Internships in Shanghai and Hong Kong

PWC Internships – Shanghai & Hong Kong

“Take advantage of one of a limited number of opportunities to work at PwC this summer.You’ll be given a real taste of life at the heart of the firm, working alongside graduate trainees and experienced professionals on live and interesting client projects. By experiencing life inside the world’s leading professional services firm you’ll develop many new skills and qualities that will be valuable for your future career.

If you are in your penultimate year of study, you are fluent in Mandarin/Cantonese and you are looking to pursue your career in China upon graduation then we would encourage you to apply for our PwC China Insight Internship. PwC China operates in one of the fastest growing economies of all time, with an impressive range of global clients and exhilarating projects. Therefore it’s no surprise that China provides fantastic career opportunities for ambitious and adventurous business professionals. We are currently active recruiting for Assurance summer interns in our Shanghai and Hong Kong offices. Start your journey from here for Shanghai; and here for Hong Kong.

Wanting the City life?

Reminder! If you want to attend The City Course you must get your applications in by June 11!

The City Course

14 – 18 September 2009
Closing Date: Thursday 11 June 2009

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The City Course is a five-day non-residential course guaranteed to give you an insider’s perspective on a career in the City.

For an entire week, top financial firms will open their doors to you. Through a series of in-house workshops, case studies, presentations and discussions, you’ll get an up-close-and-personal insight on working life in London’s financial centre. You’ll start early, work hard, and come away with a detailed understanding of how the City works.

Why Commercial Awareness is so valuable

OK, so you’ve heard the term “Commercial Awareness”. You may have seen it on some employer websites. But what exactly do they mean? Well, shockingly, the clue is in the name! It is certainly about your awareness or understanding of the commercial world. But I would extend that further and suggest it is more about your awareness of the commercial world and the specific market in which the organisation operates. This wider definition can also include organisations that do not operate on a commercial basis. For example, if you want to work as a scientist you will need to know your area of expertise as well as the issues and environment your employers would work in.

Target China

I recently attended Target China, a forum run by UCL Careers Service for Chinese students seeking work back home in China. The event is specifically for UCL students so I was not able to publicise it earlier. Congratulations to the UCL careers service for putting on a very well co-ordinated event even down to having traditional erhu music on arrival!

Of the employers who attended, some were law firms that might be of interest to Royal Holloway students considering converting to a law career after graduation. They were Mayer Brown,  Linklaters and BDO Stoy Hayward who offer a variety of opportunities for graduates.

Consultancies represented included PWC and Harvey Best who were detailing their operations in China, Hong Kong and India.  For IT and business students, IBM spoke about their international graduate programme based in the UK.

For students returning back to China or Hong Kong the message from employers was clear – make sure you have the right skills for the job and that your command of Mandarin, Cantonese and English, where appropriate,are of professional standard.

The event was recorded for future podcasting. I will publish details of this when I have them.

Has my career been credit crunched? India

This is the third in a series of articles considering how the Credit Crunch has affected graduate opportunities in different parts of the world. The first part in the series looked at career options for international students seeking work in the UK. The second part highlighted growth areas in the Middle-East. Others in the series will be linked from here when they are published. Because information can get out of date quickly, the following is only a guide. Please use the comments tag to share your experiences.

Background:

The job market in India is currently very mixed. The latest Business Today Employment Outlook Survey suggests business confidence is down by five index points and the employment outlook index has only grown by one index point. What does this mean? It means that employment is continuing to grow but not at the rate expected. However employers are increasing employment activity. According to the recent outlook survey, the employment growth prospects for the IT, ITES, manufacturing & engineering sectors are buoyant while financial services and telecoms are projected to witness a reverse swing in their hiring activities.

PWC India state that the economy is growing at 8% p.a. and that the issues in the financial sector may encourage the expertise to move from that sector to other growth areas.

However, the credit crunch is already having an effect on employment in India. Manpower India have suggested that just under 10% of those employed in financial services, insurance, IT,  and IT Enabled sectors could risk job loss as a result of the financial meltdown. The Times of India quoted Dr Naresh Malhan of Manpower India who believes that the overall employment market will remain strong with continued growth in manufacturing and construction. There is concern however that even if other sectors are not directly affected, global companies may use this period to shed un-necessary staff internationally, including in India. This could have a knock-on effect for graduates because highly qualified and experienced staff (for example from Lehman Brothers and Merill Lynch) will be recruited by smaller companies who may traditionally have preferred graduates.

The latest labour market information from India suggests that the overall net employment outlook (Oct – Dec) to fall from 43% to 45%. The Manpower index measures the difference between employers who plan to add jobs and those who expect to cut them, and India topped the 33 countries surveyed by Manpower despite the marginal fall from the previous quarter. According to the survey, India’s services-heavy economy grew the slowest in 3-½ years in the June quarter, weighed down by seven-year high interest rates and record oil prices. Growth in the services sector, which accounts for more than half of India’s output, slowed to 10 percent in the June quarter from 11.2 percent a year ago. Financial, insurance and real estate services growth declined to 9.3 percent from 12.6 percent. But more manufacturers are optimistic on hiring, with the sector index up 14 percentage points to 44 percent for the quarter, according to the survey. Miners and construction firms said they expected more employees joining, with a net of 54 percent looking to hire, 9 percentage points over the prior quarter.

A good source of information about the Indian economy and business news is The Economic Times and students wishing to follow careers in India should read it regularly.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has actively called on business leaders not to cut jobs in the current economic climate. Business leaders have been sympathetic but there is a difference between not cutting jobs and actively recruiting.

So where are the jobs?

Professional Services

In an economic downturn there are usually businesses that benefit and Professional Services seem to have a positive outlook in the different regions covered already in this series. In India, Deloitte have announced they are looking to recruit another 2000 employees by the end of the current financial year. They are looking to expand into three broad areas in India-strategy and operations, human capital, human resources and technology. PWC, E&Y and KPMG are all continuing to hire graduates at various professions across audit, tax, and advisory services. It is best to consider applying to local offices first. Remember that many candidates just think about applying to the Big Four but there are many smaller and specialist consultancy firms who are keen to benefit from fresh graduates.

Banking and Finance

The Government of India is considering to lift the virtual ban on recruitment in the Regional Rural Banks – RRB’s. According to CareerFinance.com this would lead to recruitment of approx.18,000 people in the 88 Regional Rural Banks over the next four years.  The ban was lifted in 2004 but there has been limited recruitment since.

Oriental Bank of Commerce is applying for 100 licenses to open more branches in India. The bank already has license for 60 branches, which would be opened during this year.

Chennai is set to benefit from Standard Chartered Bank which is looking to double its existing 5,000 staff over the next five years, making Chennai the bank’s biggest technology and operations hub.

Government and Public Sector

The Government and public sector still remain very significant employers. Whilst many Government functions are being adopted by private enterprises, there are many walk-in graduate opportunities across a wide range of professions. Government jobs are not centralised and many vacancies are advertised locally or at State level. However Sarkari-Naukri and 123oye both have credible Government jobs sections.

IT and ITES

The IT and ITES sector has been heavily dependent on the financial sector. The top five IT service suppliers depend on the finance sector for 45% of their business. This is already having an affect with Satyam’sshares fell to a five-year low recently. Tata have also published disappointing results but are currently recruiting in a range of fields.  With about 50% of all business coming from the US there are going to be further ramifications across the sector – for example, the merging of banks will consolidate outsourcing contracts and will cut back on duplicated work for different clients.

However the forecast is promising. The industry has been proactive and understanding the need to reduce the dominance of US contracts. The sector already has 35% of the business process outsourcing market globally. According to ZDNet, Arup Roy, a senior research analyst at Gartner, noted that while India still ranks number-one as the outsourcing destination of choice, Indian outsourcers have made a “conscious effort” to shift low-end work to other countries.

Careers in IT and ITES are still strong with hundreds of walk-in opportunities for graduates. The International Job Online website usually has dozens of such vacancies courtesy of our Indian jobs partner.  Other vacancies can be found here

Retail

The big players are very much moving into the Indian market. According to the Indian Economy blog, “Tesco has chosen to come with Tatas, while Reliance has tied up with Wincanton. The big daddy of them all, Wal-Mart is coming to India courtesy the Bharti group.” But what sort of jobs are involved in retail?

It isn’t just stacking shelves!

Tesco are currently advertising a wide range of roles through their Hindustan Service Centre . In IT they are currently recruiting in development, programming, testing, project management and quality assurance. In Business Services there are roles in finance, estates, advertising, general and process management. Tesco are also recruiting in finance. Their careers site is here. As you can see, retail isn’t just about working in a store. It is about all the back-room activity that needs to be in place to ensure the store is managed efficiently and maximises income. Think also of the supply chain – which companies will benefit from the superstore revolution? Logistics and supply chain companies will definitely benefit and there is continued growth in these sectors.

Finding those jobs

The Careers Centre has some resources that may help. Ask to see our copy of “Your first job – from campus to career”by Rajiv Khurana. We also have a very useful guide to designing CVs for India.  The International Job Online website has a comprehensive range of vacancies in India. Additionally, Naukri is one of the easiest job websites to navigate. Manpower have a useful, if a bit random, list of recruitment agencies here. It is better to find a recruitment agency that is embedded in the sector you want to work in. Remember, if you are uploading a CV to a jobs website, check the privacy statement on the site – who is going to be able to access your personal information? Be cautious about uploading CVs and make sure the site is authentic.

The next article in this series will focus on graduate careers in China.

Publication w/c 17 November 2008

Has my future been credit crunched? Middle-East

This is the second of the short series on how the recession is affecting graduate prospects around the world. The first considered opportunities for international students who wished to work in the UK.  Please do leave comments and share your experiences or concerns.

Dubai

Middle-East and North Africa (MENA)

The Middle-East has, so far, largely escaped the turbulence of markets around the world. Investment is increasing and employment prospects remain high.  The increased price of oil has ramifications across many sectors including legal, finance, logistics, engineering, property and of course the job market. For example, it is expected that last year’s near 8% growth in employment in UAE will continue to grow despite the forecast elsewhere. Omar Bouhadiba, executive vice-president of Mashreqbank said “Times are good for everyone in this part of the world.”

But even in the Middle-East things aren’t quite as good as they have been. It has become more of an employer’s market – that is when the number of vacancies is significantly less than the number of applicants. Employers and their representatives can become more selective.

Banking and Finance:

Wide-scale job losses that are occurring in other parts of the world are having limited effect on MENA. Equity markets in in Dubai, Doha and Saudi Arabia have certainly been hit but not at the same dramatic level that has occurred in other countries However the closure of Lehman Brothers globally has resulted in short term temporary job losses. The expected job cuts at HSBC will concentrate on the UK and US offices and should have little effect in the Middle East.  Banks that are suffering in their own domestic markets are turning to the Middle East to generate increased revenues.

Consultancy is still a strong profession. PWC, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte are all advertising positions in the middle-east. There may be a possibility of working in the UK with one of these firms before moving overseas but candidates have found that, by applying to their home regions first, their chances of success improve.

The Gulf Times have reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland has already incorporated ABN AMRO’s operations in the Gulf and is looking to expand into other key business areas.  It will also develop it’s first Islamic product range. Such expansion will be phased and suggests employment scope for new graduates in key fields such as wealth management and investment banking.

International students should also be aware of the increased interest in the Gulf region shown by Russian banks. Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group has bought half of Renaissance Capital and intends to move into the Middle-East market to exploit the current financial crises.

The financial sector is connected by the vital web of information services. With growth within the sector there is growth within information service providers. Bloomberg have a consistent recruitment for Arabic speakers to be based around the world but particularly in MENA.  For other IT, Microsoft are actively recruiting in North Africa and Kadi Arabia have several positions based in Egypt.

Legal Services

The high oil revenues and continued investment in MENA have provided increased opportunities for Private Equity lawyers as well as oil and gas commercial solicitors. For those working in the energy sector the rewards can be considerably higher than for solicitors working in financial services. The Dubai Corporate Counsel Group indicate that the top level solicitors in the energy sector earn $400,000 p.a. compared to $270,000 in the financial sector. England and Welsh legal qualifications lead to earnings second only to those with USA qualifications. Scotland has its own legal system and those qualified in Scotland may need further training and qualifications before working in the Middle-East.

Law firms that are currently expanding in the Middle-East include Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose, Clifford Chance and Dewey & LeBoeuf. Positions are advertised locally but are often available through international recruitment companies. Legalweek.com has a range of positions on offer and some useful links to recruitment companies.

Real Estate

Property continues to be big business in the middle east. A study by Jones Lang LaSalle researched opinions from over 350 developers and property investment businesses with over 50% of respondents believing that the middle-East market will outperform other regions over the next two years. However there should be a note of caution. Funding for real-estate investments is being limited by banks and that will effect the market.

Roles are varied and include requirements for marketing and sales executives, architectural, engineering and surveying professions, financial and acquisitions consultants. A range of roles can be viewed here

Where can I start looking?

My favourite jobs sites are Naukri and GulfTalent because they are so easily searched by region and profession.  UAEGraduate is a useful if somewhat less intuitive site for jobs. Less specific jobs websites like Total Jobs sometimes have useful vacancy information for graduates – well worth a look.

Some agencies (from GulfTalent)

• ABC Consultants
• Alchemy Recruitment
• Alltek Limited
• Architect and Designer Rec…
• Aspire Resourcing
• Baker Regent
• Beresford Blake Thomas (BBT)
• Budge Recruitment
• CapioME
• Carter Murray
• Catalyst Search & Selection
• Catenon Worldwide Executiv…
• Command Recruitment Group
• Davidson Scott Mitchell (D…
• Duneden
• Executive Profiles
• Executive Solutions
• Expat Careers International
• First Point Group
• Fischer HRM
• Focus Direct
• Genesis Associates
• Gulf Connexions
• Hays
• Horizon International
• Huxley Associates
• IBS Management Consultants
• IQ Selection
• Intuit Management Consulta…
• Kawas Consulting
• LPC Recruitment Services
• Leaders
• Logistics Recruitment
• MRL Financial
• Ma Foi Management Consulta…
• Manpower Professional
• Mattinson Wright
• NOW Careers Middle East
• Oldbury Howard
• Orion Group
• Parc Group
• Pathway Resourcing
• People Source
• Quantum Search
• Redstone Associates
• Richardson Management Cons…
• Select Appointments
• Select Human Resources
• Skill Set Consulting (SSC)
• Talent2
• Team One Dubai

The next article in this series will cover graduate prospects in India.

Publication due w/c 10 November

Events Today: Annual RHUL Careers Fair

The high profile Royal Holloway Careers Fair will open its doors at 11am in the Picture Gallery. Remember that employers are generally here to “sell” one or two career paths but that does not mean that there are no other careers available – for example, PWC recruits for accountancy but they also need IT professionals, human resources etc – ask them! Also remember to try to get their business card because if you do apply to them in the future, it might be useful to mention you have met them.  For more information on how to make the most out of careers fairs click here.

Not all employers will recruit international students. A list of employers recruiting international students can be found here - bear in mind that this is accurate as we can make it but if you find different information please let us know!

Organisations attending today who have confirmed they are recruiting international students are: Proctor & Gamble, JPMorgan, Tessella, Enterprise Rent-a-car, NDS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Logica, Research in Motion, Jacobs, Deloitte, Ernst & Young.  Some of these companies may only take students at certain levels or on certain types of permits – or potential to achieve them. Others have not confirmed and may be worth speaking to directly.

You can view videos from employers attending today by clicking here.

Full list of organisations attending today:

ACCA

The Actuarial Profession

Army

The College of Law

Deloitte

Dstl

Enterprise Rent-a-Car

Explore Learning

Ernst & Young

Fidessa

Grant Thornton

Jacobs Engineering

JP Morgan Securities

Kerry Foods

Logica

Mazars

NDS

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Procter & Gamble

Projects Abroad

QCC Information Security

Research in Motion

Royal Air Force

Royal Navy

Teach First

Tessella

Has my future been credit crunched?

 

Storm clouds over the City

For many students and graduates this is a time of significant uncertainty. The newspapers are full of gloomy headlines and the effect of the financial crises is clearly global.  In this short series we will try to explore how the credit crunch might affect your career prospects when you go back home. We will consider graduate prospects in the USA, South America, Australia, Middle-East, Africa, China and India.

So what does a bank closing mean for you? What is getting a job in a recession like?  We cannot cover everywhere with this short series but please do post comments and your experiences no matter where you are from. Your experiences can be very valuable for other people and might dispel some of the myths of the current job market. You might also find this article from the BBC about the last recession in the UK (not career specific). This series is not going to concentrate on just careers in the financial sector but the current turmoil has ramifications across each economy.

For those who aren’t sure of what the Credit crunch is (or are too afraid to ask!) there are some basic guides here and here. Or ask an economics student. Essentially it is a sudden loss of the availability of credit and banks start to worry about liquidity. Credit becomes more expensive and institutions struggle to finance their business.

Careers in the UK

The introduction of the 2 year Post-Study Work immigration status gives international students the opportunity to work in the UK and gain valuable experience. However you must be realistic. Applying for the visa does not guarantee you a job. All it does is allow you to join the Home and EU candidates in applying. You must keep your expectations moderate.

Also bear in mind that at the moment there are few experts. The pace of change in the economy is causing uncertainties. Employers recruiting this week may not be recruiting next. Some employers may keep recruitment at a very low level until they are sure of their requirements. Please also note that the information below was correct at time of writing but may become obsolete quickly.

I wanted a job in banking but there’s no point now.

With that attitude, perhaps. It is certainly easy to think that and the media keeps telling us about job losses in the City and banks cutting staff. Clearly there are some jobs that are going to be harder to get into than others – no change there then. And yes, if you want to be involved in Short Selling then this probably isn’t your time.

But banks are still recruiting. Merrill Lynch is currently advertising graduate roles in sales, trading and structuring, IT and capital markets. Barclays Capital and UBS are actively looking to hire analysts although there are suggestions that positions might be deferred for a year (i.e. successful applicants will not start work until Autumn 2009). The situation will continue to change and each company will evaluate its own requirements and yes there will be fewer jobs than before but that does not mean the sector shouldn’t be considered. Perhaps think about different roles within banking. There is a perception that smaller investment banks such as Jeffries, Houlihan Lokey and Gleacher Shacklock recruit only from the top Oxbridge colleges. The reality is that yes, some employers do tend to recruit only from a select University background. However by looking through staff profiles on these bank websites you often see greater diversity than you would expect. They are always worth trying but just be aware that they may not have policies on recruiting international graduates.

Banking? Maybe I meant the “City”.

Often people confuse banking with the “City”. The City has many different types of institutions within it. So what happens during a financial downturn like we are facing now? In fact, who “benefits” from a financial downturn? The big one surely must be in financial regulation. The UK’s Financial Services Authority is currently recruiting through its graduate schemes – Graduate Development, Legal Development, Management Accountancy and Actuarial Development.

Consultancy / Professional Services

Professional Services are involved in much of the mergers and acquisitions currently taking place. PWC have not decreased their graduate intake this year and in some business areas may look to increase opportunities. Both PWC and E&Y have a strong on-campus presence this year. With many of these organisations the roles available may be different from before but that just reflects the current market. For example, Ernst & Young are very keen to encourage applicants to their non accountancy roles and are running a session on campus to discussion those career options. For those still interested in accountancy, there may well be options to work with some of the mid-sized City firms such as Moore Stephens and CRA.

Other roles in the City include insurers Lloyds of London who are continuing to recruit for their graduate programme. And of course, all of these organisations rely on the efficient exchange of information. Thomson Reuters have been recruiting in journalism, finance and IT. Their competitor, Bloomberg, are also advertising roles for graduates.

Are you surprised?

If you think about it, there is logic to these companies continuing to recruit at graduate level. Graduates are cheap. Yes the salaries may be excellent graduate salaries (and they often are) but compare that salary to that of somebody in middle or upper management and it doesn’t take long to see where cost savings can be made.

So things are not as desperate as you might think. There are still career prospects in the financial sector but we have to accept that the roles and priorities have changed for the moment. Competition for jobs in the City is always high and the current situation could increase that.

There are several useful online resources that can help you find out more about different business environments. Efinancialcareers tries to keep up to date with events in the City. The Telegraph newspaper has an awkward online version of its finance careers guide and Careers Tagged is a new resource with substantial information about a range of career options.

Ways in

The conventional route into the City is through a graduate training scheme. However these can be costly for employers and, in the current market, they have limited opportunities. There are often other routes in and you should consider if they are appropriate for you.

Get Qualified First!

It may be possible for some graduates to secure positions in accountancy by undertaking the qualifications first. This can be a costly experience and there may be issues with immigration visas. The different qualification routes have varying requirements so it is worth looking at the ACA, ACCA , CIMA and AAT. You can dramatically increase your employability by undertaking these qualifications with the potential to enter City firms at a level higher than most graduate entry.

Internships

Some banks are not currently recruiting because they have offered positions to last year’s interns. Whilst this should not be your expectation there is little doubt that interning can boost your potential. Interns are favoured by regulators and companies because they can try out prospective employees without having to commit to recruiting them. There are internships at many City firms despite the financial crises. Even small Investment Banks like Gleacher Shacklock and Greenhill have a number of internship opportunities. However you must be applying now for internships in summer 2009. Internships are advertised on company websites and careers websites.

Speculative Applications

A speculative application is where you send a CV and letter to a company in case they may have a suitable job. It can be more effective than you think. Sometimes companies are reluctant to advertise vacancies online because they may get hundreds of applications for one job. Speculative applications are often kept on file and referred to. To make this work your CV and letter must be extremely effective, targeted to a specific job in a specific company. You can take advantage of market intelligence to increase your chance of success. If it looks as though a company is going to pursue a new business area then perhaps you can market yourself as being a useful part of that process. Some companies do not accept speculative applications and state it on their websites. You should respect that.

So, not as bad as you thought?

If you are thinking about a career in the City, be it in a bank, regulator or wherever, you need to be clever – not just academically but also in how you go about developing your own skills and making yourself slightly more employable than the many others who might be interested in the same job.  The key task whilst at University is to build up your knowledge of the sector beyond your academic requirements. Many organisations recruit from most degree backgrounds so you don’t have to be an economist to apply. But they all expect you to know something about what they do. What do the different roles mean? What makes one company different from its competitor? You need in-depth knowledge and, quite frankly, if you had to read the links above to find out about the credit crunch, things aren’t looking good!

The next article in this series will cover MENA.

Due for publication w/c November 3 2008

 

Events Today: PWC presentation for Chinese students

HLT2   5.00pm

PricewaterhouseCoopers is the global market leader for tax services and the world’s leading global network of audit and assurance firms. The company is expanding its operations in China and this talk will focus on opportunities within the firm for new graduates. Any Chinese national from any academic department and year may attend this presentation.  There is no need to bring your CV.

Is the outlook so bad?

Yesterday’s Graduate Select event was very succesful given the current climate in the financial sector. Whilst there were fewer exhibitors to previous years, those who were there were certainly actively recruiting in various fields. Before we opened to the public I surveyed as many of the exhibitors as I could to find out where they stood on recruiting international students. The response was very positive – more companies welcomed applications than previously. This could be because the two-year Post-Study Work visa makes international students more attractive, it could also be because international students have qualities and attributes that home students may not – for example, experience of other cultures, ability to adapt to change, and languages.

The careers centre will update our database of international student friendly employers soon and I will publish the link again then. In the meantime the following companies spoke to me yesterday about their policies for recruiting international students. All  of the list below recruit international students:

British Telecom (BT)

Royal Bank of Scotland

Sungard

Sky Broadcasting

Ernst & Young

PA Consulting Group – Highly Skilled Migrant Programme only

CRA International – Forensics

PWC

Diamond Consultants

Mercer