Bachelor's Degree But No Work Experience?

[HedgePig]

How easy is it to hire a foreigner for a job in China, who has a bachelor's degree but who doesn't have two year's working experience? It's a very early stage, but our company is considering hiring someone who previously has interned and currently is working on a contract basis in one of our other offices, outside of Asia. However, this person currently only has a few months of full-time working experience. But, he comes with very good reports from the office where currently works and this counts for a lot since we trust their judgement and thus we are keen to hire him. The contract period would be for between one and two years.

The position would be in Beijing and it's in the financial services industry. We are small office of a large international company and would definitely do things "by the book".

Does anyone have any opinions as to whether this is worth pursuing or is their absolutely no chance of getting a visa for such a person?

[liuzhou]

It depends on your company's relationship with the local Foreign Expert's Bureau who have to issue the necessary certificate. A good relationship may get you away with it. Otherwise, forget it.

[Angelina]

There are some loopholes regarding experience. I don't know about your sector, but teachers can get a certificate proving they have gone through an evaluation of their teaching skills. If you have this certificate, you won't need to prove that you have relevant experience. EF usually gets this certificate for the inexperienced teachers they hire.

Try looking around, you might find something like this.

[Angelina]

Mine looks like this.

[HedgePig]

Thanks luizhou and Angelina

I doubt the FEB even knows we exist since we are so small so we have no guanxi there. This person does have post-grad diploma in his field, so Angelina's suggestion might be worth following up if wd go further with this.

[WestTexas]

Plenty of people get jobs in China, on legal Z-visas and residence permits, with no experience. I came to CHina 4 years ago as a teacher with no experience, and plenty of people have done the same. However, they are stricter in some areas about the experience requirement, and Beijing is one of them.

Having said that, I really don't think they are that thorough about checking up on the experience listed. If you really want the guy, you could just doctor his resume or whatever to give him 2 years of experience in... something. Victimless crime if you ask me.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Plenty of people get jobs in China, on legal Z-visas and residence permits, with no experience.

But not neccessarily. A good friend of mine is an accountant with years of experience, and he did not get the Job in HK that he applied for. Apparently because they had to prefer a local over a foreigner.

[liuzhou]

they had to prefer a local over a foreigner.

That is normal practice in most places of the world, including mainland China. Nothing to do with having experience or not.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Yes, absolutely. I just thought it was interesting because sometimes I hear the opinion (a modern urban legend perhaps) that, as long as you are a westerner, you can easily get a job in China.

[roddy]

Yes, teaching English at a kindergarten.

Hong Kong's an entirely different case anyway. Any more advice for the OP?

[ChTTay]

My advice:

Find a visa agency with experience in bending the rules slightly in order to accomadate getting a Z visa for your potential employee. You would have to pay them a fee, of course. As you have no guanxi this might be the way forward, however, you would need to find a good agency first. I don't know any specifically, I just know they exist.

OR

Simply have them come to China on an F visa and work on that. In Hong Kong, visa agencies and get you a multiple entry F visa for a year. You just need to fill in a form and provide some kind of letter. Perhaps if you go through a HK agency you might not even need that, Im not sure though.

All of this is 'what I hear'. I have no need to do either. And working on an F or an X isn't legal... But it is still done.

Edit:

OR

get them an X visa from a private school, sign up for an hour and a half of classes a day (or whatever). They could probably arrive on an L and just convert it.

[HedgePig]

I strongly suspect that if there isn't a strictly legal way to do it, then it won't happen at all but finding an agency who can get a Z visa might just be a possibility. F or X visa - no way. Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions.

[ChTTay]

I know a few people who got round the experience "thing" through a visa agency. No idea how it works but i bet its not cheap.

[blwinters]

Best option for you will be to leave his graduate degree off his CV and replace it with 2 years of working at your firm in the other country. If there have been 2 years since his bachelor's degree then this should work for obtaining a Z visa. The branch office will also need to write a letter of recommendation and be willing to confirm that he was with them for 2 years, but I don't think the immigration bureau tries to verify this over the phone very often. Though, you should still find an experienced visa agent to make sure things go smoothly. I'm very happy with my agent and can recommend him to you if you PM me.

[TheBJReviewer]

This past year many visa agencies have decreased the number of z visas they will process each month in order to maintain a lower profile. I have relationships with a handful of them for information purposes and they seem to be clamping down on who they process one for.

[required information]

Hello, I am thinking ahead after my degree is finished I would like to work in China.

I will graduate at the end of the year (I foolishly delayed this to come on exchange to China.. I actually could have wrapped it up last year, minus a second major in Mandarin).

I'm not going to have the 2 years post grad experience. What do you think my chances are with the following? I'm assuming I'll need an agency. I am not willing to work on a F visa and If it's not possible I'll just have to try at a later date. I am keen to work here as I am interested in building on my mandarin.

Anyway,

Diploma of Business 2010

Diploma of Management 2010

Bachelor of Business 2013

29 years old

British native English speaker

4 years of ESL experience mix of Fulltime / Part time in UK / Japan

3 years fulltime at an Financial services office

some other random work at shops and internet cafes and private tutoring etc.

[xuefang]

I have a similar question as required information above. I'm going to graduate from a Chinese university in December and if I want to work here what are my chances of getting a Z visa? How are us students graduating in China supposed to find work here if 2 years experience is required?

I have work experience before and during my bachelor degree in China, but that won't really help me.

[Kanjiology]

I have had a very similar question to xuefang in the back of my mind, I received a CSC Scholarship for a Masters Degree, and I want to find work in China once I graduate. My degree is in the scientific field, but I am not sure how I would get two years experience in order to work in China. Though I won't graduate until 2017, and who knows what new laws will go into effect by then, but I'm interested if anyone could offer some insight. There must be foreign students who graduated from a Chinese university who went on to work in China.

[Angelina]

I know it is possible for teaching English, not 100% sure about other professions. Consider further study and legal part-time work.

[roddy]

Hedgepig, did your company take this any further?