I was looking for a job in Taiwan a few months ago, around Chinese New Year, and the prospective boss at this small company saw that I’m a pretty intelligent guy with strong credentials (experience in his industry + an advanced degree).
So he hires me, saying he wants me to be a “project manager” for something he’s been trying to get off the ground.
So I relocate with the family, start work two months ago, and have hardly ever heard anything about the ostensible “project”. The big boss I had interviewed with only flies in once a month (from Hong Kong), and in the meantime I’ve been working with a senior VP on site who has put me on some relatively low-level stuff for half the day, and for the other half I’m . . . well, I’m not doing much, but I try to keep busy. The VP seems kind of at a loss of what to do with me.
The big boss flew in for a monthly departmental meeting today, and afterward I had my first real chance to talk with him since coming on board
Not a word about the original “project” but now I find out that the big boss wants me to “create my own role” after I get to “understand [his] company more.” His attitude was kind of dour, like I had let him down in some way even though this was the first time I had spoken with him. He wants to talk with me again in a month and a half after I get myself up to speed (on what, I’m not quite sure).
I asked the big boss whether I should be taking my cue from the senior VP I’ve been working with. He kind of sniffed and said “not necessarily”. Great, so while he’s out of town, I’m “creating my own role” while reporting to nobody and doing nothing substantial?
Big alarms are going off in my mind about this, obviously. Does the guy regret hiring me? Is he looking for me to aggressively shoulder my way past the VP or disregard what the VP is asking me to do? In getting to “understand” his business, am I supposed to come up with some grand strategic vision to justify my role?
Any thoughts? Ever been in this situation? What did you do?
Yer pal,
Lil’ Slugger
I was a similar situation once. It didn’t end well.
In hindsight, I’d continue to communicate with him as he was responsible for your being here. Copy the others around you who you’d be working with (or for) so they’re clued in as to what you’re doing here. You can bet that they’re not that comfortable with you here and that no one’s told them about your role in the company.
The other thing would be to talk to these folks and ask them, whether or not they have an idea of what your here for? Maybe that can give you some insight as well.
Meanwhile, try to be helpful, smile and make friends with your colleagues.
Good luck!
I’ve also been in a similar situation and your story doesn’t surprise me at all. Luckily for me it worked out eventually.
I get the feeling some companies here think it’s an excellent idea to hire a foreigner, because now they will be “international”, but they don’t really put too much thought into how.
In my case there was hardly any work for me at the beginning, and I started having to find things to do (and was given other duties). Unfortunately some of these duties ended up being real White Monkey things, like presenting our company to visitors, which had absolutely fuck all to do with my job. It was very obvious I was doing this because of my white face, and absolutely nothing else. There were far better-suited and more knowledgeable people in my company who could have done a much better job.
This situation mostly sorted itself out when, one day, I presented to some very important customers from China who couldn’t speak a word of English. 1000 people in my building and they ask the one guy that can’t speak Chinese to present to these guys. Anyway words were exchanged after this particular episode, and the White Monkey stuff pretty much went away after that. Also luckily for me, my workload increased, so there was no need to find extra stuff for me to do.
A) You may heave been brought in to light a fire under the current VPs bottom.
B) The “Pres” has a plan for you, but he wants to see if you can ‘fit in’ with his vision first. This is tenuous at best and if so, it requires you to ‘get close’ to him quickly and find out what is what.
C) You have been given a fantastic opportunity to create your own bureaucracy and do whatever you think is the best for the company and you…with the “unspoken but visible” support of the Pres. This could be a sterling chance for you; but it will require some team building and diplomacy.
D) He hasn’t the slightest idea why he hired you and is giving you the “Chinese Goodbye”…(hoping you’ll just disappear without comment or confrontation)
Just a few that came to mind.
Your situation sounds like, “Funny Business,” a book you can find on Amazon.