I've found the local (I'm in China) IT to be borderline incompetent and we often need to bring someone from overseas once or twice a year to fix all the broken shit. So - I think the opportunity is good. But, it really has to do with who you know. To a certain extent, social networking is more important than genuine skill here.

All depends on what field you are in. And your background.

Bilingual ABC's and CBC's in the financial/accounting/banking fields with 4 or 5 yrs of western experience will do well in HK.
I know of more than a few who made the jump after getting their accreditations in north america and a bit of work experience too.

for Other fields, I'm not so sure.

remember, HK is full of geeks already, so hi-tech and IT may not be the best option.

my 2 cents:

you can't compete with the locals for willing ness to put in long hours and speaking local languages.

if you are senior and well qualified you maybe can get a supervisory role with an MNC here but this is rare as they prefer to relocate their own staff as the staff knows the company and the staff is a known commodity and there is little risk as compared to a new hire.

nice work if you can get it however, particularly if you are single. its a buyers market for puxxy here. and, if you are not single then you can P4P like the rest of us

good luck  

keep on mongering

my 2 cents (and my first post).

Locals will be willing to do more hours since they are used to this type of work culture, but they lack in efficient productivity, optimization and problem solving. If you have strong skills in those areas, it can help to bridge deficiencies in work culture and language. HK is not an IT city, it's a finance city, so a CCNA will not be in high demand. There are not many innovative IT companies here, and as for being a Cisco guy, well, then you're talking corporate back office and to be frank, the only ones worth taking will be in the finance industry where a pre-requiste of working with banks would be desired.

Rent is expensive, but really, no more expensive than London, New York or Silicon Valley when compared in terms of number of bedrooms. Don't compare by sq. foot. In that respect, the design of the apartments are actually quite good and you won't have many shared walls with the neighbours.

The biggest benefit is that HK is open, late. Even in the UK or USA there's not much to do past 7/8pm.... everything is still open in HK, which means working long hours doesn't impact much on night life.

depends where u are from.
NYC is basically a 24/7 town.

Not really, I've been living here my whole life and 99% of places are shut down.  HK however is different, there is ALWAYS somewhere to go in the middle of the night.  I would say 3am is the cut off point and the city reawakens at about 8am,

Ive been toying with the idea of moving to Asia as well, but from reading the posts i am in a completely different field (Hospitality). Does anyone have any insights into the Hotel/Tourism Industry in HK or Mainland? My reasons are very simple, Mongering, Great Food, Golf, and did I mention Mongering? I am at a Director of Sales level in Hotels at the moment

There are lots of foriegn hotel chains with locations in China.  I always laugh at Holiday Inn, which in the US is a budget chain, but in China it is a 5 star international hotel chain.  But the question is... why would they bother hiring a foreigner (assuming you want Western pay levele)?  Do you speak Mandarin?  Do you have experience in China?

Not related to you... but every customer service position requires a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.  Even the doormen have that degree (maybe not everywhere).

I don't speak mandarin (Yet) and have no experience in hotels in China, but am extremely well connected in the chinese and global Tour operator(wholesaler) market.

Generally hotels seek Europeans for positions as General Manager, Director of Sales etc. because of our experience in those roles. But as you rightly say, it boils down to a decision of pay level, experience and capability.  that's why I asked if anyone has an insight to the current market. Will keep on putting feelers out - you never know what turns up

Not to hijack this thread, but what is the intel on the job market for finance/bank compliance? I hear the trend is that it is growing, and expats may have a decent time finding a good job in that field. Thoughts?

For the record, I have an ivy league grad degree in a finance/compliance related field, and some (summer internship) bulge bracket investment bank experience. Will that position me well in HK? Or better to stay in U.S. before making the jump?

Try looking on seek, just enter keyword china, do not enter anything else just press enter after entering the keyword.

Teltel

I still fail to see the trend of Asian companies looking to sell abroad particularly expanding business in the west easing up. I have a friend whose business is solely helping companies to start up in the west. He contacts the firms directly and arranges a meeting. Then goes there all suited up with his ultrabook to do a mini presentation and how it would benefit them from the market there (obviously does background knowledge on their product and the industry and overseas market). The biggest problem he tells me about is language barrier so he ends up paying tons to translators over simple communication matters.

Compliance is growing in HK and is needed.
But many already have Ivy league degrees etc... the key is language skills.
If you can speak and write Chinese (Mandarin) fluently, then your chances will be a lot better.
Not impossible without, but your options would be limited.