Should I Join A Chinese Company As A New Graduate?
You were born and raised outside of China, and you’ve just graduated from a good university. You have done well and you are excited to be joining the workforce. You want to start off well and in a way that allows you to stand out from the crowd. You are thinking about whether joining a Chinese company in China is the way to go. Most likely, that’s not such a good idea.
“Seeking growth opportunities, I’m dynamic and entrepreneurial, committed to Asia, deep expertise to offer, ……..” is the usual opening in the emails I receive asking how to connect with a Chinese company. Some writers are already in Asia, many are not.
A few initial questions you’ll need to answer first, to get calibrated:
Just why do you think you have relevant skills? Do you think anyone else will see it the way you do? Given a choice between you and a Chinese candidate, who presumably might be willing to commit long term, why would anyone at this company select you?Do you realize that you are competing against 7 million who graduate from universities in China each year, less than half of whom get a job requiring a degree?Do you realize that skilled blue collar workers get paid more in China than new university graduates? That companies have China pay scales that they are not going to blow up simply because you happen to have attended university outside China, or because you hold a non-Chinese passport?Have you ever worked in a job where you are on call 24×7 – if your boss has an idea you respond, if he wants to meet on Sunday evening you meet? Or where the organization structure, roles and responsibilities are not written down? You need to be comfortable with extremes of flexibility and ambiguity.Have you checked out the cost of accommodation in Chinese cities? You have heard about the real estate boom in China: it translates into new graduates living in dormitory style accommodation.How important is privacy to you? Your colleagues will know everything about you, from how much you get paid, to what you did on the weekend.What will you do when you see behavior that you think might be illegal? Norms are not the same.What are your language skills? If you have a unique skill to offer, then maybe you can be successful with less than fluent Chinese.
If you get through these positively:
What kind of Chinese company to join? Life will be easier if you join a company that already has a good number of non-Chinese employees, a company that competes with and sells to international as well as Chinese customers.
What kind of priorities to set for yourself:
Establish clear goals and a timeframeFocus on a single boss and over deliver for himBe humbleDo what you can to dispel the image of a “lazy foreigner”
Have you joined a Chinese company in China right out of college? How did it work out for you?
Read more of my views on my LinkedIn Influencer blog. And please follow me on Twitter.
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