Is it better to look for a job inside or outside of Taiwan?

On the surface, this seems like a pretty obvious answer - of course it should be better to look for a job inside of the country, if you can. However, I came across a discussion elsewhere where somebody said that you won’t be offered “expat rates” if you apply for jobs while you’re in Taiwan. I’m wondering if this is true? I’d never heard that claim before and, as far as I’m aware, none of the non-English teaching expats I knew when I worked in Taiwan received “expat rates”. But maybe, now that I think about it, that was because they were already in Taiwan/Asia when they applied.

Any thoughts?

As far as the experience that I’ve come across, the only people who get those “ex-pat” packages are higher upper-level management, like someone coming in to run the whole office. Nowadays, even people sent to Hong Kong (king of ex-pat land and packages) in the finance industry who have even a few years’ experience in sales, etc. just get a month’s worth of money to stay at some temporary apartment and then they are on their own to find their own apartment and pay for it out of their salary. If you are near entry-level for whatever job you are looking for, then come to Taiwan and look for a job here. When you get a few years of job experience, and if you are excellent at what you do, then the job offers will likely start rolling in and that’s when your salary starts increasing at a higher rate.

Thanks for your reply. What you say aligns with my own, somewhat limited, perceptions. Throughout my relatively short time working in Taiwan, I often heard professionals say that Taiwan isn’t a country you go to for saving money, unless you teach English at a good school (and even English teaching, from what I understand, isn’t what it used to be with regards to pay). It’s just as well that money isn’t what draws me there!