I know that this may be a strange thing to post on here but I am looking for some advice on how I can help my girlfriend to find a good job in Taiwan.
She is Taiwanese so obviously she knows the ropes in her own country; she knows where to go and what to do to get a job. She is currently working and has had plenty of job offers from various banks and hotels. However she is not very happy at doing these jobs anymore and wants to do something different (neither of us knows what this is exactly :eh: ).
Part of the reason is that the salary’s are so low compared to here in Australia. Of course that’s par for the course as it is Taiwan afterall but she also wants to be challenged and to improve herself. I am trying my best to help her by recommending things that she can put in her resume and on the application forms but I still feel pretty useless.
She really does deserve to succeed as she is so hard working, kind and intelligent. I also secretly wish that she could find a job so that she is not 100% reliable on me for her English usage as she says that she is losing some of her confidence. I feel that she would be great in some sort of service based role where she can use her language, customer service and interpersonal skills but what sort of positions will allow her to do this? We have discussed working as a translator but neither of us know how she can get into that and we guess that it will take time to get qualified.
This seems like a post to score brownie points with your GF. :bravo:
She can get a job like any other Chinese-speaking Taiwanese person –
by browsing the classifieds, online and in the newspapers, and making use of her guanxi network.
If her Engrish is really good, she can work in a trade office…or maybe work up to something like that.
Since she apparently has no idea what she wants to do --either she’s very young or kinda lame – you can find some kind of career assessment / skills assessment survey for her to take online, to get her thinking about things…
Look out for job fairs, too.
Want a well paid job… move out of Taiwan. There are tonnes of people in your GFs position in Taiwan, it’s a closed market, they don’t need to offer higher pay. Even foreign employers don’t offer high pay these days…
I love posts like this. Well thought out, balanced and realistic.
What do Taiwanese country heads get paid? How about Taiwanese (chart) Singers or Supermodels?
My point would be that if you are focused and get to the top of your game (whatever that is) you will make bigger bucks than most of the lameo population - regardless of what country you are in,
Plenty of people earn crap money in the UK, US, and Aus. Plenty of unionised jobs in those markets are overpaid IMHO but those guys still don’t make out like an SVP in a major bank for example.
So here’s the golden nugget you are all searching for - work hard, read up on your career field, look for an angle where you will be allowed to shine, be tenacious and hope for a little bit of luck. Get into work early and stay late if you must - but if you play the game really well you will succeed, and guess what the guys at the top ----they earn more than the rest.
Yeah but you have to sacrifice family life in Taiwan to do that…so not really worth it in my opinion, especially for women. Depends on how career driven people are of course, some women don’t mind this. I’m not saying there are no opportunities in Taiwan, but for the vast swathe of average good workers (quote- not singers or supermodels or mediocre TV celebrities) they just get exploited for their hard work, with promise of future promotions or ‘optional’ bonuses instead of salary raises. If you want to have a better life in Taiwan it’s usually the best option to strike out on your own.
The other best option is to get a government job as the hours are set and you don’t have to deal with the incredible pressures and requests some Taiwanese bosses put workers under. Plus they have generous allowances for maternity leave. I have worked for numerous Taiwanese companies, foreign enterprises, my own business AND the Taiwan government, so I think I know a bit about Taiwan (the Taiwan govt job involved sitting at a desk and looking busy, it took a month to get my specific job description, what a laid back job, but so boring and so target unspecific that I left within 2 months, and this job paid better than all the jobs I had with Taiwanese companies up to then).
It is still correct to say that most Taiwanese would do better overseas…especially women…what’s the average worker pay in Taichung (for example) for women 25k/mth?
partly true. you’ll also need to live with the COLA. you’ll have to pay more for things else where because labor is more expensive (think about it when you get your paycheck).
Even with more expensive conditions in Western countries women still come out far ahead compared to Taiwan…25000 NTD is about 800 USD/mth, they also have to pay tax, labour contribution and health insurance (so probably come out with 21,000 NTD/mth into hand or about 670 USD) on that and Taiwan is cheap but not that cheap if you actually want to buy anything of quality or go anywhere e.g. a B&B in Taiwan averages 3000-4000 NTD/night. The only reason they can exist on these miserable wages is by sharing costs, living with parents into their 30s, riding a scooter everywhere, husband/bf covering all major expenses etc. The worst part is their short working life due to employer discrimination againt women who want children, discrimination against older workers (hardly any 40+ females in private sector workforce) and poor salary progression. So if the gf plans to live in Taiwan a longtime a government job is a good option, plus she can get cheap credit with a stable job, special savings rate and okay pension on retirement.
My wife stays at home and looks after the kid, house etc and helps with some of my business arrangements, it’s working out much better than her working outside, she is healthier, less stressed, kid gets well looked after…she is looking at working in a govt position )with added benefit of cheap and easy housing loan for govt workers) if possible although not sure how long we will live in Taiwan. I had seen her get exploited by Taiwanese companies as she is a hard and diligent worker, no matter how hard she worked they didn’t care…and when employees left during credit crisis none were replaced, eventually she had health issues because of loading, when she had to leave the job (where she had completely reorganised their administration and ran half the office) they tried to get her to sign a disclaimer saying ‘health issues were not related to working conditions’…amazing eh.
She had some interviews later and that is another story in itself, suffice to say the whole process was a joke, they just want somebody who won’t have kids…that’s it.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]Even with more expensive conditions in Western countries women still come out far ahead compared to Taiwan…25000 NTD is about 800 USD/mth, they also have to pay tax, labour contribution and health insurance (so probably come out with 21,000 NTD/mth into hand or about 670 USD) on that and Taiwan is cheap but not that cheap if you actually want to buy anything of quality or go anywhere e.g. a B&B in Taiwan averages 3000-4000 NTD/night. The only reason they can exist on these miserable wages is by sharing costs, living with parents into their 30s, riding a scooter everywhere, husband/bf covering all major expenses etc. The worst part is their short working life due to employer discrimination againt women who want children, discrimination against older workers (hardly any 40+ females in private sector workforce) and poor salary progression. So if the gf plans to live in Taiwan a longtime a government job is a good option, plus she can get cheap credit with a stable job, special savings rate and okay pension on retirement.
My wife stays at home and looks after the kid, house etc and helps with some of my business arrangements, it’s working out much better than her working outside, she is healthier, less stressed, kid gets well looked after…she is looking at working in a govt position )with added benefit of cheap and easy housing loan for govt workers) if possible although not sure how long we will live in Taiwan. I had seen her get exploited by Taiwanese companies as she is a hard and diligent worker, no matter how hard she worked they didn’t care…and when employees left during credit crisis none were replaced, eventually she had health issues because of loading, when she had to leave the job (where she had completely reorganised their administration and ran half the office) they tried to get her to sign a disclaimer saying ‘health issues were not related to working conditions’…amazing eh.
She had some interviews later and that is another story in itself, suffice to say the whole process was a joke, they just want somebody who won’t have kids…that’s it.[/quote]
It’s sounds pretty believable.
I was told that companies openly inquire if the woman is married or intends to have kids. And re: not hiring people over 40, very true too. The boss likes to have a huaping, and a 40+ person, even with a lot of experience won’t cut it.
btw, where do I sign up for the high paying government job with the job description of looking busy all day? :discodance:
That has happened to my wife at EVERY SINGLE job interview. She tells them that we don’t want to have children, but they don’t believe her… :loco:[/quote]
That’s unfortunate. Did she end up finding a job or is this an ongoing issue?
The irony is, besides the government trying everything they can think of to have local women procreate, that once a women reaches her late thirties or early forties and she’s still childless, everyone here thinks she’s weird.
Makes no sense. :loco:
2000
A: How old are you?
W: 28.
A: Do you want to have children?
W: No.
A: Sorry. We don’t believe you…um… We don’t think you’ll be right for this position.
2010
A: How old are you?
W: 38.
A: Do you want to have (any more) children?
W: No.
A: How many children do you have?
W: None.
A: WTF? Why?
[quote=“bismarck”]The irony is, besides the government trying everything they can think of to have local women procreate, that once a women reaches her late thirties or early forties and she’s still childless, everyone here thinks she’s weird.
Makes no sense. :loco:
2000
A: How old are you?
W: 28.
A: Do you want to have children?
W: No.
A: Sorry. We don’t believe you…um… We don’t think you’ll be right for this position.
2010
A: How old are you?
W: 38.
A: Do you want to have (any more) children?
W: No.
A: How many children do you have?
W: None.
A: WTF? Why?
[/quote]
W: I’m sorry. I thought I was here for a job interview. Can I speak to the person that will interview me for this job?
[quote=“Puppet”][quote=“bismarck”]The irony is, besides the government trying everything they can think of to have local women procreate, that once a women reaches her late thirties or early forties and she’s still childless, everyone here thinks she’s weird.
Makes no sense. :loco:
2000
A: How old are you?
W: 28.
A: Do you want to have children?
W: No.
A: Sorry. We don’t believe you…um… We don’t think you’ll be right for this position.
2010
A: How old are you?
W: 38.
A: Do you want to have (any more) children?
W: No.
A: How many children do you have?
W: None.
A: WTF? Why?
[/quote]
W: I’m sorry. I thought I was here for a job interview. Can I speak to the person that will interview me for this job?[/quote]
That has happened to my wife at EVERY SINGLE job interview. She tells them that we don’t want to have children, but they don’t believe her… :loco:[/quote]
That’s unfortunate. Did she end up finding a job or is this an ongoing issue?[/quote]
Sadly, it’s an ongoing issue…
It’s easy to blame the country as a whole for not being able to find a good job but if you don’t have any passion or desire then you can’t specialize, and if you can’t specialize you will always be limited to menial office jobs.
I know women earning $18k/month and one earning $800k/month with all kinds of salaries in between. Diligence and hard work is unfortunately not enough to get anybody into $50k+ salaries. One of our neighbors writes software for CNC machines, she earns around $80k/month. A friend earns around $100k/month as purchaser for a large hotel. Another friend earns up to $200k/month as salesperson for a food company. A friend of my wife’s works in the military, I’m not sure exactly what she earns but it would be 6 figures. The $800k/month earner works in finance. Others are not making as much but love what they do - they are working in textile design, printing and electronics.
What all of the $50k+ earners have in common is focus - they picked a specialization early on and stuck with it until they worked their way up to more senior positions. Having no idea what you want besides ‘a good job’ is the road to career mediocrity.
My girlfriend has only just started looking for a job yesterday as things have been a bit hectic over the last month or so with my arrival.
We have spent most of our time travelling, meeting family and friends and stressing and struggling with finding a teaching job for me (still hasn’t happened yet ).
I see that you’re in Australia. There have been sooo many days when I wish that we were back in Australia, a land of hope, glory and sunshine where we could both just walk into a job and our lives seemed relatively easier and stress free.
^ Actually Milky I’m in Taiwan, I just haven’t changed my location. .
Don’t wish you were back home. That will just make you depressed and there’s no point =). Keep your chin up and don’t lose your spirit. If you need another one of your countrymen to have a beer with I’m always here.
I’m in Australia! It’s expensive and corrupt. But the weather’s nice.
Chin up, Taiwan is probably one of the easiest places to make it if you think outside the box and are prepared to work hard. Start something up yourselves. Remember, EVERYTHING’S negotiable.
