I would really like to spend a couple years, or perhaps many years, working in an emerging economy (Malaysia, Phillipines, Vietnam, Thailand, open to others). I’d say I have 2 real years of finance experience but it is not as research oriented as I’d like it to be.
Networking is a challenge though, as I am currently employed and unable to pick up and just leave. Has anybody had success in this pursuit or do you know anybody who has? I know that the economy is trash, and even if I find anything it’s a huge risk to enter into a brand new job when the global economy may be in the process of tanking again, but that is a chance I am willing to take.
I am not only willing to work in developing countries. I am open to Canada and Australia as well, but the finance job market looks awful there.
Well, what do you want to do there? There are still jobs in every country as long as you’re good enough for the opportunity. But your “friends” on this forum have no idea what your background is and what your aspirations are, other than that it seems you have grown tired of living and working in your native country and want to explore a new challenge elsewhere.
I wouldn’t say there are a lot of “pure finance” jobs (equity research etc) here (I’m in Calgary), but there are definately options. If you go into the pseudo-finance type jobs (ie. business analysis, business development, etc) there’s many more with all the oil companies. One of these might suit you pretty good as most of the mid-large size oil companies headquartered here have operations all over the world. You might not get into say malaysia, but the company I’m with has offered to send me to either australia, algeria or russia in a few months. South America is also an option, but that’d be further down the road. Most oil producers would be similar.
Malaysia’s stock market is at all time highs! I bet at least some firms there have job openings for a token white/western guy. You will need to cold call though. They’re not going to post openings on eFinancialCareers.
Equity Research has been described to me as a slow-moving train wreck. There has been a lot of layoff’s the past several years and there is likely more to come. Commissions have come way down and there are way too many sell side research shops. many don’t add value.
Companies will always need coverage and ER won’t go away, but the industry needs to shrink, making it brutal to break in.
I’m based in India, an emerging/developing market, and research jobs are nearly impossible to find these days. Also post the turmoil, employers have been very choosy given the enormous pool of applicants they get and take their own time to zero in on a perfect candidate (who at times has more than 4 years of experience). I have seen so many job postings asking for that perfect candidate which keep getting relisted because there are so many people vying for that job.
I was in ER for over a year and recently I was asked to leave citing difficult times due to a listless stock market and poor business due to competition. ER is also no longer lucrative here with salaries reducing and people accepting pay cuts just so that they can enjoy another month or two of less stress in their jobs.
If you are looking for a finance job in developing markets, I would advise you to not restrict yourself to a particular segment and keep your options optn. Its a very tough world here too and a lot of luck is required to get what one wants here.