Is there any job for a foreigner, not as a language teacher?

[andysun731]

A friend of mine wants to come and work in China for a short time, but he does not want to be a teacher. He wants "an entry-level position that is bleak and depressing"......

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[XiongNu]

Yeah, there are various sales positions available around the bigger cities mainly Shanghai and Beijing, just requires some digging on the internetz to find and maybe even a placement fee through an agency.

[Tianjin42]

AndySun,

I often help out a friend here in China who runs a HR firm that specialises in positions for foreigners in China. As is well documented, with the exception of teaching China requires a lot of mid/ high level people for knowledge transfer type jobs so it can be a tough time getting a different type of job for a graduate/ less experienced person.

It depends on what your friend actually has experience of/ wants to do. The visa situation means that for a working visa the candidate’s C.V. would in a lot of cases need to show evidence of a set time period working in a particular industry (hence the ingrained bias against grad jobs in China).

Sometimes you will be best to get a (teaching) position that isn’t so taxing/ time consuming and then research yourself locally for a position that might compliment it or eventually replace after the contract but careful not to overstep the boundaries of legality here!

I won’t soil the forum with an ad so if you require it, feel free to send a private message and I will give you my, or the company contact details. There is the possibility that the company will soon secure a contract that would require candidates of various nationalities/ languages in what seems a decent job requiring only minor experience. If that goes through I will write a post because I think a lot of people here would deem it useful. At the very least they can put your friend on the monthly newsletter updates so that he receives new non-teaching positions.

[roddy]

Editing work. Commission-only sales. But really if he's serious he'd be posting here himself with more information.

[anonymoose]

Gigolo

[andysun731]

Thank you guys.

My friend is a city planner in Canada. He says his work is boring, and wants to work in a factory in China as a laborer, which makes me a little confused. I don't think it's possible for him to get a job like this in China, so I asked here for help. I told him about this forum before. Maybe he forgot it.

Thanks again!

[Tianjin42]

Is he taking the piss?

[andysun731]

He is very serious about working in a factory in China...

[Tianjin42]

Fair enough.

[Cat Jones]

Bizzare choice. Does he speak Chinese?

[andysun731]

Speak little, type more...

[roddy]

Best chance.

The guy isn't serious about this Andy, he's wasting your time, or you've taken him too seriously, or something. If he was serious, he'd have researched it and realised how unfeasible it is.

[gato]

"an entry-level position that is bleak and depressing"....

Tell him to move to Taiyuan.

[andysun731]

Thanks, roddy. He says he understands that it will be difficult to discover a way to have a foreigner work in a factory. It is not something that is often done. He just believes nothing is impossible... So I respect his decision and try to collect information for him to see whether he is lucky enough...

[imron]

Ask him if he realises that such entry level jobs will require him to share a small dormitory with 7 other guys, and he'll be sleeping on a bunk bed made of wooden slats and no mattress.

[andysun731]

imron, the photo looks so like my dormitory when I was an undergraduate student......

[imron]

It's a dormitory at foxconn, from this report.

Oh, and you should also tell your friend, the toilets/showers will be shared with the whole floor, with no private ones per dorm.

[anonymoose]

But is staying in the dormitory compulsory, or is it just a "benefit" of the job?

[Cat Jones]

I assume the wages would be too low to cover private rental. He'd need some savings to actually life off.

[roddy]

He'd need some savings to live off while he hangs around at the factory gate getting laughed at, then to fly home when the local PSB decide not to give him a visa extension as they think he's probably mentally ill. His best chance of a menial job may well be starting a company to employ himself to pack boxes or something. Or he could pick up bar or wait work somewhere in Beijing or Shanghai maybe. But let's face it, the guy's most likely happier in Canada complaining.