With over 50% of young foreign students staying here, competition for jobs at the gate is awful. Where in these pandemic times can one get ahead into a good position? What fields could potentially need and welcome foreign blood among their ranks? Any ideas are welcome.
I see Family Mart/7-11/ Maccas has jobs, ideal for students
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Then they will be competing with locals and that will be a no-no.
Truly Taiwan’s economy has not been affected badly. But there are issues to consider.
For example, most sales positions require travel abroad. That is problematic. And I have my dear friend as an example that Taiwanese bosses do not care to leave you stranded.
The Maccas I mentioned here in Kaoshiung, has signs outside (best pay overnight) has staff that is not local (Spoke Chinese like she is from Hong Kong or maybe Malaysia or at least non local). Also she charged by card twice for the NT99 meal (Happy meal or whatever its called), so so clearly not only hiring locals. At least she knows Big Mac and burger names. For YOUNG student a decent job if needed.
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Sigh. Well, really sad if people who paid for a master’s end up serving tables. Sure, they can do that if there is nothing else and they need to pay the bills. Again, one as a foreigner cannot stay on such a job…legally I mean. Remember the Vietnamese guy ratted out.
Well, if anyone has other ideas or recommendations, lemme know. Good night.
most try their luck in sales and marketing, but it depends what are the qualifications and skills of that person.
if they studied agriculture, Asus will not hire them just cause they are a foreigner…
in any case, now is bad time, many companies have a head count freeze because of the virus
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A story, many years ago I lived in Sam Choung, went to Family Mart late at night often. Guy working there talked to me in English, found out he had advanced degree in History from NCKU (I consider top tier Uni) down here in Tainan. He worked the 11pm to 7am shift waiting for Military job, then after his service was back the same job. I few years later in Taipei ChungShan N Road I ran into him on the street. He was still working at Family Mart but had a Suit and Tie and mid level management job working his way up. Turns out he found the job via internal network, and they liked his good resume (working+ good school) and the plus for a Japanese company a company man. I always thing working experience is KING for young people and better than sitting at home so do not be sad for people as you can always be learning.
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That is all nice but again, to get into a master’s program here you need at least 2 years if work experience.
I call them young but some might be up to 30. This is not snot in the nose 20 year olds. They had jobs and careers abroad, that they cannot go back to or would prefer to stay here. They want to make lives here. They are not sitting at home but most will literally be evicted from dorms come August/September.
Again, the Taiwan people and Taiwan government do not see with good eyes the foreigners competing for same jobs, even low level. That is why they have minimum wages even for recent foreign graduated, which may be a bit over the 711. So please other options are needed.
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Every tech company still needs editors and writers. Even if they don’t know it. Do screen grabs of their web sites and highlight and annotate the errors. You’d be surprised how many still believe that Fanny Huang, who studied two years in Pittsburgh, is doing a bang up job producing compelling web content.
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How about social media managers? Are companies aware of this field?
I am asking you guys because like from the halls of government there is little feel for what the pulse of change is out there.
With the ban on “new” foreigners here for the last few months I would have thought it was now easier than ever to find openings in the typical “foreigner” jobs, there has to be a serious reduction in supply.
There are fewer jobs available, so more applicants for each vacancy, which means companies will pick those most qualified, preferably those with work experience, which makes it tough for new grads.
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Sales and Marketing: companies are still interested in trying to sell crap using a foreign face especially during zoom/covid-19 times. These are the grinding jobs you have to do to pay the newbie price of working in Taiwan.
Editors, tech writers, social media managers: these spots are sought by a lot of English teachers trying to get out of teaching and jumping into the corporate world. Competition is tough.
Anything else requires work experience, if they do have it a lot of international companies are moving positions to Taiwan since the furriners they had cannot travel to Taiwan anymore.
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Why sad? Famous actors started out serving tables.
At least 2 years, certifiable, work experience. Most have more, 5 to 10.
Most actors do stay serving tables.
As said, it is Ok for a while, but thinking long term, someone with more experience, should be able to find a competitive job related to their field in Taiwan.
It is very sad indeed if waiting tables is all Taiwan has to offer a master. It says it is like Europe or Latin America, with doctors driving taxis to make a living.
Learn Chinese. In Taiwan you either teach English, have unique expertise in Engineering or learn Mandarin.
I meant work experience in Taiwan. At least in the tech industry of Taiwan, there is not much that out-of-Taiwan experience will bring to the table for companies here. Companies here are worried about the foreign face playing well with the rest of the team, not giving too much trouble and actually knowing how things are done here. This is for logistics, supply-chain, product management, project management etc.
Of course if they are engineers, especially hardware engineers… that’s another story.
Chinese should be top priority if you are not a genius or engineer.
During some interviews, if the company wasn’t worth it, I would start speaking in English so they wouldn’t send me a job offer afterwards. My first job here, I decided to speak Chinese 100% of the interview, was shown my future desk 1 hour into the interview.
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How is your level of Mandarin mate?
In which field are you?
I am interested since I might be a future job seeker in Taiwan.
I work in Tech, but I am not a genius nor an engineer. haha