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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Do you think your stint in China will help you land a good career abroad?
I meet foreigners in China with a mix of outlooks on their long term careers. Some "don't want to think ahead too much" while others have ideas of high flying careers waiting for them back home when they return from their 1-3 year "work sabbatical" in China. In all honesty, I have met some very promising, talented, motivated individuals here who I can really see making it far when they return to the west. But the majority? Ugh, not so much.
10 years 32 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
Probably it will depend on your line of work. E.g. I've worked the majority of my time in China for a western software company. Had I done so has a developer sitting in an office, my experience would have been worth diddly. Had I had an outgoing role, e.g. in a sales position, dealing with users it would be worth a lot more. However, most companies for staffing China offices will pick local sales people. Had I worked as a technical consultant working with customers, partners blah blah blah, then it would be a lot more valuable. The technical aspects of the job, wether you are a rocket surgeon or an English teacher is the same no matter where in the world it is done. The communication challenges by doing it in a different culture will be the same depending on the job (if we ignore for a while that a classroom is a different audience from a bunch of drunken IT descision makers)
I get and agree a little with what Scand says, but;
In the UK, for example, it is pretty useless because as they said to me, they wanted recent UK experience within the last 18 months. I was turned away for failing that requirement alone.
It can depend on your line of work, but China is not quite the dog's bollocks that some would think.
I used my experiences in China to complete post graduate studies in TESOL in Australia. I now deliver professional development courses in TESOL, mostly to degree qualified teachers. I already had a degree in Training and Development.
A requirement of delivering such professional development training is to have recent experience teaching TESOL, so the China experiences satisfied that requirement.
I find employers here at home are impressed that I can speak Chinese and having a ESL qual gets their attention
Maybe. I hope to get my M.A. from a Chinese university, but I don't think I want to stay in China forever. At least in my field the degree could be useful abroad.
Having said that, I should be studying as hard as I can.
it depends on what you want to do. I would use my time and experience in China in future jobs.
I don't see much future for the english teachers without a real teaching degree from their homecountry. To be honest what do you say if you wanna go back to your old job and they ask you what experience do you have. Yeah uhm i taught some little spoiled 4 year old brats in kindergarden.
hard to settle down back at home i guess.
For the rest it depends on which field and what you do. Some companies appreciate international experience and some think china was crap and you need some local experience to compete. Well hard to say