American-Born Chinese, bilingual, looking for IBD job in Asia difficulty?
Basically, I am a rising senior from a target state school for accounting and have had a study abroad semester in Tsinghua University. I can native in English and close to native in chinese with the exception of a few professional jargon. I can't read or write chinese, however. I was wondering if getting an investment banking position in Asia(HK, Beijing, Shanghai) would be easier for someone in my shoes and the best way to go about getting an interview or offer.
I have made it past second rounds at banks in the US but have had no luck getting past them.
bump
HK banks would be friendlier perhaps But be mindful that during the interview they will switch language and ask you qns in Chinese
How can you be close to native in Chinese if you cannot read or write?
HK BB IBD requires at least reading and you will have a tough time if your writing is not near native. There are niche groups that are lenient with English only, but that’s becoming the exception to the rule these days.
Based on extensive personal research (I've seen Crazy Rich Asians) you will probably be seen as an outsider and you won't have better chances, you may even have worse chances.
Plenty of people in HK/SG are like the OP, from what I have seen. Most however, transferred with their company or somehow fell in locally (were on vacation or moved to Asia and stumbled in to a specific group). Direct recruiting, especially on the banking side may be very challenging since there is a focus on fluent Mandarin (spoken and written) and (it's unspoken) being Mainland Chinese. A number of friends and contacts of mine who are either not fluent or of HK/SG/Taiwanese descent and have at minimum professional Mandarin all have struggled to get in, or do "SE Asia" banking. You will see mid level people and some seniors (legacy) who are either transfers or longer term Asia types that don't fit the Mainland and perfectly fluent bill. They are increasingly the exception, I would argue.
While that kind of sucks, think of it like the bank and its clients would (since banking is a client-centric business). If X company in rural Jilin Province wants to raise capital, it probably wants to deal with someone it can communicate with and feel comfortable with (in addition to drinking a lot in the bitter cold - but I digress). That's not only going to require someone from Mainland China, but ideally someone from Northeast China, who is at least fluent, if not a native speaker. Oh of course it helps a ton if said banker is related to or close to higher ups at other Chinese companies or local/provincial/national government types. Now banking is competitive. So to get an edge, what kind of candidates do you think big banks typically target? It's probably far less explicit now following the nepotism scandals of a few years back. JPM in this case was busted because they clearly communicated internally and were too by the book. Every other big bank did the same exact thing but much more hush hush... They all still probably do in some various forms.
A side note. There are TONS of inept Mainland Chinese (and this is not a dig at folks from Mainland China in any way shape or form - actually many competent Mainland Chinese people get passed over...) sitting at shops across the spectrum in IB/PE/HF/RE/Law Firms who fit the type above. You'll see it within a month of arriving if not earlier. But that's the game.
OP - longer term where do you want to be? What do you want to do. Once you are in Asia it is very tough to leave unless you transfer with your company. I am facing that issue right now (even though I'm in a different part of the industry) but so have many I have known in IB/PE/HF/S&T etc.
TLDR: Gonna be tough. Probably to be Mainland Chinese Native/Fluent.
Good Luck
I would say the difficulty is super hard. Asia IBD jobs require a superior level of language understanding. I am friends with tons of international students from China (guess the school), and they even have trouble with interviews in HK as there is professional jargon specific to the industry. It won't be easier by any means, so I would honestly say focus in-state unless you have a desire to go overseas.
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