Hi,

Can anyone share their thoughts/experience on how easy it is for an English only speaking, British foreigner to find work in Hong Kong/ China (I would learn the local language once committed)?

Can you recommend where's best to search for employment opportunities, i.e. job sites, employment agencies, etc.?

What is the employment culture like and how does that differ to the UK?

Thanks in advance!

Do you have any skills Chinese do not have?

I have been looking for 1 year and have had 1 interview where I did not get the job. I received another interview offer yesterday. So it can be done but it takes time. I have also been looking in Singapore for 3 years and received no interview offers. An recruiter in Singapore did tell me that its easier to get into Hong Kong than Singapore. It does help if you work for a company who can transfer you there. To get there you would need to be at a Mid-Senior level in your career as a minimum though.

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Really useful insight, thank you and congratulations on getting a job offer!

My background is in Project Management and I have contracted for a number of years within a People Management Consultancy and Video Production Company, however the majority of my experience lies within Automotive Engineering. I also have APMP and Prince2 Project Management qualifications.

Although I appreciate that there's not necessarily any reason to hire me over an equally experienced Chinese person, I'm looking into whether this is possibly a field where there is a skills shortage within the local market, and therefore companies may be considering hiring internationally. Particularly with the continued growth and mergers between internationally owned automotive companies going into China.

Good luck and start learning the language as well as doing a bit of research into the Chinese labour market and work conditions.

I see you have posted the same question in multiple threads for different countries.

What you will generally find is that unless you have qualifications and experience in a particular field together with an employer willing to sponsor you and apply for work permits etc. then it is going to be difficult. Not impossible of course, as where there is a will there is always a way.

In Hong Kong the general rule is that foreigners will only be granted work permits in cases where there are no locals available / willing to do the job. Locals include the many highly qualified and experienced foreigners who have permanent resident status in Hong Kong.