With the shakeup in American markets, what's the situation looking like for Hong Kong and China? Most news sources would have the public believing that there is a hiring boom in Asian markets, but is this really the case? If banks aren't hiring in the US, are they still interested in hiring in Asia?
Trending Content
| +169 | The "Not So Obvious" things that get you a return offer? | 20 | 5h | |
| +101 | Is my life over after not getting GS? | 25 | 5h | |
| +65 | Best IB group on the Street | 28 | 2s | |
| +56 | BIG FOUR ARE PARADISE | 15 | 8h | |
| +49 | Thoughts and tips on how to speak like an investment banker. | 25 | 7h | |
| +47 | Tell me one good reason why Jefferies isn’t going to be a top bank in the next 5 years | 23 | 29m | |
| +36 | UBS Outlook | 28 | 1d | |
| +34 | How to deal with egotistical team? | 6 | 3d | |
| +33 | Highest Paid Bankers in Toronto? | 51 | 6h | |
| +25 | Got RBC offer but I have cold feet accepting. | 33 | 1d |
Career Resources
Banks do indeed hire in Asia (HK, SIngapore, Dubai, haven't looked into China though). Banks also hire in Latin America, Russia, and CEE.
most of the banks are actively recruiting for HK. it is easier to get in, but they are looking for people who want to work in Asia full time
dont agree.. talked to a few people in HK and they said that most FT come from SA pool this year... The current market sucks.
tiw1o
How strong does your Chinese have to be to be have a serious shot at SA 2009? I consider myself conversational and can watch chinese movies/dramas, but there is still a lot to be desired. I have to mix in English now and then when I talk to people.
How fluent are people who end up getting SA offers?
Fluent enough to write company summaries and navigate a 10-k in Chinese, not just the financial statements.
guts do you know what your talking about?
you can get an offer without having to know chinese at all... they usually read financial statements in english.. and most of the time they arent dealing with companies that have 10-k's
Kingbling89 I have talked to hk GS and Citi CMB human resource people. Though knowing chinese is not necessary, they do prefer the ones that can speak and read chinese(of course can speak fluent english at the same time).
its true that most financial statements are usually in English, but some chinese companies don't usually translate everything into English (and also not as accurately).
Plus, Chinese can be important for higher levels (VP, SVP or even associate), as you might deal with clients that cant speak English.
What is the typical level of verbal/written fluency in Chinese for summer analysts?
I assume you guys here are talking about IBD in HK. Yes, for IBD, the Mandarin skill is a key differentiator. If you are lucky enough to get to DB's superday, they will have you sit there to translate some financial articles written in Chinese.
However, for global markets at DB for example, for even the ECM/DCM of GS IBD, the Mandarin skill is not that important. Half of the interviewers at the superday don't even speak Chinese themselves.
'Dafault,' I don't live in HK...
kingbling, you're not even a banker. Please don't spew your informed shit all over this board.
Hiring for HK is tough, dont be fooled by what this clown tells you
You calling someone else a clown is pretty freakin' rich.
Why don't you try contributing something useful for once instead of constantly adding no value to this forum with your dumbass posts?
Otherwise you could try keeping quiet. That would be nice.
Hey Joe, don't you have Mark Klein's dick to suck? When you're done with him you can blow your MD - that's the only way you'll get an offer. Sorry big guy.
He's been banned dontcha know ... I'm glad you've apologised and acknowledged your status as an idiot
Can we go back to discussing the original topic?
No, I didn't know. I don't fucking check this site every four minutes like your high school ass. Unemployment must fucking suck.
please use the next recess period to think of a different comeback
Speaking Mandarin is pretty much a must now. Sure a few yrs ago (literally) there were probably analysts who got into IBD and were white people with no Chinese background.
The story's different now. Ever since the boom in the sharemarket and so forth, the Chinese have become more aware of IBD and the idea that IB is prestigious (just like doctors and lawyers are to them). More Chinese ex-pats and Chinese students who were sent abroad to study are now trying to get in to BBs in HK/Beijing/Shanghai and they'll be prioritised as there're enough of them who are educated at the likes of Ivys and Oxbridge/LSE. Surely you guys would remember the Asian populations at these places was not negligible. Also BBs are beginning to hire from the likes of Tsinghua, Peking etc.
As far as I know (which isn't that much), quite a few banks haven't hired any FT or SA who is not native or fluent in Mandarin this year.
It's one of those things. When times were good in the States, everybody couldn't care less about HK. Now that tables are turning, it's probably too late.
DCM/ECM in all banks in HK don't require you to know mandarin or cantonese. As a matter of fact most of the senior people don't even know either language. IBD in asia is crazy hours, even worse than New York. The fact that people are starting to care more about HK or Singapore is good because a lot of banks are starting to get licenses to do IBD in china and when that really kicks off, they will have some serious money rolling in. Revenue streams might even be higher than NY or Europe sometime in the future all though it seems pretty far away. People here usually stick around or move to another bank. Exiting to PE is not as popular as it is in the US. PE shops still recruit a fair amount in asia. That said, recruiting in Asia is becoming tougher by the day. Like someone mentioned earlier, most of the top asian kids in top colleges have started applying to HK and its getting tougher.
Look you're talking about senior people. They can go to HK because they are senior - it's just the way it is. Same with Tokyo. You'll find that some senior posts are occupied by people who don't speak Japanese.
We're talking about SAs and first years here. My point was there's so much supply from the native Chinese that the rest of the world has nearly no chance. Even HK people are finding their chances significantly reduced.
I'm not in China/Hong Kong, but over the past few days I've been searching actively for discussion on China/Hong Kong forums.
And you guys are right that there are increasingly more and more Chinese kids from top schools applying for positions in China/Hong Kong.
In China, competition is high even for the slots open to China locally educated students. I heard this is because there are a lot of Chinese students who go on to take a MSc in Finance , and as such very few students straight out of undergrad school get hired. In Hong Kong, I heard the majority of the analyst class are overseas educated Chinese, and only a few slots are given to locally educated students.
Its rather depressing news, especially since because I was seriously considering applying to China/Hong Kong. I am ethnically Chinese, and fluent in Chinese, and even though I go to a university considered a target in my country (Asia), it doesn't have the weight of big name universities in the UK/US. Just too bad I guess.
"Kingbling89 I have talked to hk GS and Citi CMB human resource people. Though knowing chinese is not necessary, they do prefer the ones that can speak and read chinese(of course can speak fluent english at the same time).
its true that most financial statements are usually in English, but some chinese companies don't usually translate everything into English (and also not as accurately).
Plus, Chinese can be important for higher levels (VP, SVP or even associate), as you might deal with clients that cant speak English."
"kingbling, you're not even a banker. Please don't spew your informed shit all over this board. Hiring for HK is tough, dont be fooled by what this clown tells you"
"We're talking about SAs and first years here. My point was there's so much supply from the native Chinese that the rest of the world has nearly no chance. Even HK people are finding their chances significantly reduced."
I don't know what year you're in. This is defn the trend I've noticed at a few banks this year. I'm just basing my comments as an observer of my own bank and 2 others I'm aware of, to a lesser extent of course.
Anyway what I meant but hiring from China was hiring from Chinese students who have studied abroad at Ivys etc. I said this earlier on. I didn't mean the bulk came from Nanjing Polytech University or whatnot.
Maiores vel expedita consequuntur. Eum ducimus accusantium veritatis rem ab est. Fugiat ut ipsa ducimus quis.
Voluptatem non unde reprehenderit quidem dolorum molestiae culpa. Consequatur perspiciatis iste ut dignissimos nam.
Est ex et aut quia eum. Autem excepturi quia ducimus dolorum et veritatis. Et minus officiis a placeat impedit nesciunt. Accusantium nobis ut eaque nesciunt laboriosam.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Iste nihil recusandae aut magnam ea labore vel. Ullam velit corrupti similique sunt quam ratione. Enim molestias qui quas omnis.
Iusto omnis excepturi ipsum unde iure distinctio. Sed eos nemo molestias omnis beatae placeat iste. Fugit illum modi exercitationem quasi ab hic. Sapiente voluptatem eveniet aperiam quam.
Amet eius sed et placeat quia sit doloribus. Sit dolorem aperiam eveniet minus omnis quaerat expedita. Facilis laboriosam et ad quia tempore quibusdam. Quidem alias inventore tenetur dolores ut ex eligendi est. Harum sit provident explicabo ex doloremque voluptatibus voluptates optio. Explicabo aspernatur quidem porro similique minus.