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Moving to HK without a job first?

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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by jddouglas:
    I am a UK national in my late twenties, currently working in London but planning to move to Hong Kong. I have 4 years experience working in IT consultancy. I work for a global company, but there does not seem to be a possibility for me to transfer internally any time soon. I have had minimal luck with applications made for HK roles over the last 7 months while I've been working in the UK (believe my remote location situation may be screening me out of some immediately).
    If I were to resign from my UK job and turn up at a HK airport in a month's time, how likely would I be to find a comparable role within 3 months?
    Without going in to specifics of my exact skills, experience and desired salary, some pointers from experienced expats on the following would be highly valued:

    1. For someone requiring visa sponsorship, what is the likelihood is of finding a role in a professional occupation in HK within 3 months?
    2. Is it commonly achievable to do so without making a trade-off on living standards?
    3. Any advice for me to de-risk this move in general?
    I assume they know your situation? How valuable are you to them. I was in a similar situation (minus the gf) and basically told them I was leaving the company to seek a position in HK and they managed to find me a position in the HK office in order to keep me within the organisation.

    There may be some hurdles regards the visa depending on the job role, my industry is fairly niche within the financial sector.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    How much cash do you have to burn?

    Are you a go getter and easily adaptable to situations. Be honest with yourself as it's your money. Of course you can find a job and get an offer within 3 months, add another 4-6 weeks for the visa provided you have a proper university degree. (Won't go into the details for the exception cases)

    Applying as a local without the network, you'll take a hit on salary. Once you get a job and understand the market you can move up later. Every person is different and has different results. But it can be done. If you want a decent apartment then you're going to have to use some savings to support this move. Otherwise you're stuck in a small 200 sq ft studio. Most people live in 2 bed 350-450 sq ft homes. The thoughts of flying over here and living the high paid expat in Stanley isn't going to happen.

    222mf likes this.

  3. #13

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    Nov 2016
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    For anyome concerned with the accommodation reimbursement arrangement my understanding is that minimised means minimal until I'm employed and lower than what it would be if I were living alone after that. Which thankfully puts me in a better position than many might face. It's all hypothetical atm so I will have to check with her on that one ...

    Good advice on networking. I had gathered that was key and one of my concerns is that my network is quite sparse in HK so appreciate would need to put myself out there a bit more consciously.

    I might be wrong but HK strikes me as having a bit more of a communal culture than London which I find can be a bit more isolated.

    Id also thought about starting a business but that may be a step too far atm.

    Last edited by 222mf; 09-11-2016 at 04:48 AM.

  4. #14

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    Nov 2016
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    Re current company and skill/experience situation I work for a large company at the moment who does have a presence in HK. I enjoy working at the company and whilst I assume I'm valued apparently I'm not valued enough to be able to break through the lengthy process of securing a role and completing the process before the role is filled. Transfers are uncommon I believe partly due to that and also leading me to believe HK has sufficient local skill to employ from.

    In terms of my skill set it is nothing that a HK national couldn't do but I was hoping was at least in a in-demand enough area to get my foot in the door for an interview.

    As a couple of responders asked for detail my background is in systems analysis and design as well as some software development predominantly on customer facing banking applications, namely internet and mobile banking. My bachelor's is in Management and I have an MSc in Information Systems Management.

    I've seen quite a few roles advertised in Project Management which I was looking to target.

    I've made multiple (20+) applications to related roles in HK from London but feel quite despondent as I've had no response that's lead to an interview.

    With that in mind, based on the original question, in percentage terms by moving to HK looking for work am I likely to increase my success rate from 0% or, am I barking up the wrong tree if I want to have a hope of getting a sponsored visa to work in a comparable role (i.e. Am I better instead spending my time focussing on being more specialist in a particular skill set)? Perhaps a combination?

    Appreciate everyone's experience/interpretation is different but your thoughts are valuable in giving me a better understanding of something I feel I know little about.

    Also, I'm well impressed by the liveliness of this forum. It's so far provided probably the most insight I've ever managed to gather on this topic.

    Fiona in HKG likes this.

  5. #15

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    Dec 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by 222mf:
    Transfers are uncommon I believe partly due to that and also leading me to believe HK has sufficient local skill to employ from.
    Which will make getting sponsored a tall order, unless you have a niche skill set not commonly found here.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    Markets pretty dead right now and probably won't pick up till after Chinese New Year.

    As others have said you have a lot of competition with the locals so you need to bring something else to the table.

    Network your backside off as in this town it's pretty much who you know not what you know.

    I know total idiots that got roles as IT Managers only on the back of who they know, One manager I worked under didn't even know how to change a password.

    222mf, Skyhook and Eli Chen like this.