What are my job prospects in Taiwan?

is there any reason for you to choose TW besides having a TW passport ?
if you are already looking out of the PH, you might as well check out SG, MY, HK.
the key is to be focused in your search. ot will increase your chances of success.

1 Like

Yeah I agree, I might need more professional experience to land a good job there… I’m just thinking that the longer I stay here, it might get harder for me to move to Taiwan so I’m torn between getting more experiences here or starting my career there as a “local”. But yeah considering my Mandarin, the first one might be more feasible at the moment.

I moved here with zero Mandarin but I work in the tech field so I can get away with just English. And I had 5 yrs of solid experience too. I think there’s also a requirement of 2 yrs professional experience so your employer can get you a work permit, at least for a white collar job.

1 Like

It’ll sound naive but I just feel more connected in Taiwan. I was born there and we used to have a business there so ever since we moved to the PH, I just wanted to move back.

I’ve been to SG, MY, and HK as well, although as a tourist, and although SG and HK seem like better choices, career wise, I think I’ll be happier living in Taiwan. Also, in the future, I’d like to have my own business too so hopefully, I won’t need to rely on the job market in Taiwan for too long.

1 Like

Yeah I’ve been regretting not taking up a more technical degree back in university… I didn’t think much of my future yet at that time so I just went with a business degree…

1 Like

Also, ageism is a thing in the Philippines. It’s not the same in Taiwan. If there’s anything I like here, it’s that you can play the field if you have solid skills. It does not matter where you graduate from either. The only Philipine university they often recognize here is UP.

I think you’re also being affected by the pandemic. It’s bad there, I know. But trust me, you have way more competition here now than I had 8 yrs ago. So many other foreigners are trying to come here with solid experiences too. Most of them older than you.

If there’s anything valuable I learned in my 20s when it comes to work, it’s that it’s the time to gain as many skills as possible. Stay in the present, bloom where you’re planted, and if you do you might not even need to work too hard for someone to pick you.

Oh, that’s nice to hear…

Haha yeah the pandemic might have intensified my desire to move there but it has always been what I wanted even before the whole virus situation happened.

I see… thanks for this… Might try to apply in a MNC here and see how it goes…

1 Like

I work for an Acer subsidiary. Whole lot of testing to get in. If Acer does it every other tech company does it for sure.

E&Y is the weakest of the big 4 in Taiwan, you can try KPMG. When I worked in banking I took a team of them out to Manila to audit a company. One of the CPA in the team was from the Philippines but based in Taipei.

Working for the big four with 1 years experience will be tough. Your salary will be about 35,000 NTD per month with one months CNY. With limited Chinese skills it will be hard for you to move up, and your likely stay in the same position with a small yearly pay rise. Plus the working hours can be very long, 10-12 hours per day and sometimes longer such as during tax season.

Listen to the old timers and invest in yourself. Once your get a desired skill you can go anywhere no matter your language skills.

2 Likes

And any jobs that don’t require testing has a glass ceiling of 28000. So for me entrepneurship is the only way to break it. Taiwan uses testing to vet for hardworking people. Their reasoning is if you can pass a test you must be a good worker. This is also why academic is so important.

I do live in a bubble of elite engineers and English teachers so all i can say is neither TSMC nor Mediatek have testing for engineers, whether local or expat.

Your English writing looks good enough to me. Unless you have a heavy accent , I suggest you try your luck in that area. Try to find a gig and learn Mandarin while making money from English teaching. Once your Mandarin is better you will have a much better chance of finding a job as an accountant.

I see… I went with EY because it’s the biggest in the PH. It’s almost incomparable to the other big 4 in terms of market share. I just tried it out but I wasn’t planning to stay in an accounting firm for long anyway 'cause of the long hours and abysmal salary.

Like I said, if you have special knowledge where you are being actively headhunted, of course they wouldn’t test you. Elite engineers would qualify that. I mean people fresh out of college or something where you’re applying as a normal applicant. Testing is a part of the application process. They are not easy tests like US army tests but really hard tests requiring literacy level that is top 10 percent.

Unfortunately, I do have some sort of Filipino accent, so that’s that. But yeah I guess improving on my Mandarin should be my priority right now.

Both of them rejected my application anyway, so I am forever embittered :rofl:

This sounds just about the same as the situation here in the Philippines. Although recently, the work hours have been cut shorter due to the pandemic and the government imposed curfews, we’ve been working more and more during weekends. We get overtime pay though but it’s still small given our base salary is smaller too. Do Taiwanese accounting firms pay overtime too?

They don’t, that’s why many of them leave after 2-3 years to work in securities or for account departments of large listed companies.

Maybe you can try and get an editing position in KPMG or Deloitte, they had an American girl doing that role a few years back at KPMG. Your get better pay and better hours for that role, plus the chance to network with all The CPAs.

Deloitte is easily the biggest, while E&Y in Taiwan is pretty small. Down under, in the US and in most other SE countries E&Y are number 1.

1 Like

I’ll take this into consideration. Thanks for this!

There are jobs out there where you could potentially work in, however you’ll need a few years experience and need your CPA/CA license to be considered.

I worked in Accounting & Finance for a few years in Taipei (As a foreigner) and my Chinese wasn’t exactly fluent at the beginning. I did have a big 4 background back in my home country and had my Accounting qualifications completed there.

I worked in a foreign company with a Finance team in Taiwan. Most of my reporting work was in relation to other subsidiaries in Asia and I did no statutory Accounting or Tax work relating to the Taiwan entity.

Chinese was mainly used to interact with colleagues and banter, however whenever we had more complex conversations it would be a mix of English and Chinese.