Do I have a change to have a good career in Hong Kong

Hi everybody!


I come from Switzerland, I am actually 22 years old and I am studying in the UK!


I will be graduating of bachelor in economics and chinese in 1 year.


After that, I am planning to go to the London Business School to do a master in finance.


Supposing that everything works out smoothly as planned, do you reckon that I could get a good job (banking sector) in Hong Kong in order to start my career? Or would it be better for me to do a master at HKUST business school if I'm planing to work in HK?


Apart from that, I speak french, english, german and Chinese.


Thank you very much for your help!


Greetings


Stephane

Hi


It is certainly a possibility that you can work in HK but I strongly recommend applying to a graduate banking program in London that will let you come to HK, for example the HSBC graduate program will allow you to do graduate rotations to New York and Hong Kong whilst you get excellent training. After your two year graduate scheme is complete you will be much more valuable to the Hong Kong job market and will get a better paid job out here, your bank may even transfer you which is the best way to go financially (this is more likely to happen as you speak Chinese). HK is not the greatest place for on the job training and when looking to hire westerners, even mandarin speakers, they are more likely to need you if you have on the job experience as positions for westerners tend to be managerial not entry level. They also need to justify your work permit and that is a very hard thing to do for a new grad.

Going to HKUST over London Business school shouldn't make a difference, but your language ability will help you tremendously getting into the graduate banking schemes as long as your uni grades in economics are a 2:1 or higher. You need to apply for these positions early though don't leave it till you graduate.

One more thing if your economics uni grades are good you might get onto one of these schemes without a masters, get some job experience first and then take the masters in finance, obviously this is totally your choice but once I got into the job world I regretted doing my masters first as I would have tailored my masters to be more specific to the career that I ended up doing once I understood the banking world better.

I graduated from the UK did a masters at Imperial College London worked in London for three years in the banking sector and have now been living in HK for 7 years working for both banks and hedge funds.

Good Luck.

Dear KPClaire,


Thank you very much for your answer and useful advice!


The graduate program you are talking about since to be a very good Idea. The reason why I did not consider this alternative until now is because I will be receiving a scholarship (that I dont need to repay) till the age of 25, on condition that I am studying. Supposing that I would work after graduating of my bachelor, It would mean that I would be 25 or 26 when doing my master, and therefore would not receive the scholarship. Thus, I would lose 1 year of scholarship.


However, I might seriously consider the alternative to enrol a graduate program directly after my bachelor, and do a master later on, if this can increase my chances to find a good job in HK. Are you mentioning the HSBC graduate program for a specific reson? Is this program well known and recognized in the banking sector?


Apart from that, I think that I should take very seriously into account what you've said regarding the benefit of working before to do a master. It also seems to me that, if I work before to enrol a master, it will allow me to tailor my master much better!


Looking forward to your answer!


Greetings


Steph

Consider applying to several banks for summer internship - that way you get experience in Hongkong and a leg into the industry.

Both, Imperial College and London Business school are great names to have on your CV, so HKUST may not be necessary....

Good Luck

Dear Dcameron,


Thank you for your post.


I've actually applied for an internship in an NGO in China for this summer, but I'm starting to think I should instead have applied for an internships in some banks in London...


It's a bit too late to change my plans now that we're already in april :-s