Working in AM internationally?

Hi all - I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with international assignments/moving internationally for a job within AM? I have seen discussions on this, but wanted to focus on AM in particular. I would assume outside of some sort of rotational program out of undergrad it would be more likely that I'd have to find an actual role internationally and move. This has been something that has always interested me and has been on my mind more and more recently. Any advice on how to uncover an opportunity that would allow this? Seems that on the investment side in particular this would be pretty rare to find, especially as someone without fluency in another language to strength my resume in a certain market. Anyone know if internationally-based funds that invest in the US value hiring people from the states? As someone at a large, global manager, has anyone heard of people lateraling to one of the international offices in an investment seat? For color, I am a few years in to my career and on the credit side, not sure if that changes things.

Thanks!

 
 

I'm currently moving to the EU for an AM job so it's definitely possible. I also had responses to applications in both London and Singapore.

Relevant AM skills are relatively rare and the international business language is English, so you should find plenty of companies willing to sponsor a visa if you tick those boxes. The exception will be if the role covers a particular region (Russian resources companies etc); this would almost certainly require specific language skills and experience. 

Some markets are getting tougher; personal experience living in Asia tells me that the region (esp. HK) is becoming more and more oriented towards China (both analysing the Chinese market and speaking to Chinese investors) so Chinese language skills and cultural understanding are important. 

Ironically, there's one country that's almost impossible to get a visa for these days: the US. 

 

Thanks for the response, incredibly helpful. A few more questions if you don’t mind:

1) How did you go about sourcing opportunities? Was it mostly just ground and pound applications to stuff you found on LinkedIn etc or are there different resources for international/recruiters who specialize in this?

2) During the interview process, how did the relocation conversations work? I would assume if they are interviewing you then there would be some level of willingness on their end, did you have to “sell” it more? From what I understand visas are not as painful/expensive for employers to get in the EU.

3) Any more general advice on finding an opportunity?

4) How high do you think the “ROI” is on learning a language? I would imagine it would take ~2 years to really get to the point where it would even be remotely useful in a professional sense.

5) Did you notice any major differences in terms of how the process worked/reception in EU vs Asia?

6) What motivated you to look abroad? Do you see this as a permanent move or something you wanted to experience for a few years? While this is something I am getting more passionate about always want to check myself to see if I have the right motivation and how to articulate that during a process

Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to help out here. This is something I am seriously considering so apologies for the many questions. Cheers.

 

Just bear in mind that I'm in a very niche area within fixed income research, so there are very few seats available globally but also relatively few people with the desired skills. That's basically the answer to most of your questions. 

1) LinkedIn pretty much exclusively. All my leads came from posted jobs. 

2) Never came up. EU/UK is fairly easy, especially if you have a decent passport. Being in a niche area probably helped. But if it was the US - fuhgeddaboudit, no point applying unless you're American. 

3) Not really. Again, I think I got more of a look in because there weren't too many candidates for the roles I was going for, so maybe try to build a niche for yourself. I mean, why would they go through the visa hassle for a long-only equities analyst, when they probably have a local market with plenty of qualified people. Name brand firms/schools probably help, just as they would anywhere. Some countries also have special work visa categories for people with a masters level degree, so that might help a bit. 

4) Not worth it at all. I have some language skills from personal experience, but unless you're business fluent (which would take more than 2 years, especially living outside the country) it's basically worthless because you need to be able to hold an entire meeting in that language. IMO if they're that hung up on language skills they probably want someone with regional ties (i.e. a local who knows Brazilian telecoms or whatever). 

5) EU was an external hire while Asia was an internal transfer, so very different hiring experiences. Perhaps not relevant but the visa process for the EU was way, way, way more bureaucratic: endless trips to the embassy, physical papers that need to be taken from one place to get stamped and then brought somewhere else, pointless questions. My visa took a month to approve and that was seen as extraordinarily quick, other hires had apparently taken 10-15 weeks on average. Asia was literally like, fill out an online form, upload a copy of your passport and contract, boom, approved within 10 days. 

6) Permanent move. There's nothing for me at home career wise, and less personally with every year that passes. Have no plans to settle down with anyone and hope I can keep moving every 3-5 years for the rest of my career. 

YOLO aside though, becoming an expat isn't something I'd actually recommend to someone relatively junior in their career, especially if they're coming from the US. 

 

Thanks again for all the insight, really appreciated. If you don’t mind, could you expand on why you think people should avoid this at more junior levels and what are the main reasons why? Obviously this is pretty subjective and not fungible across all career paths but is there a certain point you think it starts to make more sense? My thought process was more along the lines of doing it before you have a significant other/family to bring with you and uproot their entire lives, plus you get the benefit of experiencing the culture/urban life/nightlife while you are still youngish. Thanks again.

 
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