BACKGROUND:
Accounting degree from a mediocre school in Vancouver, BC
Worked in big company’s accounts payable for 3 years, getting nowhere
Doing Canadian CPA and CFA
Poor Chinese immigrant, 25 years of age, male
GOAL:
To work in an IB/PE operational role in US/Canada
CONCERN:
I understand my chances are slim. Would experience from China have some recognition in US/Canada? Companies there usually offer unpaid interns to start with.
Ask yourself this… why do you think you aren’t getting anywhere after being in big company AP for 3 years?
In my opinion, experience in China would likely have no / minimal impact in North America. You are probably better off going to a big 4 to be an audit slave for 3 years in Vancouver. That would probably be the best way of improving your chance at PE / IB given your situation, but that wouldn’t guarantee anything.
how would being in a IB/PE operational role (BO?) be better than AP at a big company?
If you mean FO roles, your chances are close to zero coming back from China.
well the OP can make his/her way to BO role at banks than transfer to funds - hedge funds or PE funds - and get MS in tax or CPA or both.
I have said it a few times on AF and others can correct if they see it differently…This is from my experience at the funds I’ve worked at in NYC…Controllers made 120k base and bonus up to 100%…CFO is out of the question…CFOs make same if not more than senior research analysts and even on par with PMs (in my case all in they made $1M…My experience is that they’re salary matches with PM’s.
As to how to get there…i’m not sure…maybe others with direct exp can join in…I’d assume join big 4??
IB, whats the turnover like at your fund?
OP, going to China will be a step backwards if your goal is to work in the US or Canada. Companies here will not appreciate your China work experience, and you’ll become more culturally distanced from Western countries.
Since you did not mention a visa, I will assume work authorization is not an issue. Since you are young and seem to be looking for any kind of bank job, there should be a way to do this. You should aggressively apply to everything you see online, and have someone whose opinion you trust edit your applications and advise you on strategy.
pretty low. higher you go and more front office you go, lower the rate.
Yeah, going back to China is a horrible idea and likely to eliminate or drastically reduce your chances of ever working in the states again unless you were planning some sort of grad program post China in the states but that’s costly.
why would you want to go to a third world country… Xi is going to be in power until he dies of old age now…just last year the nobel peace laureate - Liu Xiaobo - died in Chinese prison after being arrested for for his pro stance on democratization and merit based country…Well along with thousands of other civil rights, human rights, lawyers, and any business men/women or politicians who do not agree with Big Brother just gets erased…
I try to be as progressive as possible but when people from this country come to the US thinking they are superpowers or some elite class…for the lack of better words…makes me chuckle. Living in the UWS or NYC in general… I see/saw many apartments get gobbled up by Chinese millionaires…A lot of them have families that have ties with the Big Brother hence have the cash to burn…All cash on $5M apartments…Friday night, after work…as I walk out of my elevator…whatever happened to the smell of slow grilled new york strip or mac n cheese or baked idaho potato?? Now you smell some hint of egg rolls and wok as if you’re strolling in china town…
Thanks everyone, decided to be an audit slave for a few years.
Yup and communism and lack of merit based social ladder and civil liberties is the best!! China!!!
China isn’t even communist. Sorry mate, that rebuttal sounds like the westerners on reddit regurgitating cookie cutter propaganda about China that western media sells.
doesnt work anymore, the world has different value systems and the Chinese one is superior now. Less violent crime, less irrationality, less mindless patriotism, science based approach and what not
you guys actually vote? Thought Xi jIng ping pong just announced that he would remain as the leader of China for indefinitely… Doesn’t Hong Kong always fight against China to stay liberal and free and merit based with decent civil liberties they enjoyed while under UK powers? Hong Kong actually voted but not anymore…
So you’re telling me all those oligarchs with connections with the government with casino, high rise, office, amusement park permits were won in a fair bidding process? wow that is news to me. Yeah go to China then lol…sounds like a Disney World to me…with only difference is that everything is made in factories by 15 year olds working 20 hours a day in a 200,000 capacity “dorms”…
Oh yeah superior indeed…Single handedly shut down MeToo movement by deleting all internet posts related to the movement…Not to mention hundreds of threats and arrests…hahahaha…Superior indeed if you’re a rich fat Chinese with connections with the government and in love with assaulting women and getting away with it. pathetic…
haha good summary
Good choice OP. Being an audit slave is a good move. It might not get you what you want in the end, but it will open doors for you.
His name is Xi Jinping. I understand in American culture it is considered okay to be disrespectful but without any originality that comment just resembles a White suburban kid trying too hard to be edgy.
Yes, it is fantastic he has term for life now. His vision to elevate China into the worlds dominant country can be carried out in a methodological fashion without worrying about 5 year election cycles and meaningless debate from people who think they are smarter than they actually are. HK was a lucky country which the British had to develop in order to launder money that was stolen from the colonies giving them their ‘Uncle Tom’ mentality. they can fight and try whatever they want but they belong to China and they will do Chinas bidding sooner rather than later.
China is corrupt, yes, that is not a newsflash. So is the United States of America, in America they just call this ‘lobbying’ and pretend they are better than others. China will get better at functional corruption and then they will truly blow America out of the water. Child labour is an unfortunate problem that plagues all countries that are not part of the ‘first world’ i.e any country that raped indegenous cultures and stole all the land and wealth, however with development comes progress and China has comprehensively thrown down a marker and set the pace for the emerging world.
The MeToo movement is garbage, a laughable movement started by the second most privileged demographic on the planet (White Women) appropriated from Black Women that silenced Black Womens voices and focuses on inconsequential rubbish that enables them to circle jerk each other and feel good about themselves. Their hypocrisy and myopic narcissism is astonishing and thank god China banned that nonsense. We don’t need toxic Western culture making its way around the world.
Furthermore, America cannot even be consistent with the principles that they founded they society on and they want to point fat mayo stinking fingers at other that do not view the same manner and force them using threats to do their bidding.
Rather than worrying about ‘rich fat Chinese’ maybe they should worry about the ‘rich fat American’ who is a president despite being a rapist.
Pathetic.
Why would a democratic process be better than what China is doing? What are the alternative examples of successful developing democracies? Brazil or India? Those places are doing much worse than China. Maybe a heavy hand is better than a corrupt, flawed democracy for countries that are not ready for such a system. Of course, China’s system has corruption, but switching to another system would likely result in even more corruption, as exemplified by the two other countries above.
Plus, the most successful other countries that are full of Chinese people - Singapore and Hong Kong, prospered under basically authoritarian rule. They’re not completely comparable to China, as they are small, island, urban nations. However, I see a lot of parallels between these countries in terms of economic focus, effective development, and focus on long term goals. One benefit of being ruler-for-life is that you start to plan for 50 year growth, not 2 year growth up to your next election.
Challa - haha clearly a small dick guy.
communism was fun, would take it anyday
to be fair. i would have thought that a change in power every 4 or 8 years would be destabilizing.
but the us and many other countries are pretty stabilized to my surprise.
the us is still the richest country in the world. We have so much financial assets that we will prolly remain the richest country until i die! 50+ years.