JOB SEARCH

Recruitment agencies

Large international recruitment agencies specializing in topflight executive searches for multinational clients include:

• Hiedrick & Struggles (54/F, Bank of China Tower, 1 Garden Road, tel.2103 9318);
• Egon Zehnder International (Level 8, One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway; tel.2525 6340);
• Russell Reynolds Associates (24/F, Central Tower, 28 Queen’s Road, Central; tel.2523 9123); and
• Korn/Ferry International (2102–6 Gloucester Tower, Landmark, Central; tel.2971 2700).

Mid-market recruitment specialists such as Michael Page (tel. 2530 2000), Robert Walters (HK) (tel.2525 7808) and Executive Access (tel.2842 7136) recruit from junior executive level up.

Recruitment agencies Michael Page and Robert Walters have salary surveys available online, as does www.investhk.gov.hk, that allow you to check the going market rate for positions in different industries in Hong Kong.

Newspapers and magazines

The South China Morning Post is the main English-language source of job advertisements and the Saturday edition publishes a compendium of all advertisements placed that week, listed by industry. Other advertisements appear in the Standard, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Asian Wall Street Journal and HK Magazine. Trade magazines also sometimes advertise, for example Hong Kong Lawyer, FinanceAsia, Asia Money, Computer World HK, Capital Asia and HK Industrialist.

Websites

The South China Morning Post’s website www.classifiedpost.com.hk has the most comprehensive English language listing of jobs in Hong Kong. Other websites that allow you to search for jobs, post your CV and apply online – although they are limited to industries such as HR, admin, marketing, IT, engineering and the legal profession – include www.jobmarket.com.hk, www.hkjobs.com, www.bestjobshk.com, www.jobsdb.com and www.monster.com.hk. Monster also has finance, and sales and marketing messageboards and employer profiles. Career Times online (www.careertimes.com.hk) includes articles posted by industry insiders as well as advice on preparing CVs, networking and job hunting. The government’s Interactive Employment Service (www.jobs.gov.hk) offers job search and free job vacancy posting by employers.

EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

Most expats employed in Hong Kong are on full-time contracts. The simple reason for this is that living in Hong Kong is not otherwise an economically viable proposition unless, of course, you have family or friends here. That said, it is entirely possible to juggle several part-time jobs to make a decent income, which is commonly the case with English teachers.

Overseas contracts

If you are coming to Hong Kong via a company internal transfer or are being employed from abroad, it is definitely worth taking financial advice and consulting an accountant or lawyer over your contract structure, particularly with regard to tax. It is usually beneficial to have employers meet all ancillary costs rather than pay cash equivalents. For example, if your moving expenses are paid for by the employer, this avoids the same sum included in the employee’s pay packet being liable to salary tax. Contracts also commonly include substantial private health cover including dental insurance, membership to private sports clubs, bonuses or an end-of-service gratuity. Although extravagant expat packages still exist, companies are increasingly keeping costs down by proposing basic remuneration plus bonus.

Time-in, time-out

If your job involves extensive business travel, then you may be able to claim time apportionment of income for your work inside and outside Hong Kong, so that you are only taxed for the time when you are actually in the city – that is, only the portion of income related to services performed in Hong Kong is taxable. In this case:

• the employer must be incorporated outside Hong Kong;
• the employment contract must be negotiated, signed and executed outside Hong Kong, and must not be governed by Hong Kong law unless you can provide a reason for it; and
• the employee must have regional responsibility.

Rental reimbursement

Housing receives specialized treatment from the tax authorities in Hong Kong. According to Fergus Tong of US Asia Tax (www.usasiatax.com; tel.2851 8049):

Usually it is beneficial to separate out part of your remuneration as housing allowance on your employment contract, even if your employer is not paying a separate housing allowance. That way, you will normally be charged a lower taxable income rather than the entire housing allowance, provided that you actually spend the money on rental and you enter into an official lease agreement with a landlord.

A steady increase in the cost of high-end rentals ($70,000–100,000 per month) over the past few years has impacted on the value of housing packages.

Other items

Children’s education allowance is taxable, as is home leave passage.

Local contracts

Expats who pitch up in Hong Kong to look for work, or who switch jobs locally, are unlikely to be employed on an overseas contract but may be offered a ‘local contract’. Civil service contracts, including those for teachers, are usually offered on a fixed-term basis for two years with the option to renew. Companies operate on a month-by-month basis. Besides offering a salary, local contracts may also offer accommodation and education allowances.

A concise guide to legal aspects of a local contract as stipulated by the Employment Ordinance can be found at www.lrpu.labour.gov.hk/publicat/guide/index-e.htm. Hong Kong-specific items include:

• Extra payments. A contract should specify any end-of-year payments – a ‘thirteenth month’ discretionary payment is common in Hong Kong at Christmas or Chinese New Year – or end-of-contract gratuities, common in civil service/teaching contracts.
• Public holidays. Employees are entitled to 17 public holidays.
• Annual leave. An employee having been employed under a continuous contract for not less than three months is entitled to holiday pay. Annual leave varies – the statutory minimum for 12 months’ continuous work is 7 days, and 15 days or less is common.
• Maternity leave and pay. Companies are bound to provide 10 weeks’ maternity leave for employees who have been in continuous employment for 40 weeks immediately before the commencement of maternity leave. Leave pay is four-fifths of the employee’s normal wages.

In Hong Kong, it is common to work from Monday to Friday and a half day on Saturday. There is no minimum wage, except for foreign domestic helpers – see Chapter Eight, ‘Having and Raising Children’.