hong kong/asian interviews - advice please

hi,

i worked in IBD, equity research and private equity in the last 4 years in london. im looking to go try my luck in hong kong/asia and need some advice regarding answering a question that is likely to come up in interviews over there either with recruiters or headhunters.

a question likely to come up is something along the lines of.... "what is your competitive advantage, or what differentiates you or what makes you different compared to other candidates located here?"

it would be very silly if i said i can speak fluent english and i have good modelling skills because so too would most other people looking for a bulge bracket job in asia, seeing most of them probably went to international schools, worked at bulge brackets on wall street, and can even speak more than one asian language.

what's the best approach to such a questions please, when moving from west to east?

thanks

 

I would highlight your interpersonal/relationship-building skills. You might be surprised by the lack of English skills of most HKers. They also seem to be less assertive and prefer quant to qualitative communication. I'm by no means hating on HKers, this is just the observances of a westerner. So I would use your advantages in those areas to highlight your value.

 

thanks for the reply guys.

just some background about me - started in corporate finance for a year. moved over to equity research for 2 years, as a sell-side analyst. did ok in those 2 years - managed to be a lead analyst and produce reports, spoke to institutional clients, quoted in various financial sources including bloomberg - all this at the age of 24/25. then moved over to pe to help try start a new fund, which may or may not happen depending on the market. hence, probably good time to go to HK to explore opportunities and find a new challenge - thats where the growth is!!

i was picky before when looking for jobs in HK - i was aiming for an analyst or jnr associate role in IBD or in a specialised PE/industry fund, e.g. FICC but feedback from these positions was nearly 100% fluency in mandarin. i guess im open to anything at the moment... but ideally analyst in a pe shop/IBD, or on the buy-side. a few months ago, i had interviews with a bulge bracket FoF house in HK. the head of the team in the HK office was happy with my performance, got into the final 3. then all of a sudden, head office in NY decided mandarin skills was mandatory for the team in HK, and as such... they did not take it any further.

the problem about me is that i am asian - born and grew up in london... fluent in english and cantonese but cannot speak a word of mandarin!!!!! im not sure about this but it seems westerners are more attractive when finding jobs in HK although they cannot speak mandarin compared to someone like me who is chinese and cannot speak mandarin as well. do not take this the wrong way and correct me if i am wrong, but its as if employers/headhunters see me as... "you're chinese and you cannot even speak a word of mandarin... so its unlikely we will consider you". however, they may view a westerner as... "you're a westerner so its understandable if you cannot speak mandarin but you have a lot of transferable skills... so we may consider you". correct me if i am wrong and sorry if this has offended anyone.

i am more westernised than i am chinese so i guess a sales role might actually be a better opportunity for me. but then again, most employers in HK wont take a look at me unless i have a client list! i guess i need to start taking mandarin lessons...

 

People, HK and Singapore are for Mandaring Speaking Asians. You have to look and speak the part.

There are hundreds of ABCs,BBCs and CCSs (American/British/Canadian born Chinese) who speak Cantonese but only broken Mandarin, who can not score a decent job in HK/Singapore, if you are White, stop kidding yourself. Only white people making it are the ones who have been there for the last 5-10 years, they are in position to hire, not to be hired.

Might sound harsh but thats reality these days, if someone tells your otherwise they have no idea what they are talking about.

 

Nostradamus... i agree and disagree.

I agree on the part there are probably LOTS of ABCs, BBCs and CBCs in HK who cannot score a decent job in HK but its not impossible.... all down to luck and people you know. But i agree... its definitely a lot harder than before.

I disagree on HK and Singapore are for Mandarin speaking Asians. I know of a number of westerners who have successfully found decent jobs there. know one guy who cannot speak a word of chinese, and managed to get a front office job at JP as an analyst last month - he's an exception though - scored 680 on GMAT and is CFA at just 23.

 
bankertohk:
Nostradamus... i agree and disagree.

I agree on the part there are probably LOTS of ABCs, BBCs and CBCs in HK who cannot score a decent job in HK but its not impossible.... all down to luck and people you know. But i agree... its definitely a lot harder than before.

I disagree on HK and Singapore are for Mandarin speaking Asians. I know of a number of westerners who have successfully found decent jobs there. know one guy who cannot speak a word of chinese, and managed to get a front office job at JP as an analyst last month - he's an exception though - scored 680 on GMAT and is CFA at just 23.

I did not say it was impossible, but 5/100 average is not worth wasting your $ on a ticket. Also, lets say you win lottery and get that job, promotion time you will be last in line amongst Asians. Once again, its rough out there, this is not Asia from 10 yrs ago when anybody who spoke English was in high demand.

Yes, Singapore is more English friendly on the street, work wise its the same as in HK perhaps with the exception of back office jobs which Singapore specializes in.

 
Best Response

^ I think you mean to say he passed all 3 levels of CFA... unless the kid's been working in relevant finance fields since 18/19 full-time, he wouldn't have the designation yet.

Anyway, also agree with bankertohk's post - I've been talking to my friends/connections and they've pretty much said the same thing 'difficult, but not impossible' to find a job if you can't speak mandarin. Some have told me which firms have heavy mandarin prerequisites, and others where it's not a dealbreaker, but definitely preferred. I spoke with someone who recently joined a boutique in HK - corp fin exp, functional cantonese, born there but grew up in North America.

And Singapore, when I was there, seemed to be even more english-oriented than hong kong, so I don't know where this 'needs mandarin' for singapore is coming from... I guess if majority of business they deal with is w/ China, then yes.

Also, bankertohk - for your prev. post - I noticed the same thing. Westerners get more leniency for not knowing mandarin. I guess the idea is... well there's 1000s of chinese w/ banking/S&T/PE/corp fin/research experience from US/Canada/Europe that can ALSO speak mandarin, why should I hire you? So it's down to hiring you vs. the westerner, and if they're interested in 'diversity' since most ppl are asian in the offices, I guess they'd go with the latter instead.

There's also a ton of chinese from China that go to top international schools and come back to Asia to work. Kinda sucks for the ABC/CBC/"jok sing" types...

 

I m just wondering, Chinese (mandarin) is my native language , and i have native fluency in English, also Japanese, Still learning French. Do you guys think ill have a better chance at applying HK/Singapore/Tokyo internships/FT than in the US?

 
pacificali:
I didn't know interviews for SA were happening this early. You might have more time than you think

The deadlines for SA Asia are generally before the deadlines for SA in the US.

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