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Q: Are Chinese speaking expats better off looking for jobs outside of China?
During a recent trip to Europe, I spoke to many people who claimed that Mandarin-speakers are in high demand in all sorts of high-paying jobs in Europe. Conversely, most Mandarin speaking foreigners I know working in China are on paltry salaries of no more than 20,000 a month. Which makes me wonder: are Mandarin speakers better off taking their language skills elsewhere to get a high-paying job?
11 years 17 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
I hope so, because I want go back home soon and try to use this advantage in high salary position.
At some point probably so but you need to put in the time here first.
"paltry" 20,000 yuan a month??!!
Wow! I wish I had such a "paltry" salary!!!
People say this but it's simply not true. You *MAY* be able to get a job working for your native country if they have an office IN China and they need to send someone to China, so speaking Mandarin is useful if you want to live in China on an expat package.
Mandarin is just not highly used outside of China, so being able to speak it in say, France, is like "big deal".
Mr_spoon:
Given to my teachers, Mandarin in France is starting to the one perk that gives you a big advantage over other candidates.
(But of course this is irrelevant, since it was just an example)
I was an expatriate of Chinese origin that worked for USA multinationals in1980s thru 1990s. Based on this experience and my observations as I witnessed Asian Tigers matured, I would it is best is to work for Asian Conglomerates in their offshore offices outside China:
(1) Asian Tigers as a Group will challenge USA and Europe and they need someone who understand western culture to carry out their mission and report back in to them in Chinese;
(2) Asian corporate culture is still very much owner operator centric so domestic in house politics can be toxic for expatriate who is not local. You cannot imagine how you would be bullied or ostracized if you are not Local.;
(3) as Gold Star (no LG) Samsung, IlJin business associate of mine can tell you they are much much better off than I who worked for USA multinational. Their stock bonus is to die for....
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Most employers outside of China who want to employ Chinese speakers would want more than just your word (English or Chinese) that you can speak Chinese. You would need some genuine qualification to satisfy them.
Also I second what guilinraf said, if you think 20,000 a month is paltry you are in the wrong country.
