Get to know your recruiter: Star Anise's co-Managing Director, Annie Tang

Tell us a little bit about you what you do.

I’m a working parent and a former practising lawyer.  I’m also an entrepreneur and a co-founder/co-Managing Director of Star Anise Limited.  My area of specialisation is in senior level in-house recruitment.  I focus on the placements of senior legal counsels, heads of legal or General Counsels into in-house positions across diverse industries. In addition, I am involved in the Company’s back office operations. Furthermore, I volunteer in supporting pro bono legal activities in Hong Kong.

How did you get into recruitment? 

Prior to 2004, I was practising law with international law firms in Hong Kong.  During 2004, when I was looking for work in the legal field, an opportunity  to head up a legal recruitment function at a multinational recruitment company arose.  After several rounds of interviews, the company offered me the opportunity to head up and build their legal recruitment division in Hong Kong.   I managed to utilise my business development/marketing skills that I had gained in private practice and successfully built and grew the legal recruitment team and revenue of that division to be the leading team in the region!  

Did you always want to be a recruiter? 

I have a flexible personality, so after I graduated from University,  I had considered various roles in advertising, journalism and recruitment.  My motto is to be focused, try your best and be successful in whichever career you choose or land.  Before qualifying as a lawyer, I worked in both editorial journalism and advertising. After that, I pursued a legal career and became a lawyer before transitioning into the legal recruitment space. Having had experience of working in different fields and companies has provided me with different perspectives as well as creativity.

What are the top 3 things you love about what you do?

-helping people find their dream jobs and helping companies find the right fit
-observing people in my company and placements flourishing and enjoying their roles 
-meeting people and learning about different companies every day

What’s the biggest challenge?

- The constant thrill of chasing people for feedback/updates, however, this is also part of the dynamic nature of the role as we are often required to initiate and make things happen!

How would your colleagues describe you? 

-a focused individual who is a multi-tasker and who enjoys English tea and snacks!

What do you like to do to unwind outside of the office?

-I enjoy doing yoga, hiking and spending time with my family and friends and eating and travelling and exploring destinations with them.

Random fact about yourself: 

-I am always keen to learn new things.  Inspired by my kids, I’ve managed to learn some Mandarin as well as some piano and guitar skills!

Your favourite…

· Restaurant (& item on the menu) – Buffet so that I can have a bit of everything!

· Musician/song – Current popular music (again, inspired by my children) or song blasts from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s

· Holiday destination – anywhere with beautiful scenery and lots of things to do, see and explore. So far, Australia and South Africa fit all these requirements!

· Cake/dessert – most desserts with mango in them!

Biggest pet peeve?

When people beat around the bush and take 10 sentences to say what they can say in 1 sentence!

Three items on your bucket list:

-To spend quality time with my family and friends
-To continue exploring the World
-To keep learning new things

If you were not a recruiter, what would you be doing? 

I would probably still be an entrepreneur of some sort, environmentalist and/or a yogi!