asking company to fly me in for an interview
 

so i've been applying for a few gigs for fun and this insurance company is asking me for an interview. I'm like... errrr dude, i'm from Canada so interviewing in Hong Kong on Wednesday is not possible.

How can I word it nicely where I say we should start with phone / video interviews and if you want, you may fly me in for an interview during the final stages?

I have never thought about having a company fly me to a country for an interview. I know it has been done and I've had company fly my colleagues for jobs... I need a nice way to put it.

If it's an insurance company like AIA, Prudential, Sunlife or something in HK, and if you're applying for some "management trainee" position or something like that, forget it. It's just cold calling sales that they get any monkey to do and they wont be flying you anywhere.

Unless it's a senior position in the company, they won't fly you over.

I've had friends get project management positions for architecture firms in HK and they flew over on their own dime. That was after having a phone interview done first.

it's for a senior position. it's not uncommon here in Canada but from Canada to HK is a tad tougher.. we shall see.

why did u apply to HK office if u can't fly there on your own?

do you just wanna use Co.money to see ur friends and family back home - kill 2 birds with their stone?

They must know you live in Canada.
If they didn't offer to fly you out, they must not want you that badly.

Unless he didn't put his address in his resume. I don't.

my resume and cover letters all have addresses. On the email I've corrected them that while I have the permit and rights to work in HK, I'm stationed in Canada and but he still wants me to go back.

I have never had someone interested in me and not at least have a phone interview. I've applied to Dubai and parts of Asia, I can't justify to fly to all the interviews and lastly, if the company is willing to fly me to their head quarters for an interview, why not, i get a vacation out of it (usually 1 day) but to tell you the truth, all you have to do is ask.

If you do not mind me asking, what position did you apply for?
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senior regional manager: I didn't apply, the recruited me for this position.
Not every company will fly you asap to see them, there are are few protocols and I'm not going to just hop on a plane. I do not want to waste their time and I wouldn't want them to waste mine.

Aside from the pay, I'm looking for perks such as housing, living expenses etc: ball park would be 50k+ a month HKD.

chinese firms will not fly you over for free... thats chinese bosses for you....

Honestly for a senior management position 50k hkd a month isnt very high. I suggest you try to ask more for housing allowence due to tax reasons. also keep in mind the tax here is capped at 15%. which industry is this regarding as I may have some more advice for you.


i personally made the hop across the pond and am living in HK.

send me a PM if you want some more advice.

I am not applying for chinese firms, even though the manager is Chinese (obvious, since it's in Hk) I've been working for a Fortune 50 and Fortune 100 company for the past 6 years and the job's i'm looking for, people flies expats for interviews all the time.

yeah, taking the first step in Hk is great, but it's tough at the beginning. The opportunities are endless there.

if its one thing i've learnt.. never work for chinese bosses

westernized ones are fine, im sure there are great chinese bosses out there but none so far that i've come across in my employment history and im chinese

damn chinamen bosses make me work OT w/no OT pay or benefits and 30% less then my legal wage :(

6793026,

The oportunities are only as good as your networks in HK. The changes in my lifestyle I found was that my work hours changed dramatically, instead of a 9am-9pm job, I was working 9-11 and also my phone was on during all hours. Furthermore, saturdays are pretty much in the office.

I also noticed I stopped cooking altogether and I found myself eating a higher fat diet.

Also if your getting paid less than the legal minimum in Hong Kong, thats pretty bad as IRC the legal minimum here is 2X hkd/hour. True the hours are longer and they may be spent less efficiently (ironic, im in the office right now) but the monetary rewards should justify it.

Also regarding flying people out, if they are a fortune 50 or 100 company, they should at least have a rep office in Canada, and instead of flying to HK, they may fly you to their HQs first. I suggest you look into this as it also shows they that you have researched their company rather then blindly applying.

Unless you have some specialized skill that that firm cant hire locally, I doubt they will consider you since you're in Canada. You really have to outshine the other candidates.

If you really want to work in Asia, I suggest you fly out there for a couple months and look. A few of my friends did that and were successful.

Did they have to get work visas?

I think most firms will do a phone/video interview before tapping into their traveling expenses. Are you sure it's legit?
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Some had HK ID's already, others were sponsored (these were friends with work experience)

But the job market now is a bit tough. It's picking up but there's a lot of skilled people looking for jobs as well and will take entry level positions.

I work for a global firm and recently there's been a lot of postings in the US offices, a few of my coworkers tried to apply for a transfer but were denied due to the fact that they didnt want to pay for the TN1 visa since there's a large pool of skilled unemployed workers in US that they can recruit from.

This.

6793026, I went back to HK last year for almost two months looking for work. I have valid business experience and 3-star HK ID. I didn't know about the insurance game they run there, so I interviewed for several of these "senior regional manager" positions.

Would you mind including the name of the company?

I'm not saying that my experience is completely accurate; just sharing an experience. They have nice offices in the nice part of town, but when it comes down to it, it's a numbers game. Not to mention, I swear, they only take office space in that part of town purely for image purposes. The more they recruit, the more they earn. I'm almost 100% sure that when you arrive for the interview, you'll get pitched and realize that it's a waste of time.

Either way, good luck and keep us posted.

The insurance gig is stupid. they do the same here like the Investor's group. the head of the company (very professional, very pretty, very rich lady) recruits and say she loves your attitude and passion and she wants you to be under her cause you can help her with her quota. She was for sure doing really well. nice office, power suit, nicely done hair, and a nice Cartier watch.

HK is just the same, the insurance is the last thing I want to be in. I know I would be a great guy for it but it would mean I have to throw away all of my experience in the industry that I am in. Only 3% of the people will last in the company and there are a lot of people who fail.

The people who are interviewing are like shocked when I told them I don't do personal insurance. I've seen their jaws dropped when they were ready to pitch me on blah blah blah. I said I was to be in that sector, I would be dealing with corporate customers with 100 staff under the branch and or, I do high end consolidation of people's wealth cause they have no time to manage their money, the vertical market would be expats or any high rollers.

I work in the IT industry and my resume is solid with a great track records along with full data and numbers to show for it as I've been in top sales YOY.

To be very honest with you, the only job I'm taking is with 40 - 50 HKD a month with entertainment expenses. With 10 years of experience and fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, I just have to wait for the right opportunities.

Just FYI, Dubai is hiring like crazy and they are really looking for very skills workers.

Its been more than 2 months, any updates? :)