Director, VP, and CEO levels are most willing to work outside Hong Kong

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Interestingly, mainland China was present in the top five locations for supervisor, manager, and director/VP/CEO-level.

C-level executives — director, VP, and CEO are more prone to work outside Hong Kong than other career levels in the coming two years, with 74% of the surveyed executives indicating they would consider working outside Hong Kong for the long term, according to JobsDB's latest research. Of these, 20% are considering migration, and 6% have already started searching for a job as they have decided to move abroad. 'Long term' here refers to staying in a job for 1 year or more. 

The study, which polled 4,288 workers in Hong Kong, found out that respondents in Hong Kong are more open to working outside the city this year (49%) than the year before (44%). Close to a quarter (23%) are considering to pave ways to migration, and 3% have started job searching. 

Diving deeper into data, in terms of career level, managers (56%) and fresh graduates (52%) are the next two groups who are considering their way out. Conversely, junior executives with one-four years of experience (45%) and supervisors with more than five years of experience (44%) have the same sentiment. 

For those who are considering working outside the city, non-work-related triggers (81%) prevail over work-related triggers (76%). The top three non-work-related triggers are greater exposure and broadening of horizons (55%), lack of confidence in Hong Kong’s economy (36%), and aspiration to live in other countries (28%).

Meanwhile, work-related triggers include overseas working experience being valuable to personal and career development (43%), higher salary (36%), and better self-fulfillment (30%).

For those who are not planning to leave the city, the top three reasons are that they need to live apart from family and friends (62%), adapt to different workplace cultures and lifestyles (47%), and build a new social network from scratch (45%). 

Most popular locations

Overall, the top six work locations are Australia (41%), United Kingdom (39%), Taiwan (37%), Singapore (30%), mainland China (26%), and Canada (23%). Interestingly, mainland China was present in the top five locations for supervisor, manager, and director/VP/CEO-level. Particularly, mainland China (42%), along with Singapore (42%) are the top work locations for director/VP/CEO.

Fresh graduates
1. Canada (37%)
2. United Kingdom (36%)
3. Australia (34%)
4. Taiwan (31%)
5. The US (27%)
6. Japan (27%)
7. Singapore (26%)

Junior executives (1-4 years)
1. Taiwan (44%)
2. United Kingdom (40%)
3. Australia (40%)
4. Canada (29%)
5. Singapore (26%)
6. Japan (20%)

Supervisors (5+ years)
1. Australia (46%)
2. United Kingdom (41%0
3. Taiwan (41%)
4. Singapore (27%)
5. Canada (24%)
6. Mainland China (24%)

Managers
1. Australia (39%)
1. United Kingdom (39%)
3. Singapore (35%)
4. Mainland China (33%)
5. Taiwan (32%)

Directors/ VP/ CEO
1. Mainland China (42%)
1. Singapore (42%)
3. Australia (24%)
4. Taiwan (23%)
5. Macau (21%)

READ MORE Two in five surveyed expats in Hong Kong are planning to leave the city

Photo/ E-financial careers