One of my friends has a few problems.
-He has been teaching English in Taiwan for a few years.
-He wants to look for some alternative job opportunities.
-He speaks a few languages, including good Chinese.
-He feels quite lonely.
He studies Chinese at TLI, but for one or the other reason, he avoids any contact with classmates. He actually longs for some attention, some appreciation of other people.
-He knows something is going wrong, and that he is not taking any concrete steps to solve his problem.
-At this moment he has a lot of spare time, but he does not use it wisely.
-He is thinking about doing some translations, proofreading, …
He contacted a few agencies and got some asseignments.
Now he is even thinking about contacting a few trading companies, travel agencies, translation agencies in order to find a job, in which he could use his language skills.
-He told me that he read a lot of interesting articles on Forumosa.
-He mentioned acting, or becoming a model, but he did not like the idea to depend on this kind of income, because a lot of these asseignments would come irregularly.
-He uses the Happy Hours of Forumosa to network, but he usually loses contact with people after one or two e-mails.
He talks about networking. He even went to Toastmasters and a few other organisations, but he gave it up after 3 or 4 months.
-He finds it difficult to make friends. He knows he has to be somebody’s.
He wants to know more people, people he just could talk to, people whom he could trust.
-He has his Taiwanese wife, but he thinks she often does not understand a number of problems he gets confronted with.
-He thinks he is too clumsy and does not control his time wisely.
How would he able to control his time better?
He really gets frustrated lately.
-He speaks Chinese fairly well, but he does not use it effectively in his daily life. His intermediate level of Chinese comes in quite handy.
-He contacted a few embassies and ask for their support to help him find a job, but they turned him down and told him to contact all the big companies one by one.
-He tries to find some kind of self-recognition, some kind of appreciation. Right know, he thinks he wastes too much of his time sleeping and watching TV.
-He wonders what he’s going to do in the near future.
-He is not exactly mother’s beauty, quite fat, losing hair, wearing glasses, …
He is very worried about his appearance and his health.
He would like to lose some weight.
-He wants to break out of his current situation, find a new professional challenge in which he could his language skills.
-He thinks there might be a few good opportunities to find good jobs in Hsinchu.
-He is applying for a JFRV, but his government gives him a lot of trouble to get his Certificate of Non Criminal Behaviour ready on time in the right language. With that JFRV, he would be able to find a normal job in Taiwan, pay taxes regularly, in short, live a normal life.
-Right now, he is teaching illegally and he does not like it a bit.
-Lately, his Taiwanese wife talks down on him complaining about the fact he does not earn enough money.
He takes it quite hard.
He tries to analyse his situation.
-We talked for more than 2 hours and jotted down most of the points he wants to change in his life.
-At this moment, he will get an ARC by studying at a government approved school, which will allow him to stay in Taiwan without having to leave the country every six months.
-He knows he could find a good job in his own country, but his wife does not want to live there, because she would miss her family too much.
-He likes to talk.
-He likes to use a phone and e-mail to find a job.
-He knows suicide is not an option.
-I showed him this e-mail and he agrees entirely with it.
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
What would you suggest him to do (how to find a job)?
In what kind of job can you use language skills
(English, French, German, Chinese and some Japanese)? here in Taiwan.
it sounds like your friend is a very neat person that is just stuck in a rut. i think that happens to all of us. the main thing is how deep you let yourself get and how you get out. i can’t offer any job advice, but it sounds like he should try to get out and have some fun. maybe try a new hobby, or start going to the gym, or whatever he may be able to find to do that really gives him something to look forward to. the hardest thing about getting out of a rut is the getting out itself! once you do then it is easy. i can relate it to going to the gym…if you are not into it (which i havn’t been for a long time) it is so difficult to get into. once you get past the crappy first couple of weeks, you feel really good and it is really easy to go. i think this same concept holds true with many things in/aspects of life. i hope something works out really well for him…tell him to bite the bullet and make it happen
The hobby idea is great. Taking dancing lessons is great for physical healthy, mental health, meeting people (possibly prospective students), and as something romatic that might silence the nag.
I think that your friend is actually on his way, and that the situation looks better than it appears.
First of all, he’s getting his JFRV sorted. It takes time, but nothing to do.
He knows that he wants to move on to something other than teaching. It’s possible, but it takes a bit of a plan and luck to do it well.
His wife is bitching. I guess that he should sit down with her and explain exactly how he felt about the situation and what he plans to do about it.
So all in all not too bad, he’s getting thru a rough patch, but things will clear up with a bit of patience.
On the legal side he should plug away at getting tje JFRW and the ARC. It has been done before, and he will get that sorted eventually.
On the career front he should either keep on looking for translating jobs, and slowly build a portfolio. Eventually, he should be able to support himself. There are a few threads on this, but I have not worked in this field the last decade.
Or, he should start to look for a job in a Taiwanese factory or trading company. I did that, and if you speak Chinese, you will land something eventually.
Controlling your time - not a hard one. Jsut make sure that you have your day planned and ehough to do.
If fhe feels he’s in a rut, then my advice would be to go get some interests. Hiking, dancing or whatever. Just by getting out and being around people, he will gain new friendships.
I agree that using the word troubled and Job search in the same sentence or in the same letter is pretty bad form.
However I don’t know how many people here are actually hiring foreigners - apart from English teachers, that is.
What I have got out of forumos jobwise in the past is more advice and leads than actual job offers. While a job offer is the best help, good sound advice runs a close second. If I or someone more or less under the cover of a username calls himself troubled, then well - no real harm done.
If I were helping a friend or a fellow forumosan out, he could call himself troubled in front of me until he turned blue in his face, I might ask him to tone it down during a job interview I arranged for him, though. Bitterness is not a sell.
Sure, if you don’t have a job or you are in a rut and wants to change, you are in trouble, and most likely troubled as well. I felt a bit troubled during my last days at the stock brokerage and the manufacturer I worked at. That goes without saying and especially mentioning - but unhappy job circumstances and the general misery that goes with that is a major driving force behind a few job changes.
How experienced is your friend and in what industry? It’s difficult to tell you what kind of jobs are available out there in the market when we don’t know your friend’s education and current/previous work experience. If his only skill/experience is language related, then his best bet would be translating, proof-reading, teaching, etc. If he doesn’t have any technical nor commercial experience/background, it’s gonna be tough to do anything else.
Hmm, I got offers doing international sales in Taiwan on a MA in Chinese.
And got a job thru connections doing financial anal-ysis with no experience and background whatsoever.
Would therefore say yes, in principle, but in practice things are different. People edit, and end up manage, whereas people managing end up editing instead.
Hmm, I got offers doing international sales in Taiwan on a MA in Chinese.
And got a job through connections doing financial anal-ysis with no experience and background whatsoever.
Would therefore say yes, in principle, but in practice things are different. People edit, and end up manage, whereas people managing end up editing instead.[/quote]
The local talent pool is a bit too shallow for few types of positions, and that creates opportunities for foreigners here. Just a fact of life, and get on with the search. Please.
If your friend is interested in using his Chinese, trying one of the English-language newspapers might be worthwhile. They often need staff writers (who translate Chinese media items into English). Working at a newspaper you’ll learn how to write quickly and clearly, skills which come in very useful if working as a freelance or in-house translator, and you’ll learn how to manage your time.
Also, it’s a good way to make connections with people.
His wife might not like it - low salary and unsocial hours. But doing this may well be a good investment of a year.
