Hong Kong Talent Engage Global Online Career Fair - Your Career Journey Starts Here
In a volatile overall market environment, many people might be considering a change of location in order to take advantage of opportunities and build a career. Hong Kong Talent Engage, the government agency tasked with promoting the Hong Kong market to international candidates, has organised a Global Online Career Fair next month, to foreground the advantages of Asia’s top financial centre.
The last few years have seen significant redundancies and generally tough job market conditions everywhere in the global investment banking market. However, compared to other financial centres, Hong Kong has had a very strong start to 2025, with three times as much raised in IPOs in the first quarter than in the same period a year earlier.
And looking away from the bulge bracket investment banks reveals a more interesting set of opportunities. Local and mainland Chinese players like Bank of China have taken advantage of the global players’ retrenchment to build up their local franchises in capital markets and advisory business. And Hong Kong is one of the world’s most important wealth management markets, with over USD4trn of assets under management and consistent growth in family office fund flows and employment even through the market downturn.
Engaging with global talent
Hong Kong Talent Engage has continued to carry out research and outreach over the last year since the inaugural Global Talent Summit in 2024, including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Talent Development Showcase in Kuala Lumpur recently, and young talent engagement events in Sydney and Melbourne. As a result of these efforts, HKTE have identified a number of specific markets where the talent pipeline to Hong Kong is particularly interesting. These include Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and mainland China. As well as having historical links with Hong Kong and significant expat communities in the region, these geographies also represent strong talent pools in some of the areas which the Hong Kong government has identified as priority occupations.
There are currently 60 specific professions, across nine industry segments, identified as eligible for immigration facilitation under the General Employment Policy (GEP), the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP) and the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS). These schemes allow professional workers with specific skills to gain work and residence visas; Hong Kong Talent Engage’s website is available to provide information on the most appropriate route in particular cases.
Building a career
Hong Kong offers a number of advantages to ambitious professionals in other financial centres. Some candidates, like Jordan Huber of Colliers, come to Hong Kong because of its location as a “super-connecter” allowing them to work across Asia-Pacific and generate unique business opportunities. Others, like Sudesh Thevasenabathy of Manulife, see a stay in the city as an opportunity to accelerate their career development. Often, people initially come to Hong Kong anticipating a short period to gain experience, then end up staying as they discover its vibrant lifestyle and enjoy the benefits of a friendly tax system.
The Hong Kong SAR government, through HKTE, is committed to providing comprehensive support services to facilitate these kind of job moves. As well as publicising the schemes available to global talent, it can provide a one-stop shop for all the services that employees might need to make their decision and acquire the necessary documents. Its website features real time job opportunities, with as many as 8,000 postings on any given day, and the agency maintains a network professional human resources consultants offer ongoing career support and help with job matching, through a rapidly expanding network of partner organisations. It even provides advice on topics as varied as family and education options, bank accounts and insurance and learning Cantonese.
Employers at the Event
As well as the financial services industry, HKTE is targeting global talent in the IT and professional services industries, and in engineering. Employers in all of these fields will be represented at the Global Online Career Fair. Within the financial sector, there will be a strong presence from fintech and startups as well as larger blue-chip names, reflecting Hong Kong’s strong innovation culture. As well as Bank of China (Hong Kong), Deloitte, KPMG, Manulife and PCCW-HKT, has confirmed attendance, along with online medical insurer Bowtie.
The event will also allow direct one-to-one contact with employers and recruiters. By registering in advance and uploading a resume and profile, candidates will be able to attract the attention of relevant employers at the pre-application stage, and to potentially match with recruiters who have vacancies to fill. During the event days, it will also be possible to visit “virtual booths” staffed by employers and recruiters to follow up on areas of particular interest. As well as listings and brochure material, it will be possible to initiate direct chats over text, audio or even video, to gather information and express interest.
This is an innovative and convenient way for candidates to quickly get information about living and working in Hong Kong, without the need to make a journey or wait for an outreach event. It also allows contacts to be made with specific employers who are looking to hire, in an environment where market conditions are still tough in many areas of the financial industry across the Asia-Pacific region. So the first step is to register, and then move on to potentially taking the next step toward working in Hong Kong.
