Hey all.
First off, I'm new to the financial scene so please excuse my noobishness.
My question is how prevalent are American investment banks in Japan? Can anyone gauge how competitive it would be to land a job there as opposed to Hong Kong, Taipei, etc. as an American citizen?
I realize this a broad question and I apologize, I'm just trying to gauge how feasible it would be for me to eventually end up there. If anyone could share information on finance in Japan or Asia as a whole it would be appreciated.
I speak decent conversational Japanese and am working on my Kanji, but I still have a ways to go before college is over so I'm just trying to find out my options.
Thanks in advance.
I know somebody at GS in Tokyo and he told me that in their entire IBD group there were only a couple of people who lacked business-level Japanese language skills, and they had been brought in due to either some special product or transaction expertise. However, non-fluent Japanese speakers do visit the office, but for shorter stints. If you are clearly passionate about being in Japan and can improve your Japanese I could see your (BB?) moving you out there after say, your two year stint at the office you were hired into. There's a lot of people on this forum who could tell you just how 'easily' you can get into HK or SG, Japan has been a different animal however.
If you can speak Japanese, that's certainly going to help you, but it's still going to be quite hard to get an entry-level position in Japan (if only because of the logistical nightmare of actually interviewing you).
Your best bet is to get a job in the US first, then try to transfer after a year or two. Make it known that you can speak Japanese, and keep taking classes in the evening and on the weekends to stay sharp. When the time comes for your mid-year review, talk with your MD, and explain that you'd love to work in Japan, and have been working towards that goal for some time. He'll be able to give you some flavour on the transfer process. Maybe he can open some doors for you (if he likes you).
Anyway, no one is going to be able to say, "You have a 30% chance of transferring to Tokyo." There's no way to quantify your likelihood of getting a transfer, but if you work hard, get people to like you, and actually speak Japanese, you'll have a good shot.
You should go to the Boston Career Forum in November every year, that's BB major recruiting effort in US.
I was able to land a GS Tokyo S&T summer through it.
Thanks for the responses everyone, they are duly noted.
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