very rudimentary command of cantonese and mandarin, but am willing to put the time in to learn. I have a few questions that I would be truly greatful if someone could shed some light on these topics. I do plan on following through with my Master's within 2 years after I attain some solid work experience. I was born in HK so the visa issue is not a problem.

1) How important is knowledge of Cantonese vs. Mandarin both in terms of day-to-day working life and long term prospects.
2) What are some professional associations and institutions that would prove helpful?
3) What are some other possible ways to begin networking, aside from current contacts?
4) Are headhunters any help in finding entry level positions?
5) What would you say would be the niche positions within finance over the next few years?
6) Are there any other intricacies or substantial differences in interviewing here? Any different protocol, ettiquette?
7) Does my streamlined one page American resume need some tweaks?

Again, thank you very much in advance for your time and consideration.. I'd appreciate any advice put forth.

[KnowItAll]

An entry level job will need cantonese skills for sure. Longer term there is a lot of hope for Mandarin speakers.

2 and 3 depends on your area of expertise and your location. Networking remotely is err .. not feasible.

4) No clue .. try jobsdb and some of the other online sites to see which head hunters are advertising in your area and drop them a line to see if they do any entry level work.

7) I personally don't like one page resumes, they go well with the american desire to condense every thing (something to do with short attention spans?). If you have something that is relevant, put it on the resume, don't be too hard on yourself to make it a one page job.

[Ajay4hk]

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'm going to be back in HK by the end of the month, and current prospects look good. Also expanding the resume as you suggested - something that was predominantly frowned upon stateside..

Best,

Ajay

[KnowItAll]

>> something that was predominantly frowned upon stateside..

Nah ... be willing to break the mould. My first resume was 2 pages. None of the employers or student advisors thought it was too strange as it was relevant.