Posted by
chinart
16 yrs ago
I am a Big 4 qualified accountant from the UK with a strong educational background. I moved to HK just over a year ago during the GFC and was fortunate to get a management role in management reporting at a top HK company fairly painlessly. I am looking for a change as I am not happy with the corporate culture and do not see a future with my present employer.
I have contacted head hunters, sent off multiple applications via job websites and have tried to network as much a possible but am getting nowhere.
I would like to break in to banking and am interested in analyst/associate roles. Do I have any chance? Banks don't appear to advertise for their more junior/mid level roles, how do I go about approaching them?
Should I just give up and head back to the UK as I am starting to feel that getting my first job was a total fluke and I'll never get another.....
Any advice, encouragement, constructive criticism would be hugely appreciated.
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How about being patient at the moment, continue searching for a new post while holding on to your current job? If no new job, and current position becomes untenable, then maybe it's time to go back to your comfort zone in the UK.
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Given the challenges an employer has when wanting to get a work visa for a non-local I would hesitate to say that you were a bit lucky the first time. Whatever the position in most cases a prospective employer still needs to be able to convince Immigration that you would be filling a position that cannot reasonably be filled by a local - eg you have a special set of skills that are not generally available. But don't give up yet. Try approaching your employer of choice direct and sell to them the benefits of emplying you as opposed to anyone else. Good luck.
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are you more on the accounting side (i.e. product control in a bank) or the MI analytics side (i.e. business analysis)?
i suggest check efinancialcareers.com and look for business management, business analysis, analyst, MI, management reporting, performance management
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How old are you? Investment banks generally won't hire you for an analyst position if you're too old.
Do you have an MBA? Since you're background is in accounting and not banking, you're going to need an MBA for banks to hire you as an associate.
Do you speak Mandarin? If you don't speak Mandarin, your options are probably limited to Sales & Trading as far as HK banks go.
My advice is, if you don't have an MBA, go get one (probably need to be from LSE, LBS, Oxbridge, INSEAD, or a T1 U.S. school to break into banking) and then apply to associate positions at banks.
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Visas are generally not a problem (if ever) with the big i-banks in HK. I would just keep looking and making sure you keep in regular contact with the agents. Agree that e-financial careers is a good website. Don't agree however that you need to speak Mandarin or any chinese for that matter (just don't work for a local bank, not that you would given your experience in a local firm already or go for a China facing role). There are plenty of jobs in banking where you won't need to speak anything other than English (I for one and most of my colleagues). Your accounting background is fine, just focus on your strengths and find positions to match. As for the analyst/associate positions, depends on how many years experience you have but you won't need an MBA unless you're really looking to specialise or change careers drastically (i.e engineering to finance).
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I am 29 years old. I worked at a Big 4 for 5 years and am now at a top MNC in HK doing management reporting. I am finding that the agents are not really interested in working with someone at my level, and all of them have said that I will struggle without Chinese language.
I have considered doing an MBA but 1) it is expensive, 2) I feel that I already have the skills required for a middle management role
defunct - Thank you for the encouragement. As I have only been in HK for a year and do not have many contacts in banking how do you suggest that I approach the banks in Hong Kong?
cookie09 - My experience in audit and ACA qualification means that I can do product control. However, my current role is more analytical and that is what I would like to pursue. Don't want to be a bean counter anymore!
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I find it hard to believe why you are not having any luck with the agents (but given some the unprofessional and unknowledgeable agents out there, perhaps not a surprise). Are you perhaps being too optimistic about what you want? There are plenty of product controller/financial controller roles out there. Analyst/Associate level jobs are the most advertised out there. Maybe not what you want but got to start somewhere. Actually, what sort of roles are you looking for?
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Oh yeah, and all the big banks have a formal recruiting processes for their analyst/associate roles. For examples, here is the info for Goldman Sachs:
http://www2.goldmansachs.com/careers/begin/index.html
For middle-market/regiona/smaller banks, they might not have a formal process, you'd probably have to call and talk to someone about their hiring.
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aero, i would not suggest that route for the analyst/product control/MI position that he is looking for. going through their website almost never yields anything
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hey! perhaps looking around at your contacts might be useful, esp since you are quite senior at what you do already.
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I don't know about product control or MI, but I've heard from many that the banks in HK rely heavily on their website for recruiting analysts. True, in the U.S., nobody looks at their website for hiring, but outside the U.S., I think it's different.
Sorry if that's incorrect, but everythign I've read and heard has said that.
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Hi, I'm a qualified accountant from Canada as well, and would like to follow up on how your job search went after the last posting. Hope all is well!
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