The FinTech Talent Hunt: Looking for Talent Around the World with Emilia Chen, Founder of Polygon Search

In our latest episode of Business Beyond Borders, we sit down with Emilia Chen, founder of Polygon Search, a global FinTech headhunting firm focused on fintech recruitment, with more than 400,000 candidates across Asia and the US.

Prior to founding her own firm, Emilia was a senior consultant at Michael Page, where she successfully developed new businesses by building strong relationships and generating referrals to secure contracts with family offices, tier-one investment banks, and hedge funds.

In this episode, we cover:
- Global FinTech trends
- Current and future job vacancies and roles in FinTech 
- Fake CVs and scams in applications
- Advice for young professionals wanting to enter FinTech

Listen in as Emilia provides salient advice for young professionals entering the FinTech world. Don't miss out on how faking CVs has become more prevalent for candidates, as well as how important skill sets are being redefined. Tune in to find out about the unique challenges and opportunities facing the FinTech sector!


Links:
Bluente's Website: https://www.bluente.com/
Emilia's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emchh/
Our Socials: @bluente.official (Instagram and Tik Tok)

Transcript

Podcast: Business Beyond Borders - A Podcast By Bluente

Host(s): Daphne

Guest(s): Emilia

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Daphne (Host) | 00:00:05 to 00:00:45

Welcome to another episode of Business Beyond Borders. Today we are very happy to have with us Emilia Chen, who is the founder and headhunter at Polygon Search, a leading headhunting firm focused on fintech recruitment, with more than 400,000 candidates across Asia and the United States. Polygon Search aims to provide personalised recruitment services for both clients and candidates alike. Prior to founding her own firm, Emilia was a senior consultant with Michael Page, where she successfully developed new businesses by building strong relationships and generating referrals to secure contracts with family offices, tier one investment banks, as well as hedge funds. Happy to have you here. Welcome Emilia.

Emilia (Guest) | 00:00:45 to 00:00:53

Hi, Daphne. Hi, everyone. Really nice to be here.

Daphne (Host) | 00:00:54 to 00:01:12

Thank you so much for joining us today. Let us kick off by understanding a little bit more about your background. Maybe could you tell me more about yourself? What actually drove you to become a recruiter in the fintech space and subsequently now starting your own headhunting firm?

Emilia (Guest) | 00:01:12 to 00:01:53

Actually, before joining headhunting industry, I was working as Taipei Universiade. It's a big program for Taipei governments, and my job is to do sports, sponsorship, recruitments. Right after that, I think, wow, it's really nice to do some recruitment or sponsorship things. So I think maybe I should join a sport agency to do, like, sports agent. But before that, I think maybe it's better to learn how to recruit people professionally. So I joined a headhunting firm called People Search. And when I joined that, I was responsible for investment industry. And then I thought, okay, it's easier to make money to be a headhunter than just being a sports agent. So that's why I start my recruiter life. 

Daphne (Host) | 00:01:53 to 00:02:25

Okay, and then what got you to then decide to start your own headhunting firm?

Emilia (Guest) | 00:02:26 to 00:02:53

Yeah, because most of my clients are venture capitals or private equities or even family offices. They need someone who can be trusted. So in my opinion, it's better to have my own headhunting firm so that I won't be limited. I can do full function services, like, I can help them to find engineers, find finances, or to find investment associates. I think that's a better way to service my clients. 

Daphne (Host) | 00:02:54 to 00:03:30

Nice. And in the field of fintech recently, what have you seen some of the global trends that you have observed in this space? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:03:30 to 00:03:57

Yeah, I think for the fintech industry, because of the outbreak of COVID-19, so there are more companies, they're moving out from Hong Kong, and maybe they move to Singapore. However, because of the cost, it's getting higher in Singapore because of the inflation. So now there are more companies, they are looking for remote candidates. And that's why more and more companies, they are looking for candidates in Taiwan. I think for Taiwanese candidates, they have some advantages. Like, they are bilingual, they're native in Mandarin and fluent in English, and with lower salary, to be honest. So that's a trend. Companies are looking for candidates in Taiwan.

Daphne (Host) | 00:03:57 to 00:04:52

 Okay, interesting that you mentioned the topic on bilingualism. Would love to understand in your personal opinion and from your experience working with so many different candidates, how important is bilingualism or multilingualism for candidates who are actually searching for a role in the fintech industry? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:04:53 to 00:05:31

I think I can take myself, for example, there are lots of headhunters in Taiwan and who's doing like banking or fintech industry recruitment. However, not many recruiters, they have connections in Singapore or in Hong Kong because I think most of headhunters, they are not confident enough to speak in English. Because of that, I try to make a market differentiation of my company. I try to find more clients in Hong Kong, in Singapore and I find being bilingual is really good because I can express myself precisely and efficiently and I can share the market updates with these companies who are interested in our market. Yeah, so take myself, for example. Being bilingual can make you get more exposure in the region or in global.

Daphne (Host) | 00:05:32 to 00:06:01

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That says a lot about within the headhunting or recruitment space. But how about from a candidate's perspective? Has there been a peak in terms or an increase in terms of the request from companies by their candidates to actually be bilingual or multilingual? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:06:01 to 00:06:20

However, for these companies, most of the owners or for the team members, they cannot really speak Mandarin. So how to communicate with the team members efficiently? You need to speak English. Right. So being bilingual is the basic requirements for these candidates.

Daphne (Host) | 00:06:20 to 00:06:51

Okay. Yeah. That's really interesting how the market has shifted. I think previously, so long as you're good in one skill set and in technical competency, that's good enough. But increasingly, it's quite interesting to also see that language has become a more and more important requirement going forward and would love to also touch a little bit about in the recent times, maybe in the past three to six months, we've heard a lot about Tech Winter and things like that. What are some of the hot job vacancies or what are some of the trending job vacancies that you have seen in the Fintech industry? And going forward, maybe looking ahead in the next six to twelve months, I would also love for audience to know what type of new jobs do you think would be created in that industry?

Emilia (Guest) | 00:06:52 to 00:07:33

 Yeah, I just find a trend that communication is getting more important. So there are some jobs like developer relation or ecosystem growth role is getting more important. It's like companies, because of these Fintech companies, they are changing rapidly.

Daphne (Host) | 00:08:08 to 00:08:45

And also you mentioned how language is one of the areas that you differentiate yourself and your firm. Besides that, how do you typically work together with your clients to best service them and help them fill up the recruitment gaps that they have? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:08:45 to 00:09:04

Yeah, actually, when I introduce my company, when I send the company intro, I always give them the salary report in Taiwan. Okay. Because I think numbers matters and I think it's more important to let them know how exactly the job market is. So I just show them the salary standard. And I also tell them the difference between candidates who can speak English or who cannot speak English. Their salary structure is totally different.

Daphne (Host) | 00:09:04 to 00:09:29

Okay. Yeah, that's quite cool. You value add from the onset and share them these benchmarks so that they can see that. Talking about candidates, I mean, I'm sure you have come across and worked together with many, many candidates. What are some of the important skill sets that you think candidates should have in today's job market? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:09:30 to 00:09:54

Well, I think it's not only about skill sets. It's more about mindset. For me, I think it's more important about if the candidates have integrity, flexibility, and self discipline. Because just like what I said, remote jobs are getting more and more popular, especially in fintech industry. And in fintech industry, the most popular topic is Web3.

Emilia (Guest) | 00:09:54 to 00:10:28

And I just find there are so many scams in Web3 industry. I mean, for candidates or for clients, they're trying to find who's real in this industry. So I think integrity is very important for the candidates. And then for flexibility because of the compliance or because of the trend is changing all the time. How to keep the flexibility to adapt new things, new environments is getting more and more important.

Emilia (Guest) | 00:10:28 to 00:11:00

And last but not least, self discipline, because most of popular jobs are remote jobs. How to make time management properly and how to make yourself disciplined is getting very important. 

Daphne (Host) | 00:11:00 to 00:11:24

Okay, you mentioned a bit about scams that are happening in the fintech industry, especially in web three. Maybe could you share a couple of examples on that? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:11:25 to 00:11:50

Yeah. Just like yesterday, I just saw a linking post by a Singaporean headhunter. She just mentioned that there are some fake CVs. The CVs look perfect. Graduated from maybe Ivy League school with very good experience from very big company. However, when the recruiter to do the reference check just find everything is fake, I think it's a sign for us to know that maybe when we're hiring some remote candidates, reference check or to find someone who you can trust is very important. 

Daphne (Host) | 00:11:52 to 00:12:54

I'm sure many of the young professionals out there also who are thinking of entering into the fintech industry, given that you've worked with so many of them. What is some advice that you give them as they consider exploring a career in the fintech industry? 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:12:54 to 00:13:27

I think for young candidates, if you're interested in fintech industry, no matter which company or what kind of product you're interested in, like if you're interested in Web3, then maybe you should invest a little money into crypto so that you can get more understanding of the system of the product. And for myself, when I first to be the investment headhunter, I invest some stocks or some options to get more understanding about the industry. So I think it's a really good way. And because of these candidates, they may not have enough experience in the industry. So when you are interviewing, you can just share your experience about investment or about how you look at these products. 

Daphne (Host) | 00:13:27 to 00:14:03

Yeah, that's really good advice. And actually, just maybe one last question for this segment. Would love to better understand, over the past couple of years, how have you seen the interview process changing? Especially now you mentioned also there's a shift towards hiring remote workers. How has the interview process changed? Typically, maybe you could walk us through typically, what are the couple of stages that you've seen and how best can candidates prepare as they interview for roles in this industry? I think for interview stages, it's more like for the first or second interview, HRs can accept candidates to do virtual interview. But for the last one, if it's a very important role, like GM role or Head of BD role, companies need to see them in person.

Emilia (Guest) | 00:14:03 to 00:14:36

Okay, yeah. But how about in terms of the actual interview process? Usually, how can candidates best prepare for the interview beyond understanding the product, testing out the product itself, what are some other ways that they can prepare for the interview?

Daphne (Host) | 00:14:39 to 00:15:12

Actually, for my candidates, I usually give them a handbook about how to prepare interview. First of all, HRs or companies, they care about what's your motivation? What's your motivation to apply this job, or your motivation to leave the current company? And second is what's your strength? Introduce yourself to share some projects you've ever done and to see how to leverage your past experience to the role you're applying for.

Emilia (Guest) | 00:15:12 to 00:15:37

Third is the QA session. Like, how do you know about this company and what do you want to know about this company and how to cooperate with each other? And the fourth, the last but not least, to know your expectation, the salary expectation or the benefit expectation. 

Daphne (Host) | 00:15:37 to 00:15:50

Okay, that's really helpful. Thank you so much Emilia. We'll just wrap up the English segment of today's episode. We'll now move on to the quick fire Chinese questions. Are you ready? 

Daphne (Host) | 00:15:50 to 00:15:54

那我们现在进行快问快答的环节。现在准备好了吗？那我就开始问吧。首先，能够用中文做个自我介绍吗？

Emilia (Guest) | 00:16:06 to 00:16:35

大家好，我是 Emilia Chen。我之前是在台北市政府世大运专案负责运动赞助。那结束这个工作以后，我就转入猎头行业，一开始是在 People Search，后面是在 Michael Page, 一直以来都是负责投资领域的猎才。那现在的话，我自己成立了一件猎头公司，叫做 Polygon Search。

Daphne (Host) | 00:16:37 to 00:16:53

好的好的。那最近学到的一门新的知识，能跟我们分享一下吗？

Emilia (Guest) | 00:16:58 to 00:17:13

好。因为最近我自己开公司，所以我很认真的在学习 Public Speaking，就是公开演讲的部分。那我学到了一个非常实用的小技巧，就是当你紧张的时候，往前站一步。

Daphne (Host) | 00:17:17 to 00:17:42

对于我来说，我们进行这个博客，我也可以用一下。

Emilia (Guest) | 00:17:45 to 00:18:10

没错。

Daphne (Host) | 00:18:12 to 00:19:10

好的，那如果你能用三个词汇形容自己，你会用什么词汇呢？

Emilia (Guest) | 00:19:10 to 00:19:11

我会用勇敢、果断，还有负责，这三个词汇来形容我自己。勇敢的话，不外乎就是我成立了自己的公司。果断的话，就是当初在做这决定的时候，我没有任何的犹豫，我就决定，好那就这样做。负责的话就是，刚开公司遇到很多挫折，我还是全力以赴，因为我知道我要对我的客户，我要对我的人选负责。

Daphne (Host) | 00:19:14 to 00:19:34

对对对，很敬佩。你现在是在金融科技领域做猎头，对于这个行业寻找一个职位的应聘者，你对他们有什么建议或是劝告吗？

Emilia (Guest) | 00:19:40 to 00:19:49

我觉得当你想进入这产业的时候，你不应该想的是我可以赚多少钱，而是要想说，我可以从里面学到什么？因为很多人选，尤其很多年轻的人选，他们只会看到我眼前的第一份薪水。但是呢，像我之前有去台大做一些演讲，我会把 salary report 再显示一次给他们看。我跟他们讲说，每个职位从 junior 到资深的时候，薪水大概是多少，让他们有个概念。因为有些职位是一开始钱很多，但是后面的成长很慢。但有些职位是一开始钱很少，但后面的成长可能是没有天花板。所以我觉得假设是比较年轻的人选，可能要有这样的意识。

Daphne (Host) | 00:19:51 to 00:20:13

对对对。我也是很认同，就是我们在我们这家公司在聘请的时候也是寻找的团员都不能以薪水为重吧。

Emilia (Guest) | 00:20:16 to 00:20:31

对啊。而且有时候以薪水为重，这只是表面上的。我常常跟人选说，那你要看时薪多少啊。你的薪水很高，但你每天要加班到两三点，半夜两三点，那这样子真的有赚比较多吗？

Daphne (Host) | 00:20:34 to 00:20:59

那最后一道问题，就比较跟行业之外的问题吧。如果你能改变世界上的一件事，你会改变什么呢？

Emilia (Guest) | 00:21:08 to 00:21:21

我会改变什么。我会希望这个世界可以更透明、更清楚。虽然猎头是在做一个资讯不对称的行业，但其实像我自己在做的事情，我是让资讯尽量透明、对称。因为我不想要让双方的期待有很大的落差。但我也对自己很有自信，当资讯透明对称的时候，大家还需要我，就代表我真的有那个价值。

Daphne (Host) | 00:21:24 to 00:21:25

对对对，那也是这样你刚才也说你开始招聘的时候，你会把薪水报告和应聘者一起分享。

Emilia (Guest) | 00:21:40 to 00:21:41

对，没错。通常我都会是，跟公司这边的话，我通常都会直接让他们看薪水报告。因为我在这边说，哦，市场行情不好，你给的薪水太低，他们听不进去。他们只会觉得我只是想把行情拉高。但今天假设我把 salary report 给他们看，他们就会了解，他们现在在怎样子的定位，我也可以更客观的去跟他分享。

Daphne (Host) | 00:21:45 to 00:21:54

那好吧，今天的博客就到此为止。非常感谢 Emilia 今天抽空和我们分享她对金融科技的经验，并且在猎头方面也是跟我们一起分享。我觉得就是我们的听众会从中学到很多他们如果在金融科技考虑一份事业的话，他们也会有更清楚的理解，需要准备的是什么。Thank you so much, Amelia, for your time today. I really appreciate it. And then we will wrap up the podcast. 

Emilia (Guest) | 00:21:55 to 00:21:58

Okay. Thank you so much for the invitation today.