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Digital Marketing in Hong Kong

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
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    66

    Digital Marketing in Hong Kong

    Hello Everyone,

    I'm a British Chinese bloke who's looking to relocate to Hong Kong. I have a Hong Kong ID with 3 stars (through my parents who were born in Hong Kong) and am extremely familiar with the territory as I've holidayed there a lot.

    I have about three years experience in Digital Marketing (specialising specifically in PPC and RTB for those who are familiar with the industry).

    Cantonese speaking but unable to read or write Chinese.

    Already started my job search through sending e-mails and applications directly to media agencies, and applying through Hong Kong based digital recruitment companies.

    Its tricky though - many of the jobs require you to be able to read and write Chinese. I had a call from a recruitment agency who said if companies were interested, I will eventually have to travel to Hong Kong for later stage interviews. This shouldn't be too much of a problem, but obviously there's the risk of spending loads on a plane ticket to go to an interview, only to find out you weren't successful later on.

    I guess I'm on here for further advice and potential networking opportunities. What else do people recommend in my search for a job? Does anyone already work in Digital Media in Hong Kong - can they offer any avenues into the industry?


    I have also considered switching careers to teaching English - although I have no teaching qualifications and this might look a bit odd on my CV if I suddenly changed career.


    Many thanks


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    7,441

    its going to be very difficult to get a job unless you have a number of years under your belt, hence why they are looking for fluent canto speakers, including reading and writing.

    why not work in london in your chosen profession and then in a few years move to hk? besides that you will most likely not get too far if you are located in uk and applying jobs directly. you need to be in hk.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
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    66

    Yeah I see that. I've only had three years experience and I'm only at executive level, but I'm not too far off from manager level with the experience I have.

    Ideally I'd like to experience working abroad in my mid twenties and before 30 or settled down with the kids. But at the same time, this makes it harder to find a job as I have less experience. Life is never easy! I'm sure a lot of people on this forum go through the same challenges.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    11,711

    send email for job applications while in UK is useless and not gonna help, they will throw it in the bin if they know you are in UK, you have to be here to apply for jobs unless you arrange an internal move with your company to HK


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    14,414

    Andy

    Are you on the fb bbc group?
    Think I recognize your post.

    I'm not near my PC at present, I'll dig around my linkedin contacts etc for people in the industry and I'll get back to you.


  6. #6

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    Jan 2014
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    66

    Yeah that would be me Jim, thanks for the help.

    One of my friends landed herself a recruitment job in Hong Kong without even needing to fly over there to do face to face interviews. It was all done through skype. She doesn't have a Hong Kong ID either and she can't speak cantonese or mandarin. She also only has three years experience just like me. And they're giving her a great relocation package - the company she's going to be working for is pretty small as well.

    I've asked her about it, but still not entirely sure how she managed that. I don't know whether it's because recruitment agents are in high demand there or not.


  7. #7

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    Oct 2005
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    14,414

    Check your private message Andy.


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    106

    This sounds very familiar to another thread: http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/forum/26/thread280390.html


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    66

    Have you looked at the startup scene here in HK. You can look to join one in a community management role or general social media marketing. They won't be able to pay much, if they can pay you at all but you don't have sponsorship to worry about so they could be an option if it's purely the experience you need.

    Also keep an eye out on linkedin jobs, efinancialcareers.com plus the myriad of local job boards. Not sure what your friend is doing but recruitment companies big and small quite often look for people to work with them, who have a degree in any field and less than 3 or 4 years experience in any field, to begin a career in research or trainee recruiter roles.

    The biggest problem in your field is it's a quite a cool and trendy area to be in, a lot of people are doing it hence competition is huge. As mentioned on the forums before, unless you have years of specialized experience or are lucky enough to be an internal transfer, your best bet for HK jobs is to be on the ground and to network.


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    2,495

    With a bit more experience, it shouldn't be that hard. We're recruiting a marketing manager at the moment (but an all round role), and the favoured candidate so far is BBC currently in the UK. We struggle to get decent applications from HK candidates. However, our language of business is almost entirely English, so reading and writing Cantonese isn't important.


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