Having just moved to Hong Kong with Morgan McKinley, it’s crazy to think that the FTSE dropped more than 10% while I was sitting on a beach in Thailand en route from London…

Out here though, whilst certainly not immune to developments in Europe and the US, it seems that there has been plenty of hiring activity over the last 18 months. All the bulge bracket investment banks are here as you’d expect, and from the recent hires they’ve made, they mean business both here in Hong Kong and on the mainland. It seems that despite the current problems in the West, they are investing here for the long term and it looks like a very exciting time to be in recruitment in Hong Kong.

It’s early days for yours truly, but ECM, M&A, equity research and prime brokerage, all appear to have real growth potential which is very encouraging.

Hong Kong is a busy, bustling, exciting city with plenty going on and it’s hot here…very hot, which is fine by me! Having just found myself a flat I’m really looking forward to settling in and exploring the city and the New Territories.

I’m also looking forward to the Rugby World Cup, and from what I saw last weekend, Hong Kong is going to be a brilliant place to experience it!  Will New Zealand choke again? – I sincerely hope so!

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I chuckled as I heard the following phrase the other day as I was sitting having a beer in a bar in Hong Kong: ”Those recruiters talk such rubbish. I don’t know where they get this stuff from.”

Like the rest of the population, recruiters are certainly not infallible. But I do want to say that the advice we give, the information we obtain, comes from the people we speak to every day – our clients, our candidates and other industry sources. We use these market insights in our salary guides, bonus surveys, hiring activity reports and day-to-day conversations.

So ironically, the answer to the above question is probably, ”the guy sitting next you on the trading floor today.”

Our business relies on experienced consultants knowing their market and building excellent networks within their field. Several of our team members have even come across from working in the sectors that they now recruit into. We know who’s hiring, who’s firing, who’s building a new commodities platform etc. Having our finger on the pulse is very important.

It is likely that at some point in everyone’s career they will wish to come and talk to us for advice or counseling, or more importantly for a new position. We encourage you to ‘tap’ into our market knowledge. “It’s good to talk” as Bob Hoskins from the British Telcom advert of the 1990s would say…

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