i was in the same boat as you, late 20s looking to move to HK without right to live and work - tried coming for 2 weeks to tee-up interviews.
Waste of time, recruiters told me straight off that if i wasn't living here they wouldn't bother trying to get interviews for me. in the end i went home, told my boss to transfer me and managed to get here in the end that way - my role was changed to Regional Specialist in my field and I put a lot of detail into my visa app around the duties that I perform that could not be done by a local.
Depending on how close to Nov. 1st you apply for jobs, finding interviews MAY not be as big of an issue, as you would arrive in the few-several days it takes for them to contact you after applying. If you apply too far in advance however, it could be more difficult to make headway.
Getting in touch with Chamber of Commerce, Alumni, or any organizations related to your profession (or aspiring profession) could help if you want to have people looking out for jobs. These people have reason to be associated with you, and may be able to help if you want to try and get some interviews quicker without having any connections of your own. See also if your girlfriend/girlfriend's friends/family/family friends know of anyone who is/may be hiring in the near future. They may be able to set something up for you.
Given that you have 7 years experience in your field, I don't think that it would be too hard to be sponsored by the government once you find a job. Generally if you are a professional with a salary above 20,000HKD/month, and the experience to prove it, you're already pretty much in the door, you just need to give reasons (native English is a good one, or doing a job which demands working expressly with foreign clientele etc - you may have to write it up a bit) why you are preferable over hiring a local.
Good luck!!! I hope things work out
i don't think this factor does not really apply, i know a few overseas chinese who can speak cantonese and working in non teaching jobs, yes, some jobs in front line cs may require chinese reading and typing ( different from writing, many standards and a certain percentage of hk people can not type much or very fast), too local for expat is probably only predominately in teaching section where a western is simply a better sell for teaching english
thanks all for the reply. just an update, one one hand i'm working with my company to 'transfer' me, but on the other hand, I'm looking at jobsDB every day and sending resumes as often as I can. still no luck, but will continue trying.......