2012 US grad looking to move to HK for finance

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  1. #1

    2012 US grad looking to move to HK for finance

    Hey guys,

    I'm about to graduate in may 2012 from a school in the US that's top-30 rank-wise with a degree in international relations and economics. I'm looking to get into finance in HK. I've had internships at an investment bank in NYC doing wealth management and at a boutique firm in Shanghai raising capital for private equity funds. I am an ABC and speak Mandarin relatively well (prob 8/10) but reading/writing is still weak (5/10). I don't speak any cantonese. I wanted to do investment banking in HK but it seemed like they have high language requirements these days for entry-level analyst spots and only really take people who grew up in Asia. So I applied for institutional sales and had a bunch of interviews with the big banks but came away without an offer.

    I'm still looking to get into finance in HK. My options are 1. to move to HK after graduation and hopefully network around to get a job before the 3-month tourist visa ends, 2. get a masters of finance in HK to learn more about finance and buy some more time to look for a job, 3. spend 2 years in rural china teaching english in a peace-corps like program (which would position me well for business school and make me fluent in chinese), 4. move to shanghai/beijing to look for any job business or finance-related and improve my chinese for 2 years before trying again for HK

    At this point it seems like investment banking is out of the picture, but I'm still unsure of what I REALLY want to do so would be open to suggestions (consulting, management trainee programmes, business development, finance middle office jobs, etc.)

    Anyways, I was wondering if anyone could provide advice. Some concerns are: 1. crappy job market, 2. language skills (is being fluent in mandarin that necessary? I feel like even if I spent x number of years learning I still would not be able to translate as well as a tsinghua/HKU grad who grew up in china/HK), 3. positioning myself well for a top-tier business school in the US or INSEAD Singapore, 4. not being HK resident and needing a work visa, 5. paying off student loans (not a crushing amount but working in China with a RMB wage would make it difficult to pay off)

    Anyways sorry for the long post but I would appreciate it if anyone could provide some advice. I don't know anybody who's tried to move to HK as a fresh college grad; most friends I know in HK grew up and live there and others got transferred over by their companies. I really want to go directly to Asia after graduation and don't want to settle for a job in the US.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    1,561

    What are your prospects of getting a finance-related position in the US? If you aren't starting with an incoming analyst class (and those interviews are pretty much done with for this year) your chances of getting into banking in HK are slim (as you seem to know). If you can't start as an analyst here, it would be better to start as one somewhere else, improve your Mandarin with night classes or something, and then take a look at HK again in a year or two.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    768

    Hong Kong finance industry is facing large layoffs these days....


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    57

    Why not just get a finance job in the US and ask for relocation? I have a friend did just that and relocated to Singapore.

    Sent from my SGH-T989 using GeoClicks Mobile


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    36

    When I started 15 years ago, my company would still hire ABCs with decent spoken Mandarin, but not anymore. Fresh grads starting in finance here have to have fluent spoken and written Mandarin, with a huge preference for mainland Chinese who studied at too American universities. Without fluent Mandarin skills, you should try to start in the States or maybe Singapore. However, be warned that the finance sector is cutting staff in All over the world, including Asia. Good luck!


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Kent, England
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    6,728
    Quote Originally Posted by traderwu:
    Why not just get a finance job in the US and ask for relocation? I have a friend did just that and relocated to Singapore.

    Sent from my SGH-T989 using GeoClicks Mobile
    It definitely not as easy as that Your friend was lucky.