HK Job Market -Pulse check

[johnikx]

Hi there, I am relocating to HK in a few months and wanted to get a pulse check on the HK job market (insurance in particular).

* I am an overseas born and raised Chinese.
* I can speak enough Cantonese to get by and have a basic level of reading.
* My Mandarin is also very basic.
* I have 4.5 years commerical pricing experience in insurance which involves managing the P&L for a large motor insurance book. I also have underwriting experience.
* I have MSc in info management and BA in accounting (no professional qualifcations).
* In total I have 6 years post university work experience.
* I have a HK ID card.

Just wanted to get an idea on the average length of time it will take for me to find a job and whether there are any companies out there who would employ someone under my circumstances.

I have been applying for HK jobs from overseas but no luck. Is this a sign of things to come or are employers simply not looking for people who apply from abroad.

Thanks
John

[Claire ex-ax]

Employers will often toss overseas candidates' resumes straight on the "no" pile. Your lack of Chinese language skills may go against you. Average time to find a job? Anywhere from a week to 18 months (although that's in general and from my friends' experience, not for the insurance business). Manulife is always looking for sales agents but you need to have plenty of friends and family here to buy the insurance, and after that source has been depleted...

[imparanoic]

i assume you can speak cantonese, you should have not much problems in find a job, anyway, not all jobs require reading or writing chinese, however, knowing how to is an advantage.

in regrads in insurance industry, underwriting experience is also an advantage.

what are you expecting in wage demands?

[achunghy6]

if you're looking into insurance companies, most likely they will be willing to take you up as they are always looking for people. Since u applied from overseas, they may not respond as most companies especially insurance companies (from my experience), prefer to give you a call to arrange interviews, rather than communicate over email.

although, as someone has mentioned, insurance industry is tough, u need to be able to get clients first, and usually it starts with family...since most insurance companies are looking for sales agents

[johnikx]

Thanks all. The positons I'm after are more pricing and underwriting based rather than sales which I have noticed there are more vacancies.

I've heard it is quite difficult in HK for someone to change jobs from one industry to another, is this true? The reason I ask is because my current role uses a broad spectrum of skills from SAS programming, MI reporting, budgeting/forecasting, policy wording review, financial modelling and business requirements gathering. Jack of all trades but master of none.

Not sure in terms of terms of wage demands and I have looked around the major recruitment market reports. Given my current experience, am I pricing myself out of the market by quoting wages of HK$20-25k a month?

Thanks for all the responses so far.

[imparanoic]

Thanks all. The positons I'm after are more pricing and underwriting based rather than sales which I have noticed there are more vacancies.

I've heard it is quite difficult in HK for someone to change jobs from one industry to another, is this true? The reason I ask is because my current role uses a broad spectrum of skills from SAS programming, MI reporting, budgeting/forecasting, policy wording review, financial modelling and business requirements gathering. Jack of all trades but master of none.

Not sure in terms of terms of wage demands and I have looked around the major recruitment market reports. Given my current experience, am I pricing myself out of the market by quoting wages of HK$20-25k a month?

Thanks for all the responses so far.

your wage demands is very reasonable, maybe you should come to hk and try your luck.

[all2009]

Job market still suck. But with your experience, I think you stand a pretty good chance. Your 20k to 25k expectation is very reasonable I think.

I would say try to prepare a few versions of resume, given your broad experience. One specifically for the insurance industry, one focus on financial analyst type of jobs, and final one on business development type of jobs..

If you're not too picky, you should be able to get something within 6 months.

[johnikx]

Thanks imparanoic and all2009.

I'll give it a go.