The whole thing is making me hungry for some xiao long bow.
i was just in asia for over a month on vacation and scouting out cities i would want to work in after i complete my mba. from a lifestyle, people and culture aspect, shanghai ranked last for me an american-born chinese. but maybe the finance job opps there are superior. i might recommend visiting shanghai to beforehand see if it’s your cup of tea.
fredfunk04, just curious, which city ranks first on your list?
Finance jobs are in Hong Kong. But well, i would check out Korea, as it is really active. In Shanghai what i heard of is kind of asset management for expats. i don’t think they have a lot of sophisticated products in mainland China. There are still many restrictions there
lzen5- i liked singapore, but i will also target HK since it’s a bigger market. i’ve lived in nyc for a while but the culture and people in sh were something else. i think that city would eat me alive. are you looking to go there? i met up with a couple of buddies (ex-bankers from HK) while i was there. they just launched a financial services platform. it seems like sh is pretty prime for entrepreneurial activity in the fs space if you have the experience and contacts. i think it will be more of a self-directed search since my program is in the u.s. i’'m probably looking to leave finance but will drop for ibd to have more options. any thoughts about corporate development/strategy opportunities with F500 companies asia?
F500? That’d be Shanghai, sorry, because of factories. There can be something in Beijing, which is different. Some companies prefer to have local HQ closer to the central government.
I would imagine all asian cities would have similar culture and working environment. Hongkong is pretty good for an expat with an asian background, you’ll fit in just fine. I can imagine someone with a Chinese look but doesnt really speak Mandarin stands out like a sore thumb at workplace.
English will be just fine, don’t worry about Mandarin. The problem is with less than a year of experience you are not at a solid ground. I suggest you first try to contact those big agent in Shanghai to find out more about the market, if they won’t consider to pay you to fly there, whether you are marketable locally. Next thing you can do is check out sites like efinancialcareers, find out what kind of jobs Shanghai is hiring. Don’t rush.
just off the top of my head i know of a few F500s with Singapore offices but will keep my options open and work the personal and alum network in China as well. english is the official language in singapore and i just felt a lot more comfortable there than in SH. there’s a decent number of expats and they seem to need more according to my buddy who is an executive recruiter. my mandarin is at an intermediate level for reading and writing, and i’m pretty conversant. i wouldn’t feel comfortable reviewing business docs or conducting negotiations though. it seems like if you aren’t 100% fluent you get shipped to HK nowadays with all the local talent in SH.
To change the Asia subject to compensation, what would be a ball park range for a base salary and yearly bonus(assuming you don’t get all the perks like paid schooling for kids, personal driver, housing allowance, etc.). Again, this assumes that you have approximately 10 years experience in back office, middle office, and front office roles in both AM and IB and you’re a charterholder and you would land a position with an top tier American Bank. I know there are a lot of variables that could impact the range but I wanted to see where I’d come in as I suspect I might not get all the benefits that were doled out in the heyday.