Finding work and letting go of career ambition

Work Working in Taiwan
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With the markets having taken a major downturn, I have now acknowledged the fact that I will likely need to return to work in one way or another . With us retiring early, this was always a possibility, and I knew that if a bear market happened, it would likely be the case.

So, I currently see three options:

  1. Teach English in Asia (Taiwan or Thailand), where we can make enough money to make ends meet until the market recovers (I know this could be a while). This would allow us to not touch our investments, but not give us any extra.

  2. Try and find a job in my field of expertise in Asia.

or

  1. Return to Canada and find a job in my field of expertise.

#2 would be very nice, but my field is very specialized, to say the least. I have found a few jobs, that I have applied to, but so far no replies. I think a lot of companies would rather not hire from overseas for these sorts of positions, I think.

#3 is the easiest, and definitely pays the best. The thing is that cost of living is such a major factor to consider!!!

I figured out that in Canada I need to make about $80000 CAD / year ($6666 per month CAD) to equal the spending power of $50000 Baht per month in Thailand or about $70000 NT$ per month in Taiwan. Insane, yeah?

The biggest part does seem to be ego though. I have no issues being “retired”, but if I have to go back to work, part of me has big issues with teaching English again, rather than doing my highly trained, highly skilled field of expertise that I spent the last 10 years working so hard to get. Now, I wouldn’t do it in the exact same way, with the killer hours and evil work, but something related is not hard to find.

Thoughts?

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1 and 2 over 3.

What’s the wife and son say?

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We are talking at length about it.

Thailand is a possibility, but we will see when we go there in August as to how we feel about it.

Hopefully Taiwan is fully open by then, and is a real option again!

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What is your field of expertise?

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Without going into too much detail (I still have my reasons), let’s just call it “investigations”.

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Have you considered high level security jobs with your work experience? I would assume someone with experience in the west would be valued?

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I applied for something with TSMC a couple of weeks back - we will see if I hear anything, it would be a cool place to work in that capacity, I think.

I have thought about the headhunter route, but as this post shows, I am not 100% there yet, I guess.

8

Teach while searching for something you like.

Springboard.

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It is also interesting that the China issue has become a very real worry in our discussions as of late. Especially when we are considering Taiwan as a permanent relocation. How to deal with this concern in a rational manner that addresses both of our fears?

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Obvious question, but have you tried nepotism networking? As in asking a job/reference from parents/relatives and friends. Or even strangers like the forumosa members.

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I guess this thread could be considered that?

My field is unusual in most countries, and often ends up in government, insurance, or banking.

The jobs I have seen in Asia are: HR investigator, regional investigator, and such.

In Canada, I have been looking at Ombudsman Officer, Law Society Investigator, Labour Investigator and jobs along those lines, to give some ideas.

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I wouldn’t buy property here, but probably we’ll be good for 5 years.

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Sooooo good!!!

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Have you checked with the Canadian Trade office? Maybe they have a position open in something that might interest you.

Or talk to some people in the chamber of commerce on the island. They might have some leads worth chasing down.

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Definitely good ideas. I think Taiwan needs to open and us be on the island for these sorts of things to work.

Keep these ideas coming though.

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Given the fact that Russia has invaded Ukraine and a false flag/attack/escalation on NATO members is far more likely than it was last year…

I would say nowhere is really safe anymore.

Worried-about-you-in-Taiwan
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Now, does anyone know any cute Kiwi girls that I can marry for a passport?

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Can you provide more details? Depending on the field it may be relatively easy or basically impossible to get a job without knowing Chinese. Also whether it would make sense financially. If you can get into anything semiconductor related 70k NTD is not only doable but probably far lower than the compensation you will be offered.

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I did above, “investigation”. I also gave some examples of types of jobs I have applied for:

So investigation, of (mostly) people. With 10+ years of experience.

Btw, I speak Mandarin fluently, and read /write it well enough, but I would need some work to get it truly work level functional for writing (not impossible though).

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I would think the best you can do is to have passports and cash at the ready in case you want to run to the airport. I’m guessing that any attack from China would be preceded by troop buildups and a lot of belligerent noise or other incidents. So if things seem to be getting out of hand you could conveniently take a surprise long-term vacation outside of Taiwan.

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