Getting Hired

Tips from the inside

Undergraduate students, university graduates and experienced professionals can learn more about employment opportunities through the bank's careers website for the Asia Pacific region. The campus recruiting function of Credit Suisse recruits at a number of universities in Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. The firm also hosts a campus recruiting web site for the Asia Pacific region. On this site, Australia has its own page along with Japan, which is in Japanese.

Credit Suisse also recruits summer interns into Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai, Melbourne and Sydney. The summer program, which lasts 10 to 12 weeks, gives participants an experience similar to that of the bank's first year analysts. Interns are hired across the bank in a number of different divisions.. For consideration, candidates need to complete an application on the Credit Suisse web site.

Experienced professionals looking to make a lateral move in Asia can search postings (organized by location or job function) at the firm's site. Job functions include administration, asset management, audit and taxation, complex products support, corporate services and facilities management, equities, financial accounting and financial control, fixed income, human resources, information technology, investment banking, legal and compliance, marketing and communications, operations, private banking, product control and risk management.

Ripe with personality

In addition to looking for candidates who are intelligent, Credit Suisse wants people who will fit in with the bank's culture. As one employee says, "Applicants must demonstrate academic excellence as well as the ability to work in a team environment." An associate agrees that the bank is searching for "more of a people fit than looking for particular skills or previous experience." One insider notes that it's "important that the team as a whole--from junior bankers to more senior bankers--feel that the candidate will gel" with the team. The bank also looks for applicants with strong personalities. "This is true of any investment bank perhaps, but here you're allowed to be a little bit quirky," says one analyst. "The firm tolerates, almost encourages, a certain playful rebellion, which is ultimately the seed of innovation and entrepreneurship."