moving to hong kong for IBank opportunities?

Closed Thread
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    5

    moving to hong kong for IBank opportunities?

    Hi everyone,
    My name is Richard. I am an undergrad student in an above average university in America, who is about to graduate with double degrees in finance and economics in totally 3 years of study. I want to get in to Investment Banking. I am fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. I have good grades especially in major courses. my great drawback is i don't have any internship. I wonder if hong kong will be a better location for me to breaking into the field for following reasons.1) I'll have local advantage (i am kinda from hong kong, i have hong kong ID and passport although i've never really lived in hong kong). 2) My language skills will be more appreciated in Hong Kong. 3) hong kong is slightly less competitive comparing to wall street.
    what do you think? please give me some advice, any kinda of input will be appreciated. furthermore, people suggested me to get an internship in the summer before i graduate.i don't want to because then i can't graduate in 3 years. it will be 3.5 years instead. then again, i really like investment banking. can you give me a list of small investment banks in hong kong? i know the big ones.
    have a good weekend and a happy Martin Luther King holiday,
    Richard


  2. #2

    Perhaps you haven't heard about the massive lay offs taking place in the industry? I don't think HK would be any easier at all. Our team had three interns who did two summers with us, all top students from top schools, fluent Chinese + English. We weren't able to make able to hire any of them, and that was during the summer before things got worse. 10-20% of staff at most companies have been laid off in recent months, so no shortage of more experienced competition!
    Posted via Mobile Device


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    14,414

    yup agreed with the above poster.

    I'd suggest you take up an internship and network first and hopefully the market would pick up slightly by then.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    5

    i've heard of the mass laid off. but i've also heard people saying that new graduates are more attractive for employers, because we are very cheap to employ. anyways, i think the investment banking industry will be in weak demand for a while with current economic conditions. so i am thinking about getting a consulting job while waiting for industry to recover.
    it reminds me of an awesome video, check it out.
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROlDmux7Tk4"]YouTube - Damn It Feels Good to be Banker -- A Wall Street Musical[/ame]


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    1,561
    Quote Originally Posted by china10:
    Hi everyone,
    My name is Richard. I am an undergrad student in an above average university in America, who is about to graduate with double degrees in finance and economics in totally 3 years of study. I want to get in to Investment Banking. I am fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. I have good grades especially in major courses. my great drawback is i don't have any internship. I wonder if hong kong will be a better location for me to breaking into the field for following reasons.1) I'll have local advantage (i am kinda from hong kong, i have hong kong ID and passport although i've never really lived in hong kong). 2) My language skills will be more appreciated in Hong Kong. 3) hong kong is slightly less competitive comparing to wall street.
    what do you think? please give me some advice, any kinda of input will be appreciated. furthermore, people suggested me to get an internship in the summer before i graduate.i don't want to because then i can't graduate in 3 years. it will be 3.5 years instead. then again, i really like investment banking. can you give me a list of small investment banks in hong kong? i know the big ones.
    have a good weekend and a happy Martin Luther King holiday,
    Richard
    You should take a look at the other posts relating to fresh grads and i-banking jobs (there are a few recently and the advice applies to your situation). Banks have a very structured system for hiring new graduates. The application process takes months and begins online or with your university, in the fall of your senior year. If you miss deadlines, you have to wait until the next year rolls around and start the process then. It is very unusual for a bank to take on a first year analyst outside of this structure.

    You should definitely do an internship in the financial industry if you have the opportunity. The fact that you graduated in three years doesn't mean much (most people looking at your resume won't even notice), particularly if it was at the expense of rushing through and foregoing valuable training opportunities.

    As for your idea that HK is "less competitive", forget it. Wall Street takes on many, many more recent grads because it has the training structure in place. Job market is as bad here as NY at the moment also.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    20

    Hi,

    There are still a small number of financial jobs available to graduates in Hong Kong (I have just finished an MBA and my university publish them on a weekly basis) but the ratio of jobs to candidates is very slim! I agree that your educational background and language abilities may give you an advantage.

    The best thing that you can do is go to the recruitment websites of all the banks and search on jobs in the Asia Pacific region. Details of current roles in Hong Kong can often be found there. Where there are no roles available try speculatively emailing your CV to HR. It may also be a good idea to broaden your horizons beyond investment banks. A lot of consulting companies, for example, look for strong analytical skills and thus your background may be of use there. I also know that Bloomberg are recruiting so if you can be flexible there may be opportunities there.

    Maurice is totally correct, a lot of one year apprentices are not being offered contracts at the end of their work experience. However, the year of experience may help you to secure a further role elsewhere.