Asian prodigal sons begin to return home 24th August 1997 Back to News Menu Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine Join the APMF email list Monthly updates on new content

It may well be that the Internet has changed in the past two years, but the reumes deposited at the Orient Pacific Century resume service have shown a discernable trend towards Asian professionals, who have gained US and European experience wanting to return home. Not only that, but fortuitously employers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia in particular are asking for them... Certainly part of that is due to the increasing salaries and quality of life style in the countries of their birth, but some may well be due to a genuine wish to assist in the growth of the Asia-Pacific century on the ground. Some may just feel like our own columnist, that the craving for a genuine Laksa or to hear the waves rolling on the beach at Batu Ferringhi is just too getting too much. In the new globalised Asia there is much demand for those with experience in e Western technical and management know-how, for multi-language skills, and for top level foreign labour that feels at home in a region that can often wear down the Western expatriate. Some of our own learnings on expat recruitment also reflect this. Certainly in Singapore and Hong Kong at least, salaries match and often exceed what Asian expatriates are receiving abroad. At a time when the trend in Asia is from heady growth which often outpaced capabilities, to increasing professionalism in both management and technical practice, now more than ever, the prodigal sons and daughters are coming home... Kristi Heim from the Asian Wall Street Journal last week documented some other reasons behind this trend when interviewing some top professionals who already made the switch. The key point made by interviewees was of the opportunities afforded by the younger industries in Asia. Some quotes follow... ...I feel that in Asia you can make a bigger difference.. the US is such a big marketplace, and change takes a long time... Asia is trying to modernise in just 40 or 50 years, so media and information technology makes a quantum leap. Sonny Lim, Hong Kong broadcaster ...So many industries are so young, ...making it easier for people.. to break into new businesses than they would do in Europe. Heather Li, Public Relations Executive, Singapore ..The best part of my career change is making (my own) voice heard.. ..As a minority, everwhere I went I thought: I wouldn't mind living in a place where race isn't an issue.. Mark Tung, Hong Kong television news anchorman on Asia Television Ltd, on working in the US Mark Tung also talked about why his career move from a US lawyer to an Asian broadcater workerd so well, despite journalism not being seen as a "respectable" profession for the Chinese, because "snooping around in other people's business is not a good thing.". He attributed it to his Asian features, near-native English skills, social skills and a familiarity with so many things East and West. Mr Tung has got it right of course.. The career successes of the future in Asia will be those who can bring West and East together. Our prodigal sons are in the best position of all to pull it off...

© Asia Pacific Management Forum 1997
The views expressed here may not necessarily reflect those of Orient Pacific Century or partners

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