Fresh Graduate looking for Job Opportunities in HK

[GirlGeek]

Good evening everyone!

I am a 24 year old graduate from a top tier school in the US. I am planning to come to Hong Kong and am looking for job opportunities in the Finance Industry. Until now, all the job vacancies that I have looked at require Spoken Mandarin or Cantonese as an eligibility criteria. Being a foreign national, I am not able to apply to such opportunities. Do all the jobs in HK now require to be able to speak the Mandarin or Cantonese?

Also it would be very grateful if you could let me know if there is any financial opportunity that you know of that doesn't have stringent language restrictions.

Thank you.

[littlemermaid]

Mandarin or Cantonese is not a must. Most expats here don't speak any Mandarin or Cantonese. But you need to show employers (and eventually the immigration dept for the work visa) that you have qualities that cannot be replaced by locals.

[jimbo]

Seconded **’s comments

Without any relevant experience it’s difficult bordering on impossible.

Get experience in the U.S
Learn Mandarin and or Cantonese you’ll need as you’ll be starting at a junior level thus dealing with locals and or overseas clients directly.

Failing that Nepotism works wonders in this town.

[rs4]

Mandarin or Cantonese is not a must. Most expats here don't speak any Mandarin or Cantonese. But you need to show employers (and eventually the immigration dept for the work visa) that you have qualities that cannot be replaced by locals.

True but most expats ain't fresh grads

[jimbo]

Mandarin or Cantonese is not a must. Most expats here don't speak any Mandarin or Cantonese. But you need to show employers (and eventually the immigration dept for the work visa) that you have qualities that cannot be replaced by locals.

Expats are usually brought in for management positions.
They’ll have junior staff to deal with the locals etc.

[littlemermaid]

That's exactly my point.

OP: language is not the main problem here. The problem is how do you convince employers/immigration that as a fresh grad, you have qualities that cannot be replaced by locals.

True but most expats ain't fresh grads

[biffski]

An alternative is to find a startup that needs your particular skills or relationships. Another alternative is to partner with locals or other expats or recent graduates and create your own start up, with or without capital. There are still funds available for new companies. Remember that at that point you are under the tutelage and sometimes strong control of the investors. Immigration will provide a Visa under the recently established program.

[shri]

Original Post Deleted

A random niche that I've seen has been in wealth management. Banks seem to think that recruiting "ethnic" candidates helps them promote their services within niches. e.g. DBS / OCBC have no problems hiring Indian grads out of HKU into their wealth managemnt units - initially as interns and then gradually slipping them into GEP visas. There are similar niches across the board.. but hard to find and seems like recruitment is done locally within the graduate pool.

And then there was that post from some Londoner who thought he got better service from a "proper british lad" at an IFA.