Sharing my experience in job hunting in HK

[AFCA]

Hello all,

I read many threads in this forum and I thought it might be a good idea to share my experiences in job hunting in HK, which I can definitely agree is not easy. My initial thought was that it should not be too difficult, as I have some advantages compared to many posters of this forum:

1. Although born overseas, I have a permanent HK ID, which saves companies the hassle of getting a working visa for me;
2. I speak fluent Cantonese, I can also read Chinese (writing needs some practice, as I don't write often);
3. I have a Msc degre and relevant working experience in banking and the financial sector (6 years).

Practically, I consider myself as a local, but a major flaw is that I don't have experience with Hong Kong corporates (in banking I dealt with EU and US companies). Another "short coming" is that I am currently located in Shanghai and therefore need to fly to HK for interviews (which I am happy to do if I am invited for interviews). Of course, the fact that I am in (corporate - front office) banking does not help, as the banking industry is laying off people. But on the other side, HK's banking market is huge!

Anyways, I use JobsDB to find opportunities and contact details of recruiters. Although I have (at least, I consider it myself) some advantages, 60% of the recruiters does not reply on my applications. Some call / email back that they will be looking, but I consider that as polite (so I don't expect they will come back to me). One or two recruiters have forwarded my resume, but so far not successful.

I just want to stress out that finding a job in current circumstances is quite tough. Of course, if you have any suggestions, feel free to share them. Some tips from my side:

1. Update your Linkedin and add the recruiters who bother to react on your applications.
2. Offer money to people who get to find you a job and I am not talking about recruiters, but also people who can refer you (I saw a post that someone offered HKD 50,000 to people who were able to find a job for him and he found one in two weeks).

Please share your thoughts, thanks.

[jimbo]

Jobsdb is not a good way of finding jobs especially in your industry, Use Linkedin and use specialist recruiters such as robert walters, Hudson etc and make use of your network.

Yes Banks are laying people off but look into some of the retail banks too, they're hiring and consider Singapore too since Standard Chartered are undergoing big expansion at the moment.

[AFCA]

Jobsdb is not a good way of finding jobs especially in your industry, Use Linkedin and use specialist recruiters such as robert walters, Hudson etc and make use of your network.

Yes Banks are laying people off but look into some of the retail banks too, they're hiring and consider Singapore too since Standard Chartered are undergoing big expansion at the moment.

Thanks for the advice Jimbo. For my understanding, what is in your opinion not good about JobsDB? Because I am able to find quite some job vacancies which match my profile and many contact details of recruiters.

Can you give me more specialist recruiters? I am now in contact with Michael Page, Reed Personnel and some other smaller firms. I will contact Hudson and Robert Walters as well.

[jimbo]

Jobsdb tend to have the lower end junior type of roles.
Go for specialist recruiters in the finance industry, Reed for example tend to be more admin type roles.

[UFG]

After a few months of jobhunting mostly from jobsdb, I now receive on average 1 spam call a day from hidden numbers asking if I needed help to clear my debt. What the deuce happened to the personal data ordinance law? I asked the guy on the phone how exactly did he get my contact details, and he rushed to apologize and hung up on me.

When I'm dead bored, I will buy 100 sim cards, and have each sim card apply 1 separate job posting, and whoever spam calls me, I'm gonna report that company to the police because too much is too much when recruiters sells your CV to a third party.

Oh and I have to agree with jimbo, specialist recruiters are an excellent way when it comes to your industry. Another great company is Robert Half but sadly there aren't many recruiters for my line of work (editorial).

[aliendavid1]

After a few months of jobhunting mostly from jobsdb, I now receive on average 1 spam call a day from hidden numbers asking if I needed help to clear my debt. What the deuce happened to the personal data ordinance law? I asked the guy on the phone how exactly did he get my contact details, and he rushed to apologize and hung up on me.

When I'm dead bored, I will buy 100 sim cards, and have each sim card apply 1 separate job posting, and whoever spam calls me, I'm gonna report that company to the police because too much is too much when recruiters sells your CV to a third party.

Oh and I have to agree with jimbo, specialist recruiters are an excellent way when it comes to your industry. Another great company is Robert Half but sadly there aren't many recruiters for my line of work (editorial).

Yea that will show them, spend hours/thousands to show the unscrupulous CV sellers who is boss. I'm guessing you we're applying for those senior management roles.

[UFG]

I was applying for junior roles under the media and advertisement section. And I was sort of just-saying-hoping-someone-would-take-up-my-idea-and-improve-it.

[AFCA]

Okay, I am in contact with:

- Michael Page
- Hudson
- Robert Walters
- Robert Half
- Reed Personnel

Am I missing other specialist Banking / Finance recruiters of Hong Kong? Thanks for the advice.

[Satay Sue]

You are aware that there are huge cuts going on at the moment and Daiwa alone sacked 100 people in Hong Kong this week? Not the best time to be looking for a job in finance/banking, no matter where you are in the world.

[AFCA]

True, even the bank I worked for laid off 20% of its work force. But if you check it out more specifically, at Corporate Banking and Front Office (where I worked before), almost no one is fired. Most of the times, it is the back and middle office who are hurt.