Hello everyone

I was wondering if anyone here could offer advice on how to conduct oneself in a job interview in HK.
I'm often told that the working culture is different there and generally speaking peoples behavior (in work enviornment) is different too.
So in your experience, do HK employers tend to look for any particular traits in their employees.
I imagine there'll be a few expatriates here, so your advice/experiences are welcome.

Thanks

dont know the real answer for you as i never worked in HK, but in my studies of international business, i know that in asian countries (generalized), team recognition is more important that individual recognition.  therefore it may easy to come off as arrogant when explaining your resume.  be careful of that.

again its just what ive learned from the perspective of text books, not real life.

It depends on what type of company u work for. If you work for a multinational i-bank, then it will be quite similar to what you expect in the US/UK.

i'm not sure if it's like in korea, where you have to send in your resume, CV and a picture attached

definitely the largest noticeable working environment difference is the working hours. you will work on average 12-14 hours a day. it's the culture, not like the western or european culture (who gets to work 4 days and they already consider that too much)

Thanks for your advice/comments guys.
I've been wanting to work in HK for a while now and it looks like there's an opportunity coming up.  So just want to get a heads up.
I was wondering if the 'people dynamics' are any different in HK then in the west.  I've been to HK many times but it's different being a tourist than living there.  Will they see you differently if you are educated overseas and come back to work.  I guess I'm just apprehensive.

Thank you for posting this.  I have an interview lined up next week for a job in HK.  Crossing my fingers that I get it, even if it's only a lateral move and same pay as the States.  I just feel more at "home" in HK, then over here.

What kind of job are you going for? financial, legal etc?

Office manager at a law firm here in the states.  Pay is decent, but no matter how much work/effort I put in, there will never be any advancement or opportunity.Just going to try for an office manager over there, hopefully pay is same or better, but at least there is a chance to network and make something of myself

Good luck to you.
I know exactly what you mean by HK feels a bit more at "home".  I'm working in the UK at the moment, the pay is ok and the job is not stressful at all.  But I do miss HK and want to have a go there.  But you hear horror stories about how stressful it is there and long working hours with no extra pay.
Accommodation could be a problem though, renting a place could eat up a large part of your salary.

And you can further differentiate between different companies in HK

I.e. local companies culture will differ to multi-nationals, but it really depends on a lot of variables


Compared to the UK, where people moan about the "9-5" day, people in HK typically work 9-6 as a MINIMUM and 9-7 or 9-8 or later isn't uncommon. Far less focus on job satisfaction here than western countries.

Also, it's so competitive here that everyone does work hard as a given and readily accept long hours without as much complaint as you might expect.


There are the exceptions though, a reason why i chose my current firm is the 9-6 and no requirement of overtime, ever

Compared to USA / UK / Europe the culture here is very much a "command and control" one

... which means that to fit in you have to act submissive and be willing to do as your told.  Compliance and loyalty definitely trumps initiative.

Talking about how you helped your boss out and / or made him look good won't hurt and might help more than boasting about how you single-handedly turned around a series of weak management initiatives.

at the end of the day, working as hard as you can because you want to is a person's choice, if a city doesn't meet your expectations of work/life balance, the great thing is we have a choice to be able to leave and walk away from there.  this is the great thing about the global village as they call it

work/life balance in hk is awful in my experience. but not much worse than in new york, or japan. although the nice thing about japan was the ski resorts were only a few hours' drive away.
BUT hk mongering beats any city i've lived in. even manila, which i still contend has the prettiest and sexiest girls with the best service (although you have to have some knowledge of the city). in hk, a newbie can have great mongering experiences just from reading sites like this and paying attention. and great looking women, cheaper than in manila (where it's not unusual to pay more, because after all, it is illegal in the philippines).
so yes, we're worked hard in hk. but considering all the women at our disposal i reckon it's worth it.

and while i'd love to give you tips about interviews, i really don't think it would be appropriate. while it's true what many bros have said about the differences between the way asians and westerners do business, those are generalizations. there are lots of american companies here that are very much run the way they are back home. and many asian companies trying out the american way of doing business. not to mention the american companies trying to go local.

so my best advice to you is to keep all those things in mind, while being relaxed, if you can, and stay on your toes during the interview. to a large degree you'll have to make it up as you go along, which is how most business is conducted anyway.