Finding work in China: company review

[Zichao]

I mentioned that I'm currently doing an internship in China, and was asked to contribute to the general pool of knowledge on the subject, so here's a quick review of the methods I used and their varying degrees of success. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention the names of the companies I went with or whether that counts as advertising, so I'll include them here, and if it's against the rules and they get edited out, you can PM me for them.

1. First time was in 2007, teaching English in Shijiazhuang. I paid a company called New Times International about $600 to arrange it for me. If I hadn't been on a grant I wouldn't have been able to afford this. I live in evil, socialist France where most departments have a funding system for students who want to go abroad. I don't know whether other countries have the same thing. In any case, given that I didn't have a degree or a TEFL certificate at the time, I didn't have a whole lot of options. For me the fees were 100% worth it; they found me a live-in place teaching English to the children of a cadre - lovely appartment, big black limo, three generations under one roof etc. No pay, but everything taken care of for me.

I was apparently the only lucky one that summer, however. From what I heard the others had paid the same to be found places in summer camps in Mongolia. The camps never materialised and they spent the summer hanging around Shijiazhuang, something which not even Shijiazhuangren do for fun.

I don't know what the moral of the story is. Have an attractive CV, possibly. Most of the others were backpackers and the like whereas I was a relatively civilised-looking law student who already spoke a bit of Chinese.

2. This time I'm in Qingdao. I tried to find something on my own - applying to various Chambers of Commerce and via the French Foreign Ministry: no joy. I know one person who managed to get a job in the consulate in Shanghai like this, so it is possible, just very, very improbable.

In the end I wound up paying again (thank you, French grant system!). This time about 450 euros to Asia Interns, a German company based in Singapore. I have to say that they pissed me off a little - I was in a rush as I needed to get my documentation together and the guy in charge disappeared for a week. Anyway, they farmed me out to Intern China aka China International Business Exchange in Qingdao. I don't know how their fees work as it seems like everyone I've met has paid a different amount - some more and some less than me. They organise homestays, appartments and language classes, as well as the internships. I would advise against going for the appartments - they're really nice but the prices are... er... imaginative (4000 - 6000 RMB/month anyone?) and it's very easy to find your own. I used the Qingdao Real Estate and Relocation Team who speak very good English and charge about 8 or 9% commission. Everyone seems to love their homestays, again, though, it's expensive - about 260 euros/month.

As for the internships, a lot of people have been complaining that their companies only want a token white guy, so they sit around the office all day with nothing to do. For me this is perfect - I've got time to practice my hanzi, read the forums, translate Nietzsche into Sanskrit... For the dynamic, business school types who don't speak Chinese, though, it must be very frustrating. A few have quit and found their own (unpaid) replacement internships by hanging around in ex-pat bars. If you're poor and a risk-taker, this would seem to be the way to go - get into the country on a tourist visa, find a job by the power of guanxi and get the visa converted once you're sorted.

On the whole, though, I'd recommend them. They've been helpful and the internship's been nice, so I'm pretty happy.

Edited October 29, 2009 at 01:53 AM by Zichao

[tony1343]

I'm confused. You paid someone so you could work without pay?

[Zichao]

Yup. This time I'm getting paid, last time was just for the joy of it.

[roddy]

Thanks for the write-up!

[Erbse]

I got my internship in China all by myself, without paying anything, without any 关系. I actually got paid enough to pay for everything I needed except the ticket.

Getting there by agency and paying is a no-brainer. If you have some real advice other than "ripoff Agency" or "my special 关系" then it is worth posting.

[easMonstret]

And how did you go about that Erbse? Care to share?

[Zichao]

I got my internship in China all by myself, without paying anything, without any 关系. I actually got paid enough to pay for everything I needed except the ticket.

Getting there by agency and paying is a no-brainer. If you have some real advice other than "ripoff Agency" or "my special 关系" then it is worth posting.

I'm very pleased for you, doubtless you have capacities which I lack. My advice is for mere mortals like myself, however, who are pressed for time and having trouble with this sort of thing. As I said, I posted it on request, if this irritates you in some way, you're not being forced to read it.

[gougou]

Sounds great, Erbse, please share with the others how you went about that!

As for Zichao's write-up, I'm sure that's an option many people are considering, so it's great to hear from somebody who's actually done it. His remarks certainly will come in handy for many people.

[Erbse]

@gougou

my reply comes a little late, but here it is in short.

Finding an internship on your own takes time and effort. Here is what I did.

- advanced googleing skills. Being able to find jobs outside of the obvious job boards is very useful. Some companies only advertise on their own websites or on less frequented job boards (for unknown reasons). There is way less competition for these jobs.

- persistence. I just googled, looked at job boards and researched opportunities for 3 whole days. Just printed them out without further looking at them. Make sure that they match your skills, even if that means leaving out some opportunities. Furthermore I was only looking for internships where I have to talk English. Also get rid of those that write their job offer with bad grammar, sloppy style or very unspecific requirements. These guys just look for someone to make coffee and bring the letters to the post office. Discriminate!

- After 3 days I finally got about 30 opportunities that match my skills and looked good in general. Now I selected the 10 best of these.

- For each of them I wrote the perfect job application. Each taking about 5 hours to write, to exactly match the job offer and tell them how they could benefit from my existing skills and also showing interest in learning new skills at their specific business.

I got 3 replies for a telephone interview, but I only followed up that one which interested me the most. After 15 minutes of talking on the phone that internship was mine.

The interesting thing is, I got that internship, that interested me the most of all 30 selected initially.

[gougou]

Thanks, Erbse, for the write-up!

[克里斯托弗]

Thanks for sharing, Erbse!

What's the companys name?

[Erbse]

It's a very small company, less than 10 people. For reasons of my privacy I don't want to give a name.