Working in China

[BlackMamba]

Hi,

 

I wanted to ask if someone could look at my situation and tell me what I could do or connect me maybe with someone. When looking at my CV it doesn't run like a golden thread. I am 31 years old and first studied Business Administration and Engineering in my home country Germany. In the economics classes and through self study I became then interested in China and so I thought I should do what I am interested in and studied International Business, a double master of a Chinese university and another German university. The Chinese uni is only a Project 211 uni. After graduating I had a bad idea and tried to build a startup based on a good idea but it failed and it was a big time and money effort for nothing. When it started to look bad I continued to work as a self employed in my country, had employees and earned money to invest so that I can live now in China with passive income if I don't spend too much. The salary of a job in China isn't very important for me in the beginning and could just be enough to get a work visa. The Chinese is maybe almost HSK 5 and I want to take the HSK 6 by the end of next year so I will study one semester Chinese in Chengdu starting in September to reach that. I was told by a headhunter in China that if I can provide letter of recommendations from my clients it would count as work experience needed for a work visa.

 

I got to know Chengdu and liked it and I would like to live there but I find no job opportunities there. The little positions I can find mostly require many years of experience in large multinationals or deep skills in something I don't have. Maybe with Corona it is even worse now and in the future. If I had a mentor at young age I would have studied informatics since also the work I did for clients was web development / design and online marketing such as SEO or Google/Facebook Ads and I see that people possessing IT and online marketing skills have many opportunities but I mostly am self taught in that. Do you have any idea where I could try to get in a position in Chengdu or know someone? I see that it would be easier to find something in other cities like Beijing or Shanghai but I would rather choose to be in Chengdu. Another thing I am doing at the moment is that I founded an E-Commerce company with 2 partners to buy products in China and sell them in Germany. The first product is an electric scooter that we modified with the Chinese scooter company to be street legal. Is there any opportunity with that to stay in China and work on it. Now we're working with a Chinese service provider thats gets a share in the revenues that communicates with the scooter company.

 

Or do you maybe see a possiblity to start an own service provider business like a digital agency together with a competent Chinese partner in a JV? What opportunities you see for a foreigner to start a business in China?

[abcdefg]

6 hours ago, BlackMamba said:

Or do you maybe see a possiblity to start an own service provider business like a digital agency together with a competent Chinese partner in a JV? What opportunities you see for a foreigner to start a business in China?

 

When I see the name BlackMamba, I think of the swordsman/assassin in "Kill Bill." Do you have those "special skills?" If so, you might look for employment in a different job sector. The Tongs/Triads can always use new blood. 

[889]

This comes up often here, and the reply is usually the same: what can you offer an employer in China that a Chinese cannot? The days are long gone when Chinese companies would hire a Westerner just so they could have a foreign face on exhibit in the office.

 

Your best shot, as always in this sort of situation, is to find a German or EU company staffing a rep office or other small operation in China, where your German language skills and cultural fit are important. But go that route and you can't be too fussy about where you'll end up in China. (Yiwu's not a bad place. Really, it isn't.)

 

Sure, you can set up your own operation of some sort and it can be a lot more flexible and fun than working for a multinational. The problem, as you've discovered, is that your own business can easily turn into a money pit and bankrupt you. The success rate is very low. Your situation is particularly bothersome. You don't have some great idea you're hungering to make a commercial success. Instead, you're just looking for something to do that'll enable you to stay in China. That doesn't sound promising to me, unless you have lots of money to burn.

 

EDIT: I see there's a German Chamber of Commerce in China, and they even have an office in Chengdu. Contact them and get a list of German companies with operations there. Who knows, maybe the Chamber of Commerce itself has openings.

 

https://china.ahk.de/membership/south-southwest-china

 

Better than that, they post job openings with German companies:

 

https://www.de-jobmarket.com/

 

Including one with the Chamber of Commerce itself, in Tianjin (a fine place):

 

https://www.de-jobmarket.com/job/project-manager-tianjin-mw-2/

(I don't understand German so I'm not sure what "Muttersprache Chinesisch" there means)

[abcdefg]

On 6/4/2020 at 9:21 PM, 889 said:

https://www.de-jobmarket.com/job/project-manager-tianjin-mw-2/

(I don't understand German so I'm not sure what "Muttersprache Chinesisch" there means)

 

According to Google: "Native Chinese speaker. Mother language Chinese."

[889]

Yeah, I finally worked that out, after connecting together "Also Sprach Zarathustra" with "Hello Mutter Hello Fahtter, Here I am at  . . ."

[xinoxanu]

Adding to what @889 already pointed out:

 

- Get more/better education. Either in China, if you manage to, or somewhere else in the world. If you are already fixated on living in China, then that education should be focused on or worth it to China.

- Burn money inside the country. Start-fail-repeat a business until you succeed, as you'd do in your home country. Foreigners in China own/manage: bars, restaurants, english schools, import/export businesses, etc

- Networking. Study Chinese for a year in a city with opportunities and move around the foreigner community. You'll find both locals and expats that may be keen in starting a business with you.

- Start in the West, move to the East. Work for a couple years in your country and then request an expat package. This may be the longest route, but it's the most rewarding in the long-term. 

- Go somewhere else. Taiwan, Singapore or any other Asian country if you must go that way. Either way, ask yourself: why China? What can I accomplish there that I can't somewhere else? 

[Saxondale]

Have you looked into any openings at the German Embassy in Beijing or one of the Consulates?