A few recruitment manners practiced by Hong Kong recruiters can be missed when relocating back to “continental” Europe (I write continental as I believe most of those practices are of British origin and hence also in use on the Islands).
Hong Kong recruiters prefer chats in informal settings and strengthening their network. The former one manifests itself in the invitations such as “Lets meet at Starbucks”, the latter one in connect requests “Join me on LinkedIn”.
Hong Kong recruiters simply love to meet the candidate for the first time in a coffee shop. They seldom take any notes focusing on casual chats about the candidate’s approach to life and his/her profession. Indeed, candidates tend to be more relaxed and at ease in this informal setting.
Such meetings are then followed by the invitation to connect via social networks such as LinkedIn. Particularly recruiters recruiting HR professionals realize that today’s candidate can be the client of tomorrow.
Instead, German recruiters prefer the meeting rooms of their companies and limit the interaction to the email exchange.
