I don't care about face, just to stay
"Is the end of the job search in Hong Kong selling insurance?"
It is difficult to get an accurate answer to this question, which has been raised and discussed repeatedly. But many people have a similar experience: a friend who went to Hong Kong with a graduate offer or a high-talent or talent visa, and one day suddenly sold insurance in the circle of friends. The voice of incomprehension also arises: "Waste of academic qualifications", what is the picture?
For these mainlanders with stay visas, whether they like sales or not, whether they can earn tens of thousands of dollars a month, and whether they can afford the high cost of living are all secondary issues. The most important thing is to renew your visa, stay in the city and continue to live in the city, and stay for 7 years before obtaining permanent residency status.
There are many variables for a successful renewal, but there are two core elements: one is to settle in Hong Kong, and the other is to contribute to Hong Kong – for ordinary people, it is necessary to have a job and the income should not be too low. Once the renewal is refused, you will not be able to stay in Hong Kong, and the 7-year period must be counted from the beginning.
Due to the low threshold, low income and flexible time of the insurance industry, it has become an expedient measure for most Hong Kong drifters to renew. Although there are usually certain performance requirements that must be met in order to obtain a work certificate, for those who are stuck on the renewal hurdle, there is at least a little more peace of mind and hope.
It is not so much that Gangpiao has gone to sell insurance, but that selling insurance is the last straw for them to continue their life in Gangpiao.
One
Come on, give it a try
"In the first month of employment, I earned 600,000 yuan. The senior in the suit and leather shoes opposite bluntly threw Zhang Yi's income as an insurance agent in Hong Kong. Zhang Yi was first frightened by this number, and then thought to himself: "If he can do it, I can do it too." ”
Around her, most of her classmates chose to work in investment banks and the Big Four. Hong Kong Chinese University, one of the "Hong Kong Three", graduated from the economics department, which is ranked among the top 10 in Asia for many years.
Zhang Yi vaguely felt that if he entered this industry, he might be "dissed by his classmates". Everyone talked about the offer, and some people said that when they went to Midland Bank, there would be a "so powerful" around them. But if you say "go for insurance", the other party will reply without waves: "Oh, that's it." ”
She guessed that in the eyes of her classmates, if they couldn't find a job, they would choose to go for insurance. At that time, in Hong Kong, the deadline for international students to find a job was only one year, and perhaps some people did make such a choice because they had no way to find a job.
The skyscraper / picture worm creativity of the CBD in Central
But Zhang Yi doesn't care, she doesn't have much enthusiasm for the economy, and her family thought that she should study economics when she went to Hong Kong, so she chose it. What's more, she hopes to become financially independent as soon as possible and even give back to her family. After studying for four years, the tuition and living expenses add up, how can there be hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars every year, and the family is somewhat under financial pressure. Previously, she wanted to continue her graduate studies and had already received several offers, but considering the high tuition fees and the conditions at home, she still gave up.
The senior who claims to have a monthly income of 600,000 yuan in front of her is often talked about by Zhang Yi's teacher because of her excellent grades, which makes her feel somewhat relieved. So she didn't hesitate at all and stepped into the insurance industry.
Unlike Zhang Yi, Zhong Yu only began to consider becoming an insurance agent in middle age.
After graduating from the Conservatory of Music, Zhong Yu became a piano teacher, while her husband has been working as a "code farmer" abroad. 5 years ago, for the sake of children's growth and education, my husband resigned and returned to China, and tried to submit a lot of resumes, but there was no response.
At that time, he was 39 years old, "not dominating the domestic job market", and finally had to rely on acquaintances to introduce him to a company, and his income dropped by more than half. As a result, the 22-year labor contract expired, the job was cancelled, and the husband lost his job again.
But Zhong Yu had a premonition of a mid-life crisis in her husband's business. As early as the year before, she persuaded her husband to apply for merit.
In Zhong Yu's view, the employment environment in Hong Kong is relatively better, and the "age discrimination" in the workplace is not so serious, once approved, her husband can obtain a three-year visa to stay in Hong Kong, and she and her children can also live in Hong Kong as dependents.
For her, talent is like a lifesaver. If she can't find a job again, her husband can only try his luck abroad, but she doesn't want the family to be separated again, "this life can't break down anymore."
Shortly after losing his job, the husband's gifted talent was approved. The moment he received the news, Zhong Yu burst into tears.
In the promotional video, the Hong Kong Immigration Department played the slogan of "Gathering Talents, Creating the Future".
She then began planning for her family's future in Hong Kong. Growing up watching Jade Terrace and Asia Channel, she is full of yearning for Hong Kong. But what can I do when I get to Hong Kong?
As a mainlander, this path is restrictive in Hong Kong. Starting a clothing company? She had no idea how to do business and had no idea.
After her husband's talent was approved, Zhong Yu went to Hong Kong to find an acquaintance to buy an insurance for him, and took the opportunity to consult the work treatment of an insurance agent. The other party said that in Hong Kong, insurance is a relatively free industry, you can work part-time, your time is flexible, and you don't even need to stay in Hong Kong all the time.
Attracted by this flexibility, and with no other options for the time being, she decided to try selling insurance in Hong Kong as a part-time job to see if she could do it full-time in the future. In her opinion, insurance conforms to the mainstream of Hong Kong - finance, so it is naturally worth fighting.
Two
With a monthly income of 30,000 yuan, I can't keep it
The first threshold for the insurance industry in Hong Kong is the Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination, commonly known as the "Examination License". The five test papers, Paper 1 and Paper 3 are the most basic and must be passed.
There are a variety of experience posts on the Internet, all of which say that the exam is very simple. When Zhang Yi took the exam, the test-taking skills were still there, and the preparation time was relatively sufficient, so he passed easily. But for Zhong Yu, this level was not smooth, and the battle line was tug-of-war for half a year.
She has to take care of the children, and she has to work, and she simply does not have full preparation time. When she was busy with work, she also had to practice and attend classes in the evening, and she could only prepare for exams in the afternoon for more than two hours before her children got out of school.
After successfully passing the first exam, Zhong Yu's body collapsed, his mentality became pessimistic, and the whole person "didn't want to move", and it took another four months to get up and go to the exam paper three.
I heard from a friend that the exam was very simple, and she "ran to Hong Kong after looking at a little fur", but she didn't expect to fail in the end. Before getting on the high-speed train, she found that she had forgotten her ID card, and she had an ominous premonition at that time. After hurrying to the examination room, she was placed at table 44, and immediately muttered in her heart: "It's too lucky." ”
After getting the test paper, she was completely dumbfounded: "Others submit the paper early because it's really easy, and I submit the paper early because I really can't." ”
Hong Kong street view
After several setbacks, Zhong Yu finally got his insurance license in January this year. Like many newcomers, her plan for herself was to develop the acquaintance market first, but the process did not go smoothly.
The first client she made an appointment with was her best friend, but in the end, she couldn't get the deal signed. After more than half of the consultation, my best friend gave frank feedback: it was too bad, unprofessional, and Zhong Yu couldn't answer many of his questions.
My best friend has been learning about insurance since her child was born and is now almost 4 years old. Listening to the suggestions given by his girlfriend, Zhong Yu felt that the other party was even more professional than himself, and he was a little shaken.
The content of "Test Card" only gave her a vague understanding of insurance. For example, she understands that there are five major sectors of insurance products, but there are various products under each sector, and she simply does not have time to grasp them all. When she was trying to figure out critical illness insurance, a friend came to ask about life insurance, and when she finally figured out the life insurance, another friend came to ask about savings insurance. So over and over again, each time it accurately poked at her knowledge blind spot.
The acquaintance market has not yet been truly "developed", and Zhong Yu does not dare to easily contact strange customers, so he can only seize the fragmented time to learn one by one.
Insurance advertisements can often be seen on the streets of Hong Kong / Wikimedia Commons
A sense of crisis is a must, and once you haven't opened an order for too long, then you may be eliminated by the company. In Hong Kong's insurance industry, the turnover rate in the first year is the highest, with about 70% of people being eliminated or voluntarily exiting, and those who remain will also go through different bottlenecks. Whether you can do it or do it well is often unrelated to academic qualifications. Because for those talents, high-level talents and international students with diplomas, "pulling down their faces" to do sales is the first level of persuasion. There are many people who are ashamed to take the initiative to sell or even refuse customer consultation.
Zhang Yi has gone through this stage. Now she can laugh at herself: "From being a top student to doing insurance, this has a great impact on herself and the audience." However, when she first started working, she was still embarrassed to take the initiative to sell to acquaintances, so she had to switch to the soft implant strategy, repeatedly mentioning among her friends that she "is doing this" and "come to me if you need it", which indirectly attracted the first batch of customers.
But when someone called her "selling insurance", Zhang Yi still felt very uncomfortable. She could only tell herself, "If you choose to do this, you will do it well", and then she learned product knowledge and makeup again, and she was holding back her energy to do anything.
In addition to her own difficulties, she soon encountered the first hurdle in the industry: becoming an "MDRT member".
In Hong Kong, insurance agents can join MDRT and become members when their commissions reach $450,000. This is just the most basic level, and further up, there are "Court of the Table" and "Top of the Table".
For insurers, each title is not only an honor, but also a golden sign to win the trust of customers. It's like climbing from bronze to king in the game rankings, and each contestant is eager to jump through the ranks.
When there was still a month before the year-end selection, Zhang Yi's commission was only 160,000, and the boss asked her to work hard, "I will definitely be able to do it if I work for another month", but she was hopeless: "Can I still earn two or three hundred thousand a month?"
It was 2016, which happened to be the golden age of insurance in Hong Kong. At the end of the year, there was an endless stream of mainland customers who came to sign orders, and the transaction was quickly completed in two or three days. A month later, Zhang Yi's commission and the benefits given by the company were added together, nearly 1 million, just enough to meet the standard of MDRT members.
After Zhang Yi was successfully promoted, he went to team building with the team
Behind the high income is the same amount of hard work, which includes the evaluation of others as "not very decent", but it also brings the same amount of self-confidence. Gradually, Zhang Yi can take the initiative to say that he is "selling insurance", and he will also take the initiative to report his academic qualifications in exchange for respect and trust.
When recruiting newcomers, she was more straightforward than the seniors back then: "If you want to do insurance, it doesn't make sense to earn 30,000 yuan a month." If you earn more than 300,000 yuan a year, why should you stay in Hong Kong? ”
By "not being able to stay", she doesn't just mean being pushed back by the gap between the cost of living and income. According to the regulations, mainland customers must go to Hong Kong to sign orders offline. In the years when customs clearance was not cleared for a long time, Hong Kong's insurance industry was greatly impacted, and many people in Zhang Yi's team left. Some of them are "illegally staying" because they do not meet the income level required for renewal, and their visas are invalid.
Three
All for the sake of the children
The Insurance Intermediaries Qualifying Examination is normally conducted at the Vocational Training Council Building, 27 Wood Road, Wan Chai. At the end of each exam, the employees of the insurance company who were guarding the door early would rush to block the candidates. They wore masks, wore uniforms, and held up billboards in their hands, listing the considerable income of the insurance industry, free working hours, and the prospects of a blue ocean of industry.
Many of the various leaflets and materials were typed with the words "Hong Kong Identity" in bold font. This kind of publicity can be said to hit the pain point directly for those international students and talented and high-level talents who urgently need a work certificate to renew.
In the discussion groups for the renewal of talents, large and small, from time to time, people who graduated from world-renowned universities asked: "Is there any insurance company to recommend?"
Although selling insurance is only one of the options, it is a safe and formal shortcut compared to finding other jobs, starting your own business, and false affiliation. Even if you have to use the resources of acquaintances or pay out of your own pocket, you can at least survive the renewal node.
For insurance companies, the income of the management mainly comes from the commission of the team members, so they are naturally willing to recruit more troops, and at the same time can get a lot of acquaintance resources of newcomers, so they will not lose anything.
The two parties each took what they needed, and finally created the urban legend that "the end of Hong Kong drift is to sell insurance".
In the building of the Hong Kong Immigration Department, there is an endless stream of people who come to complete various procedures every day / Wikimedia Commons
But if you follow the question, why do you have to renew it? Everyone will give a different version of the answer. For Zhong Yu, the starting point of everything is children.
At first, my husband, as a northerner, could not speak Cantonese, and did not want to come to Hong Kong for fear of being ostracized. Later, Zhong Yu learned about Hong Kong's education benefits, and suddenly realized that the two children needed a Hong Kong identity, "It's not a joke", and finally persuaded her husband.
Now, she goes to an insurance company in Hong Kong almost every Wednesday for a meeting, so she moves her piano lessons for the day to the weekend. On Saturdays, she would be busy from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., teaching half a day on Sundays and spending the rest of the day with the children.
At the same time, she was busy choosing schools for her two children. As for when their children will go to Hong Kong to study, Zhong Yu and her husband consulted a number of intermediaries, and after several rounds of heated debates, they finally decided to let their children transfer to the first grade of junior high school to "integrate into Hong Kong society as soon as possible".
Teaching, taking care of babies, and selling insurance, in order to balance the three, Zhong Yu planned his week without a foot. But gradually, she also began to lean a little. In order to take care of the children, she concentrated her weekday classes until after four o'clock. In her free time before the school day, she used to choose between piano practice and tutoring insurance, but gradually she used it all for insurance.
Her husband was very opposed to her continuing to do this part-time job, feeling that it was too time-consuming and energy-consuming, and it would cost two or three hundred for a round trip, which was also a waste of money, "it is better to teach a few more classes".
Zhong Yu was also very tired. Although the transportation to and from Hong Kong from the city where she currently lives is relatively convenient, such a back-and-forth makes her a little resistant every time she leaves, but she still insists on "gnawing off" the insurance.
During the Chinese New Year last year, Zhong Yu's family went to Hong Kong to queue up to get their ID cards, but they didn't get it for a few days, so they took a trip by the way
Two years ago, due to the pandemic, my husband found a temporary job in the mainland and planned to wait until the recruitment season in September this year to find a job in Hong Kong. Seeing that the visa will expire in January next year, the node of renewal is likely to be stuck in the process of her husband's job search.
This made Zhong Yu very anxious, the main reference for the renewal is the main applicant's materials, and the husband finds a job, so it is safe to renew. Once rejected, there is no hope for the child to go to secondary school in Hong Kong.
Now she gritted her teeth and insisted on insurance, also to strengthen the family's "connection with Hong Kong". Zhong Yu's round-trip tickets to and from Hong Kong, insurance training records, her husband's job search records, and the preparation materials for her children to find schools were all carefully kept according to the agent's advice. She hoped that even if her husband had not yet found a job, the renewal, along with a letter of explanation, might prove the family's "contribution to Hong Kong" and their determination to live in Hong Kong for a long time.
Obtaining permanent residency status is also part of her plan. However, she can wait for the pension and medical benefits brought by this identity, but the education of her children cannot be delayed for a day.
For her child's academic journey, Zhong Yu also made a long-term plan early: first pass the DSE exam, and then apply to two top universities in Singapore, followed by "Hong Kong three", and then the top five in Hong Kong, and again in mainland universities.
If one day, the child wants to sell insurance with a degree from a prestigious school, Zhong Yu will not object, but it is better to do part-time, after all, the income of the sales position is not stable, "As for whether he joins or not, it is his own choice."
Four
The choice is your own
Whenever he stepped into the investment banking building where his classmates worked, Zhang Yi couldn't help but think about what it would be like if he had chosen to work here, "Will you miss any life experience?" Now in this job, the office building is just as high-class and the income is just as good.
This is not the first fork in the road she has encountered in Hong Kong. In her sophomore year, she tried to transfer to the School of Journalism and Communication, but failed, and was frustrated for a while.
Now she occasionally rejoices that she may be right not to change departments. Many of the newcomers recruited now are learning new biography. Although the new communication major of the Hong Kong school is strong, it is difficult to find a job after entering the society, and the salary is also small. Writing should be a hobby.
After 13 years in Hong Kong and almost nine years in the industry, the future she can see is "always in Hong Kong".
When she was still a "small-town problem-solver", she never thought that there was such a choice as paving her life track from a small town in the Northeast to the "Pearl of the Orient".
When she first arrived in Hong Kong, she only remembered that a bottle of water in her hometown had soared tenfold. Senior, is her first impression of the city.
Hong Kong at night
In his hometown in the Northeast, Zhang Yi is the president of the student union, has won the city's three good students, and has the first place in the city in the college entrance examination. But after coming to Hong Kong Chinese, she found that her classmates were all champions in various provinces, with wealthy families, beautiful appearance, and good grades.
She felt inferior, and at the same time had to deal with the weather, food, and language. In the first month of coming to Hong Kong, she lost 35 pounds, and when she went to Shenzhen to see relatives, the other party didn't recognize her. Later, it took seven or eight months for her to really get used to it.
Despite some struggles, Zhang Yi never thought of returning to his hometown from the very beginning. "Northeast China is more about relational society", and Hong Kong has made her see the possibility of independence.
In the seventh year of coming to Hong Kong, Zhang Yi successfully obtained permanent residence status. She plans to bring her parents to Hong Kong for retirement in the future, so that they can also enjoy various benefits together. When she graduated, her father, who was a university teacher, was very opposed to her going to insurance, fearing that sales would hurt her relationships. Zhang Yi was also stunned, but in the past few years, she has made money and bought a house for her parents, and her father's opinion will not affect her.
His parents came to Hong Kong to visit Zhang Yi, and when they parted, they made a table of Northeast meals
It's just that for her now, "the cheongsam can't be taken off", insurance is still a sensitive and direct industry, and she will not take the initiative to sell to others until now, but the problem of "how to overcome" no longer exists.
After three years of the epidemic, Zhang Yi had to borrow money from his family at the most difficult time. In her heart, this is the shame of her life: "Because I told my mother that I will never want you a penny after graduation." ”
In college, she used to live on a part-time subsidy. For a while, she sold toothpaste and traveled back and forth between the two places every week, carrying one or two large 30-inch suitcases and a 60-liter bag, all of which were stuffed to the brim and very heavy. Once, she couldn't stand it anymore and cried out with grievances. But at that time, a friend said to her: "If you decide to earn this money, you have to put away these emotions, and no one will force you to do this, you can also put this thing down and let's go out to play." ”
These words made Zhang Yi remember for a long time.
Until now, when she encounters any problems at work, she will say to herself: "This is my own choice." ”
Now she is no longer the "submissive" small-town girl she was back then, but a new Hong Konger who can make choices for herself. Since the age of eighteen, she has spent all her youth in Hong Kong, and in a few years, she will be longer than in her hometown. Now when I go back to the Northeast, I will feel a little uncomfortable.
She will continue the rest of her life in this city that has never been covered with snow, and "selling insurance" is the lifelong career she has chosen for herself.