I think my department, and indeed many schools across the country, would have had to shut down due to the near-disappearance of appropriate students several years ago.
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I have a little anecdote about this. My Taiwanese husband was watching Facebook videos and said âwatch this itâs interesting/good to knowâ and it was a video about how to deal with home fires such as not adding water to oil fires, just putting the lid on the pot or turning off the gas mains.
I said âDidnât you learn about this at school?â
Him âNo⌠did you?â - His face was genuinely surprised that I learnt such a useful life skill at school. It was eye-opening for me too because I just take for granted that everybody knows these sorts of things.
I didnât make a big deal about it but thatâs just the way this country operates
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Interesting how you see them. One of the most functional and successful societies in the world. Going from literal head hunters to being a single point of failure for the global tech supply chain within a couple generations. Yet apparently they arenât capable of basic human skills. How do you square reality with your perception of them?
Personally I believe maybe those skills arenât really as necessary as you think they are. After all some people still think farming and or animal husbandry are essential skills.
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Iâm not saying 100% of all Taiwanese people are incompetent. But I am saying that this so-called ânewâ problem with lazy/entitled/not qualified university students is part of a broader societal problem. If you only train at one skill, such as passing math tests, then when you go into the real world, you will have only trained that one skill. Assuming mommy is still there to pack your lunch for you and do your laundry, you can go miles. If mommy isnât there to do everything else for you, youâre gunna have trouble.
Yeah I love living in a society where people smack into me instead of saying âexcuse meâ when they want to walk past me. And itâs really not necessary to know how to load a dish washer or go to the store and buy shampoo when you run out. Outdated skills for sure.
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We can argue about this. I didnât feel this way when living in Taiwan. It was chaotic, polluted and the way we build up apps at my job in Taiwan was outdated.
To me a functional society has a clean air, safe traffic standards, normal working conditions. Where a couple with an average income can financially afford two kids.
In Taiwan government favors big corporations, where majority of shareholders are probably foreign institutions, companies.
Donât forget Taiwan was at right place, at the right time too. A Chinese nation, which already had a capital base when golden time of China opening was about to start in 80s. A golden area of globalization.
Money ! = functional
Could be the countryâs last line of defence if island gets invaded. invaders would get an aneurism trying to press-gang the locals.
I take it youâve never lived in China? I seriously doubt anyone who grew up there is going to get that stressed out dealing with Taiwanese people. Taiwan is way less frustrating haha.
Never had the pleasure, and hope not 
At my old company we had plenty of new graduates who could not operate a microwave and other general stuff. Newcomer training sessions had to add some basics like microwave operation, lunch box heater training, and manners training like you cannot just leave your unwashed lunch metal container in the sink for days (no one is going to wash for you).
Managers looking for new employees were in two categories:
1)those needing specific engineering skills sets looked at a couple of schools whose graduates were not spoiled (meaning not like NTU)
2)those looking for good workers. They did not care at all which schools they attended or what they studied.
Too many departments were full of young people who had bad attitudes. The most common questions asked during interviews⌠âHow many days of vacation will I have?â âHow soon can I get promoted?â
Managers would ask my wife in HR for names of those part-time workers (still in university) with good attitudesâŚasking when will they graduate. They would also even poach the receptionists with good attitudes. Imagine answering phone calls this week and transferring to logistics department. Not uncommon. Managers were desperate for workersâŚnot slackers. When a hard worker had a bad boss who would not agree to let the worker transferâŚthe other department boss would even get the worker to quit and apply from outside to his departmentâŚany method possible to get a decent worker.
In interviews managers would ask young people why they had 3 jobs in 5 yearsâŚand why had 6 months to one year between jobs. The answers were ârestingâ and âtravelâ.
I have told many a parent that the key point to a successful career for most young people is attitude. Just get your foot in the door of a large companyâŚshow your willing to at least put in 8 hours of workâŚmanagers will be trying to poach you to go to their department. By then maybe the young person will be more clear what he/she wants to do.
Yes, salaries are low. However, this cannot be an excuse to not try to work at your job. At least put in some effortâŚtoo many do not.
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haha, I after working with new grads here in Taiwan things like that happen that I thought where not possible. One staff, she is new grad, 22 year old girl asked her to call the coffee shop and order coffee for staff as our office tradition in mornings. She did not know how, and tried to google it and later asked another young staff how to order (She kinda complain to me, why she is so dumb) on the phone. After a few days she still shit scared to make the call (I can call with my poor Chinese, the coffee shop is maybe nicer to me trying to speak Japanese haha, but for her no breaks).
haha, the other one is office girls complain about new female staff does not flush toilet, so I had tell her in very nice way to do that.
Oh the many stories of young people coddled to the point they could not and did not want to do anything. Parents calling company to claim their kids are working too hardâŚwell, hard to claim when only there for 3 weeks. New staff not showing up after the first week so HR has to call looking for themâŚonly to be told the parents decided the company was too far from home or the âfengshuiâ the company was deemed to be wrong.
A thirty-five year old got into a fight over a girl while on overseas business trip. The parents called the company to ask for an apology as their son only got into the fight due to work pressure from his boss. My wife had to visit the parents home to apologize as they just kept bothering HR department about this.
Another 35 year old with a PhD suddenly disappeared from work. The company and his parents finally found him down south. He said the pressure at his first job by the third month was just too much for him. Yes, 35 years old but is his first job.
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I can kind of see why itâs happening though. If youâre 35 years old with a PhD then your parents are obviously wealthy enough for you not to work. So whenever any pressure at work occurs they feel they donât have to take it. Thatâs why people called them the strawberry generation, canât take pressure.
Low salaries also factor into it, again if someone is getting $200hr in an office to be treated crappy by the boss, no reasonable shot at promotion plus their parents are wealthy enough, why stick around and eat s* from him
Its also no longer just an Asian thing (lying flat), itâs a western one now too (see the antiwork movement)
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The ministry of education just might be the most conservative and resistant to change out of all government bodies here in Taiwan
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It really is one of THE root problems. and it extrapolates through every facet of life and through procreation ,thus generations. we can give the pass to adults because they were children taught poorly or we can prepare the noose for them because they are fucking idiots and should know better. most argue those points, where as it really is pointless because we are selfish and dumb by the time we figure that issue out (adulthood). there are numerous sayings like cant teach an old dog new tricks. frankly, I agree there is no excuses as an adult. but at the same time we are all functionally retarded, and need teaching not lashing. in the end, we have to teach the kids better. if it is the next generation, we cannot use scape goats and bullshit to excuse the future having the same.problems. line in the sand in my book. they have to be held to higher standards. we dont need to scream at them. this is all so simple, the issue (at least from what I have experienced) is people dont have the patience to understand any meaningful change on scale takes generations. peoples timelines are ramped up to milisecond stimulation rather than the ol plant trees for your grandchildren rather than yourself type wisdom. I feel this is the root of our retardation and unfortunately the new sensitive towards others feelings culture really does seem to be a reversal and selfishness is trumping selflessness in reality now. A care for credit system. or some fucking thing, maybe Iâm out to lunch. been driving for 14 hours 
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You canât blame them. Most jobs pay crap, so why bother to work harder? Especially in Taiwan? Being like without extra skills like engineering or financial/accounting skills, pay will always stay crap. Not everyone can become an engineer.
I am in position, where was offered 30 % higher salary, but my workload would increase like 50%. No thanks boss, my kids are more important than your business. I told him straight, what he did? Nothing. Times have changed, it is harder and harder to get hardworking people for a job. Demographics. Our company doesnât pay top salaries, so we take literally every candidate which can write a line of code. Yes they come with all sort of issues. I am kind to them. What else can you do about it? Is only way I can lead a team. Itâs a new reality.
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Are these not valid questions for a prospective employee to ask? Especially in Taiwan, where there is very little protection for workers getting screwed over every which way by corporates. âHaha look at the fineprint on what you signed!â
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Do you mean in Taiwan or in the world?
I seen wages for food services going up, lots of job offer signs around town here in KaoPing areas , 30,000$+ for low level, 50,000$+ for shop manager or more. Later when out to lunch if I see them will take photos of job offers. As a side effect menu prices are going up with higher wages but i am ok with that as not much like 10% higher.
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Well, most would like to blame the company. But would you hire any applicant who is resting and traveling for more time than working in last 5 years? Who has absolutely no questions about what the job might entail? I can understand if a new graduate is nervous in an interview butâŚwow, you would not believe the attitude of many applicants. The managers interviewing them want to cry.
So we have the low salary aspect. Why work hard for so little pay? Just stay at home instead. Yes, can go that route. But from what I saw previously most staff were not being tortured at workâŚin fact quite the
opposite. Ten people doing what 3 people could do. My wife saw a photo yesterday of the staff now working in her old department. When she was there had only 3 peopleâŚnow there are 13 people in that department. They are not being asked to work very hardâŚso do the basics.
I am not saying that every company is decent to their staff. But I am saying that the trend of low productivity at work is causing companies to hire even more workers which causes salary budgets (and bonuses) to be shared across a large number of staff. Yes, some companies will always pay low salaries no matter how much money the company earns. But there are companies under stress of finding and paying for the increased amount of staff. That is not a popular perspective but should be considered among the discussion of staff and salaries in Taiwan.
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Somebody tell me this though.
How do the convenience stores manage to get competent staff? Thatâs a busy job with shift work.
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