Banks battle for back office talent
Fancy working in Hong Kong? If you're a qualified accountant and have experience in audit or compliance, you're high on the list of candidates being sought by the territory's banks.
A talent shortage is forcing both investment banks and the big retail banks to look overseas for people with strong accounting skills, according to recruiters. While banks still prefer Mandarin speakers, they're struggling to find enough high calibre locals to fill the gaps as they strengthen their audit and compliance functions.
"Banks are considering different ways of attracting candidates," says Joanne O'Reilly, an assistant director at Michael Page. "Gone are the days when you could put an ad in the South China Morning Post and get 25 suitable people."
She says some banks are launching recruitment drives in places such as South Africa in their search for accountants.
Andrea Williams, a director at Ambition recruitment, says banks are becoming more open to hiring from overseas. "Language skills are becoming less of an issue," she says.
In pursuit of expats
Nick Fenn, business manager at Hays Accountancy and Finance, tells eFinancialCareers.hk: "All the banks are having to think more laterally. They're asking us to look for people who possibly went to live in places like Canada, the UK and Australia after the handover (to China in 1997)."
The battle for talented people comes at a time when conditions are buoyant and all banks are expanding in China. Michael Page's latest salary survey suggests that a candidate with 6-8 years' experience in internal audit could earn a base salary of HK$650,000-$900,000 a year plus variable bonus.
