Cough cough USA death penalty? Surely not in the 21st century’s beacon of humanity, liberty and freedom.
He is practically the only person in accounting that speaks half decent English, and I really am being generous with “half”. I have to deal with him if I have an expense reimbursement, budget request or something else.
I believe he gets away with being rude because I don’t really see the need to prove myself to a kid or assert dominance. So far his unambiguous rudeness has been in 1-to-1 interactions, otherwise things like interrupting when me or others are speaking or other micro-aggressions are not worth picking a fight over.
He may be on the autism spectrum or ADHD, it’s not just me he keeps on interrupting when people are talking mid-sentence. It is like he doesn’t care what people have to say, or can’t keep focused, or both.
some people are just dicks.
Or like getting micro-aggressions up on foreigners.
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@Flint I’m a bit curious about what position in what industry and company size you got that 40k/month offer for.
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The Taiwanese office is a minefield
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I have many reservations on that too based on direct personal experience.
Big money is not hard to find in China. They are hungry for foreign talent. Taiwan…I don’t know. It says it is but I have a saying that the bullshit stops when the money is on the table.
Maybe both are but let’s say a job in China pays a foreigner $X/month, and the equivalent job in Taiwan pays the same guy $0.1X/month. Prima facie, whose opinion do you think the host company will value more?
It isn’t my field but Google for “former pilots train PLA”. They were being paid about US$20k/month.
However the engagement of the foreign pilots was probably not a long term position. China knew what it wanted, paid for it and got what they wanted.
Huh ? Did you read the article?
Former NBA star Dwight Howard called Taiwan a country, and now he’s facing backlash in China. In a promotional video with Taiwan’s vice president Lai Ching-te, Howard — who now plays for a local Taiwanese basketball league — said, "Since I came to Taiwan, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation of this country.
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OK, If U say so Boss
I’m sure he is really bothered. It’s not like he was being scouted for the China Basketball Association.
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If this was a Chinese company they probably wanted you for something very specific and then they would let you go soon after I guess. Maybe 6 months or a year max. Unless you have some kind of industry access they need.
They often hire experts in from Taiwan in the same fashion to get technical knowledge i.e. industry trade secrets.
You could work there and you still wouldn’t know what is going on in the background. Your ultimate employer could be the PRC government.
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Yeah, even if he says that Chinese offer lots of money that sum is ridiculous.
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If you’re offered a US$40k/mo position in China, you won’t be the one submitting receipts to the accounting department. Besides, the accountants won’t speak any English, otherwise they wouldn’t be accountants. You’ll likely have an English-speaking personal assistant handling everything for you, and you won’t have to deal with anybody else in the office because they won’t speak English either. You just focus on your own job, and work directly with your immediate boss.
I don’t know what it’s like for foreigners working in China nowadays, but when I was a lowly foreign management trainee some 10 years ago, someone from HR handled absolutely everything for me, including personally taking me to the hospital in a company car for the health check, and taking me to the bank to open an account.
The company provided housing for me; but I know that in cases where they don’t, someone from HR will usually accompany foreigners in apartment-hunting, dealing with the landlord, and setting up the utilities, etc. The executive-level expats in my company were also provided company cars and chauffeurs. If you’re offered a US$40k/mo salary, you might get one too.
The most difficult part about working in China is dealing with unannounced visits from local government officials, but you wouldn’t be asked to do that. Most companies have designated liaisons who handle them.
Although you’re right about one thing. You’ll always be considered a guest in China, which I don’t necessarily think is a bad thing.
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China is running out of money. Their economy is in tatters from what I have been reading and looking at social media posts of factory owners there.
I would be extremely skeptical of any big money offers coming out of China right now.
As you said an offer is completely different that money on the table.
I think you need to split news from individual situations.
Economy isnt in ‘tatters’ its just not as good as before and big cities probably in recession. Its still a huge market and there are big salaries available
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True, and we don’t even know what industry the OP is in. Some industries suffer in recessions, others thrive. Also, companies that sell premium products suffer, while companies that sell cheaper alternatives thrive.
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Yes I am exagerrating even though the economic situation in China now is poor to very poor.
Still that kind of salary would be humungous in China hence I am extremely skeptical.
I have had a similar experience. I worked for Chinese companies for eight years and spent four years in Shanghai. I’d say that they treat foreign talent generally very well. Everything was done for me by HR and others. They helped me find an apartment, always accompanied me to the doctors when I was sick, and helped me with all paperwork involving government offices. The accountant would even accompany me to the bank for my personal bank matters, like helping me send money back home.
I worked for a well-reputed high-tech company, so I can’t speak for experience elsewhere. This was just my experience.
My pay in China in 2011 was more than my starting salary in Taiwan in 2015. It took a few years for things to balance out.
In terms of work culture, some things there are worse. It was normal to see people working till midnight or even after midnight. Over half of the employees also came to work on Saturdays. The targets were stringent, and everything was strictly driven based on results.
Things are a lot laid back here in Taiwan. I find the work culture here easier, even though my work colleagues here are comparatively less helpful than their Chinese counterparts.
But work isn’t everything. Life and things outside work also matter; in that regard, Taiwan is a lot better. Internet freedom is essential for me. My internet would sometimes get shut down for 2 to 3 days in China, usually after I’d use a VPN for too long to check Facebook, international news, etc. No one knocked on my door, but they would just cut off my internet as punishment.
Also, a path to citizenship and permanent residency is important. This is definitely a lot easier in Taiwan.
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That’s interesting. I also lived in China in 2011 and never had internet issues for using VPNs. As I understood it, the use of VPNs were tolerated if used by foreigners.
Yes, things like permanent residency will be easier in Taiwan. Then again, expats in Taiwan tend to hit a glass ceiling in their career progression, so that might be a moot point unless you’re happy remaining where you are in your career ladder.
Companies in China are much more likely to hire expats for executive or upper-management positions, although that’s about to change in Taiwan in the coming decade.
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You sound confident about that.
Actually there have been expats heading some large Taiiwanese companies over the years , some examples I recall are FarEastern Telecom, Acer and HTC (Gogoro) . Not all ended well but that’s the way it goes.
Part of the glass ceiling here is because a lot of these companies are controlled by rich families who put in their own family members in executive positions.
Chinese companies and recruiters headhunt me from time to time. Ironically Taiwanese companies that dont know me and Taiwanese headhunters never call me. The only local headhunter that called me was a foreigner. Some local companies tried to recruit me but only because they knew who I was already. I don’t have my resume in Chinese and I think 99% of recruiters here don’t bother reading English or searching using Englisb keywords.