“Companies require individuals who see Hong Kong as home” explains Meehee Song, Managing Director at Stanton Chase International.
Cadrexport : Can you introduce the activity of your company?
Meehee Song : Stanton Chase International was first established in 1990 in Europe and the US. We are a specialized global executive search consultancy of 1st choice to multinational companies, offering worldwide reach, regional knowledge and local insight. We combine our clients’ business insight with our own industry expertise to provide personalized search and assessment services to multinational organizations.
Our clients benefit from seamless global cross-border coverage provided across 69 offices in 41 countries, of which 15 are located in major cities in Asia.
- Greater China (Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai)
- Australasia (Auckland, Sydney)
- India (Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune)
- Korea (Seoul)
- Japan (Tokyo)
Cadrexport : We would like to understand what are the opportunities in Hong Kong for the western expatriates, the Asians with a work experience or having been studying in Occident. The western expatriates occupy what places? in what areas? Is it useful for an Asian to have a professional experience in Occident?
Meehee Song : There are various levels within the Hong Kong job market and it is thus difficult to give a "one answer fits all" solution. Overall it is fairly safe to say that employing companies would prefer to recruit local talent, either of Hong Kong/China origin, or wider Asian background. The reasons for this are not simply cost ( generally speaking western expatriates are still more expensive), but also to do with culture fit and the fact that the businesses are so much more mature now and companies require individuals who see Hong Kong as home and not looking to use it as a spring board for further expatriate assignments.
Consequently talented local individuals are highly sought after, especially so if they have had experience of working overseas within MNCs and thus can bring a wider international dimension to their role. This wider dimension has become much more important in the current times, when companies are placing significantly more emphasis on business practices and attention to the bottom-line than before.
Having said that, there is still a role for the western expatriate who brings specific expertise or management maturity and experience that is not readily available locally. Certain companies also will still re-locate senior managers from their overseas head office into Hong Kong, as they have a network in the home country that is often useful in achieving things, as well as clearly understanding the home HQ culture.
The western expatriate who already has experience of Asia will of course be more readily accepted by an employer in Hong Kong than one without particularly experience of China.
Cadrexport : What would you say about the actual job market in Hong Kong?
Meehee Song : Hong Kong remains a dynamic, fast moving market and hence the job market is always active. Even in the current climate where expansionary recruitment has generally slowed down, there is a lot of replacement recruitment, as well as hiring due to re-structuring and organisational change. Companies have been bringing in different talent to deal with the difficult market conditions, and those with financial / organisational change backgrounds are highly sought after, as well as individuals who are "game changers" and "rainmakers". The old ways of doing things are changing, and hence anyone with the ability to think creatively to develop and implement (execution skills are so important) will have good opportunities in Hong Kong.
This market remains a spring board for mainland China so the medium to long term prognosis is very good
Interview réalisée par Diane Pinelli, Cadrexport - Janv 2010
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Meehee Song
Managing Director
Practice Leader Consumer/Retail, Asia Pacific
StantonChase International
Email: m.song@ stantonchase.com
www.stantonchase.com
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