Testimonials
I have known Evan since high school however it was not until I wanted to move back home to Hawaii that we reconnected. As an executive at a technology company in the SF Bay area, and a law firm attorney prior to that, I had spent most of my professional years on the mainland. While visiting home, among other connections, I met with Evan who helped to fill in my understanding of the current business landscape in Hawaii. Evan provided me with two high-level introductions to well-known companies that helped to shape my options for moving home. Evan impressed me with his ability to understand and translate my skills developed on the mainland to the Hawaii business context. I have now moved back to Hawaii, am loving it, and thank Evan for helping me along my journey back home.
Emily Porter
I’ve known Evan for nearly two decades as we grew up together in the Hawaii startup and community scene. Now that our nonprofit organization is growing, we needed help to identify highly capable, values-aligned individuals who could help our organization achieve its mission. Evan was the first person I approached to help because his network and connecting abilities are outstanding. The quality of the individuals he connected me with are impressive, but more importantly, Evan was also able to find us individuals with the right cultural fit for our mission and team. I highly recommend hiring Brain Gain Hawaii for your human talent needs.
Donavan Kealoha
Evan is so well-connected in the local business community and his ties to local talent living elsewhere are unmatched. He was literally the key link in my job search chain when I decided to return home after living on the mainland for over 20 years. I am forever grateful to him for making it possible to come back with a job in hand that matched my skill set perfectly. I would not be living here and raising my kids in this amazing place without his help and cannot recommend him enough. I’m so happy that my kids now grow up with their grandparents around and can go to the school that we’ve always wanted them to go to. If you want to come back to Hawaii or want to advance your career you will be lucky to have Evan help you.
Julianne Chun
I whole heartedly recommend Evan Leong Managment/Executive Recruitment Agency, Brain Gain Hawaii. In 2016, I met Evan when visiting a close friend in the hospital. Evan is the nephew of one of my best friends from childhood who was critically ill and subsequently passed away. He and I spent a lot of time chatting while my husband visited with our friend. It turned out that Evan was quite connected, was interested in the background of our daughter, and offered to help her find a job. Within a week of receiving her information, our daughter received 4 inquiries from ideal companies/firms. Admittedly her resume is good, however, we have had other parents wanting their equally qualified children to return home, that have not had the same success. I believe Evan has great qualifications himself, speaks well, and is respected. As a result he was able to get our daughter home, in a job she loves, and does not, as many other lawyers, have to work late nights and weekends. I recommend, unreservedly, Mr. Evan Leong and his Management/Executive Recruitment Agency, Brain Gain Hawaii.
Sherlyn Goo
Evan has been an instrumental figure in my career for over a decade. Thanks to him, I excelled my final year in University, received an internship and through his network was able to land my first job while still in College. Through his mentorship, I furthered my career to achieve senior director level positions and consulting engagements with successful Silicon Valley startups. When it’s time to return to Hawaii, Evan is my first phone call.
Luke Tucker
A few years ago I chose to leave a highly technical, high paid position as an expat for a corporate giant, to return home to Hawaii to raise a family. What a disaster.
Navigating the local politics was a game I had never had to engage in.
I took positions in industries and companies, which ultimately did not provide an acceptable fit or purpose. I now realize that having a Sponsor like Evan Leong makes all the difference in finding a long term growth position in this market.
Evan has access to the local business leaders who have a seat at the decision-making table, he understands employee value that may not be directly translated through any resume, and he has the power to make the connections between these employers and potential employees to help both parties find potential value.
Evan’s process is truly organic and translatable throughout all local industries. Regardless if you are an employee or employer, I highly recommended meeting with Evan to start making those critical connections.
Kimberly Lau, PhD
About The Company
Brain Gain Hawaii (BGH) brings together decades of recruiting, mentoring, networking and entrepreneurship to help Hawaii companies and talented people connect with their perfect match. We are a consulting and recruitment accelerator focused on executive and senior management full time placement. BGH looks at the search process from both sides (company and candidate) to make sure that along with the foundational skills match there is also the right values match to create the best “fit”. We currently work primarily through a personal network of referrals adding an extra layer of vetting in the process.
We help companies thrive by finding and introducing previously unreachable talent while helping to advance careers and reuniting families. One of the BGH core focus areas is to help Hawaii raised executives and senior-level expats come home. Known as “boomerang candidates”, we help these expats navigate opportunities that they don’t know exist and help connect top-level candidates with local executives. Some of our partner companies are open to “opportunity hires” where a job is created for a special candidate.
BGH also specializes in helping companies with their strategy and implementation of business process outsourcing (BPO). We help companies eliminate, automate, delegate and recruit talent to increase profits and help them grow. BGH has a worldwide cadre of partners that can provide services in accounting, finance, IT, customer service and more.
In collaboration with our other efforts like Greater Good Radio & TV, Kokua.org, AD UP Hawaii and MYCLAN, BGH brings together a unique mix to help our community. Whether it’s helping top students find the right internship or finding a non profit board member, BGH has been committed to our community for many years.
Our Story
By Evan Leong
In 2014 my father was diagnosed with a rapidly growing blood cancer that almost took his life. He made it through many chemotherapy treatments and his younger brother gave him a stem cell transplant. That saved my father’s life.
Two months later we were shocked and saddened because my uncle that gave the transplant somehow had a baseball size tumor in his lungs even though he was a non-smoker. Two months after the diagnosis and lots of treatments, my uncle passed away.
In the hospital, one of my Uncle’s childhood best friends expressed to me that this was one of the worst days of her life. Not only was her close friend going to pass away but her only daughter was about to give up moving back to Hawaii because she couldn’t find the right job for her and her husband. I offered to help, as I’ve done many, many times before for others. I sent out her resume to a few people in my network and it ended up on a few hiring manager’s desks. Turns out that one of them had just gotten the perfect position approved a couple days prior. She was able to move back and I also did my best to help her husband.
Fast forward 4 years…I broke my back and spent weeks in the hospital learning how to move and walk again. This gave me a lot of time to think about what my life is about and why I’m here. I was looking for a deeper reason for starting Brain Gain Hawaii and I got it. I received an email from my Uncle’s friend telling me that she was so thankful to know me because without my help she wouldn’t have her only daughter, her husband and grandkids back in Hawaii with them. Both her daughter and son in law are in great jobs and their grandkids continue the family legacy by attending Punahou School.
So I thought, “Wait a minute? I started a recruiting and consulting company for business reasons but now the focus is going to be on strengthening families, community and Hawaii by not only helping people that live in Hawaii but focusing on helping Hawaii expats come home.” That’s where the name Brain Gain Hawaii came from.
I have a theory. There are 3 main ingredients to a balanced life. They are health, relationships and career. If any of these are out of balance, our lives are out of balance. These are the areas we focus on helping and Brain Gain Hawaii specializes in the career portion of that trinity.
Get connected
Let's Get In Touch
We welcome you to contact us for more information about our services.
info@braingainhi.com
(808) 377-4169