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The Asia Chronicles: Singapore Nexus

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[Ed. note: This post is authored by the Asia Recruiting Team at Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

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When considering a move to Singapore, it is more important than in other Asia markets that you have some type of credible connection to the city-state. This would seem ironic, since in Singapore firms routinely hire English-only US associates, so on the surface it would seem the perfect Asia market to target if you do not have an Asian background.

While it may have been true during the ’07 hiring boom that associates without Singapore ties were able to penetrate that market , this is no longer the case. US and UK firms all over Asia in ‘07 were dealing with a shortage of well-qualified US associate candidates, so even though Singapore was not hiring nearly as much as Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo, it was an easier place to land in ‘07 for someone who had no connection at all to Asia.

Today, things are quite different. While the number of openings in Asia are once again relatively high (especially in Hong Kong / China and Singapore), there are many more qualified candidates for these positions than there were in ‘07. A number of our Singapore Biglaw client firms are hiring now, but are being understandably very selective.

One of the key factors our candidates for Singapore are dealing with is the issue of why, exactly, they are moving to Singapore. Why Singapore, why this particular paradise tropical location? Unprepared candidates or recruitment consultants are sometimes caught off guard. Were your parents or grandparents born in Singapore, were you born in Singapore, do you have an aunt in Kuala Lumpur? Think about what you can come up with in terms of nexus before contacting us, let alone sitting for an interview.

These days, a US associate who is natively fluent in Mandarin and from a top NYC firm can expect at least an offer or two in Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai if they work with a respected consultancy, but the same associate could go without an offer in Singapore (of course, there are many Singaporeans with Chinese background). The reason is that Singapore firms are not interested in hiring a US associate with Chinese background who will likely lateral to Hong Kong / China within a year or two anyway. Thus, for those with non-Singapore Asian backgrounds, it is even more important to show a Singapore connection.

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Your nexus to Singapore does not have to be incredibly strong in order to make it credible that you can commit to that market for potentially the long-term. In fact, there are not enough Singaporean US associates at top US firms to fill the positions in Singapore. So Singapore US practices do not have the luxury of hiring only Singaporeans.

For example, we have been able to place non-Asians in Singapore recently who have past life experience in Southeast Asia outside of Singapore. Singapore firms find it credible that such persons can commit to Singapore for the long-term because they clearly have a demonstrated interest in Southeast Asia and speaking only English is a better fit for Singapore.

We have also been able to place PRC national US associates in Singapore who have any type of family connection or past experience in Singapore. Of course, we have also been able to place associates in Singapore who are already in Singapore almost regardless of their Singapore connection. Thus, once you arrive on the ground in the employment of an international firm, this “nexus” impediment has been resolved.

Singapore is no different from other “paradise markets”, such as Miami or Honolulu. Just as in Singapore, every person applying to work at a firm in Miami or Honolulu without a personal connection there is going to have red flag attached to their application. Most US Biglaw associate applicants to Singapore firms do have this red flag and most hires in Singapore manage to overcome this red flag, but it can be more important than ever in today’s very selective lateral market to have some credible story regarding your nexus.

As always, top US practices in Singapore are going to have solid JD academics and solid US firm experience as pre-requisites for US associates landing there, no matter how strong the Singapore connection. However, personal ties to Singapore can help greatly and cause, for example, a candidate for Singapore without the perfect practice background fit to be chosen over another US associate candidate with a better practice fit, similar academics, and from similar type of US firm.

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