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The Asia Chronicles: ANATOMY OF AN ASIA PLACEMENT

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Asia Chronicles logo.jpghongkong003.JPG[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.]
Things are getting busier for us in Asia, in particular in HK / China. Robert just returned from a trip to Hong Kong, where he typically met with numerous firms, as well as a number of impressive partner candidates that we are representing, including a few that we are in the process of placing. It was an extremely productive trip.
Robert and I plan to be in Beijing for the China Finance Summit, May 19-20 (http://www.chinasummit.org/) (Chinese version of website more up to date than English, or so I am told). Should be an interesting and informative conference and I am very fortunate that a friend is arranging a VIP pass, so another good networking opportunity. I will head back to HK and Tokyo in early June, followed by Dubai in late June. Alexis will be at home in HK throughout May and June. Robert will be back in HK at some point in June as well.
In today’s and next week’s posts, we will very briefly and in a basic manner go over the typical process of an associate placement in Asia in today’s market. In short, in many cases (not always of course) we work with associate candidates for months and even years before a job search begins. Further, in this tough market, job searches for even the most qualified and sought after associate candidates can take months. In this post we will focus on the process of working with the firm side of placements currently in the works, by giving two examples, whereas next week the focus will be on the candidate side.
But first, here is a sampling (not all of course) of 15 of our current US associate needs (please note that firms continue to be extremely selective, due to market conditions):
-proj. finance / energy – senior / counsel (Mandarin required) – Hong Kong
-finance – junior to mid-level (Korean required) – Hong Kong
-proj. finance / leveraged finance – junior to senior (Korean required) – Tokyo
-PE / M&A – mid-level (Mandarin required) – Hong Kong (several of these)
-PE / M&A – mid-level (English only ok) – Hong Kong
-M&A / cap markets – mid-level (Korean required) – Hong Kong
-IP Litigation – senior / counsel (Mandarin required) – Hong Kong and Shanghai
-IP Transactional – mid-level (Mandarin required) – Hong Kong
-M&A / cap markets mix – mid-level (Mandarin required) – Beijing
-cap markets – mid-level (Mandarin required) – Beijing
-PE / M&A – junior to mid-level (Mandarin required – Beijing
-cap markets – junior to mid-level (Mandarin required) – Hong Kong
-proj. finance / energy – junior to mid-level (Mandarin required) – Hong Kong
-M&A – senior / counsel (Mandarin required) – Beijing and Shanghai
-M&A / cap markets – mid-level to senior (Japanese required) – Tokyo
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Firm A – M&A mid-level to senior spot in HK / China
***More after the jump.


We have been making placements at this particular HK / China firm since they first moved into the region several years ago, including their first lateral hire in HK / China. We helped this firm come up with its policies on various expat benefits, including children’s school tuition reimbursement (I am asked by firms to help on such matters frequently). Robert and I are close with the head partner of Asia for this firm and have had too many meetings with this person to count over the past few years, including formal meetings and casual over drinks. Every partner in the particular office that is hiring knows Robert and me well. We also happen to have introduced a very high level partner candidate recently in Asia to this firm and those talks have been ongoing and serious for some months.
The head partner for Asia told me in November, while we were meeting in his firm’s HK offices that they are getting some new M&A deals, notwithstanding the tough market, and will likely need to hire another very impressive M&A mid-level in first or second quarter ’09. It was a memorable meeting because I had a NY Times photographer following me around that day taking photos, including of this particular meeting, sort of like action shots they wanted I guess, so we had a good laugh. Later that day over some drinks at Sevva, this partner went into more details re the lateral they may need in early to mid ’09. This hire will likely be made soon and there are five finalists for the position – all candidates I provided, one in November, December, February, March and April. Pretty much every recruiter in the market has been aware of this opening for months (although likely not as far back as November), but it is a case of us simply having the best candidates to offer. It also does not hurt that we have great relations with and insight on this firm and, as with all firms we work with, our advocacy for a candidate means a lot and can be trusted.
Firm B – M&A mid-level spot in HK / China
M&A senior / counsel spot in HK / China
This firm is well established in HK / China so we can’t say that we placed their first lateral hire. We have though been active at this firm and placed associates there as recently as mid ’08. Last year, at their request, we advise this firm regarding a substantive revision of their expat package.
Although this firm’s recruiting department was not aware of a potential M&A associate need back in December, Robert and I were given the head’s up during a meeting then with a cap markets partner over lunch in HK. Although the market was especially slow then and a new M&A associate hire in early to mid ’09 was only a possibility at that point, it was on our radar.
In March, the M&A partner that is hiring called in order to discuss in detail candidates previously submitted and let me know that they are ready to start the interview process witht them. We have been in frequent contact, with multiple chats per week, since then regarding the search.
We started providing candidates in December and today there are three finalists for a M&A mid-level spot in HK, all candidates that I provided, one in November, one in March and one in April. Further, one of the candidates that did not make the short list of finalists is being considered as the leading candidate for a new mid-level M&A / cap markets mix spot in a mainland office.
Also, while Robert was at dinner with the M&A partner a couple of weeks ago in HK, he was told about a new urgent need for an M&A senior associate / counsel in a mainland office. Fortunately, our best M&A candidate at that level (someone that contacted me in ’07 and is now ready to make his move from US to China after two years of considering, with my help, the right timing) happened to be in HK, met with Robert the next day for lunch and he walked him over to the M&A partner’s office and made the introductions. This candidate is now being seriously considered after multiple days of interviews, in both HK and mainland.
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Our success with associate and partner placements in the Asia markets is not rocket science by any means. It is simply very hard work (all-nighters are routine for me, whether I am in US or Asia, I am not proud to say), a strong desire to serve the clients (both candidates and firms), and having the drive, entrepreneurial and people skills necessary to build the right relationships at client law firms and other entities.
We enjoy what we do and focus on our candidates’ careers and firm clients’ hiring needs, rather than placement fees. Sure, the financial rewards are great, but they happen by default really. Most in the recruiting industry, in my opinion, are held back due to greed, short-term outlook, incompetence and a huge sense of entitlement (not saying there are not other outstanding recruiters, but most in the industry can only provide an email courier service for your resume and focuses on headhunting too much at the associate level, rather than providing a consulting service that generates referrals).
We lay out all the information on the market, usually months and sometimes even years before a candidate’s job search begins and then we help steer them through the process. I am known to jump on a flight with a day or less notice to meet an interesting candidate, if need be, even if a job search is far off in future. A career move from US to Asia for the vast majority we work with is not something done on a whim (or for some type of adventure) but instead is considered over a period of months and in most cases years (especially those US associates that have an Asia background). US associates making a move within Asia usually have to consider serious career ramifications in any move, more so than moving down the street in NYC or London, for example.
Targeting the right firms takes tremendous knowledge in the market, including relevant partners’ plans for building their practice; partner and office personalities (critical issue in smaller overseas offices / groups); whether relevant partner is more deal maker than great technical trainer for associates; firms’ strategies for Asia (including those that are just on the drawing board and TBA, the type of information we get from casual and frequent meetings with senior partners); degree of responsibility at a given associate level (as a rule, much higher overseas no matter the firm, but the degree can vary greatly from the start-up operations to the much more established shops, both at practice and office level); track record and realistic future predictions of a firm’s partner promotions in Asia (some firms have more conservative plans for expansion than others in Asia and some plan to groom from within, while others hire more lateral rain makers) ; and the consequences, both positive and negative, of a firm’s practice focus on a particular candidate’s long-term career; whether a firm has a good track record of insulating against understaffing blow ups during the hot markets (in smaller overseas offices, being understaffed suddenly can be a nightmare for months); all expat benefit details on a firm; among many other factors. In other words, targeting firms is not just an organized print out of firm websites, rankings and other easy to access info, that recruiters typically use to bs on the fly (although some don’t even bother to do that minimum prep). Both Robert and I can talk for hours about the Asia markets on the fly, in great detail (both work and social life), just as easy as we can talk about Longhorns and Gator football, respectively. Alexis has recent experience as a biglaw US associate in Hong Kong, at a top 5 cap markets practice in Asia, lives in HK full time, and can provide terrific and unique market insight.
Anyways, more on the associate candidate side of the placement process next week…

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