The favorable scenarios vis-à-vis employment, payment, and lifestyle invite a lot of foreigners to seek jobs in China. Many expats even fall in love with the ‘Middle Kingdom’ (中国: 中Zhōng- middle, 国guó- kingdom) and settle down in China. The apparent question here will be ‘how did these expats manage to find work in China in the first place?’. Continue reading if you are one of those foreigners wishing to land employment in China.
A. Job Opportunities in China • Teaching jobs (especially English teaching jobs) : The market for English teaching jobs is one of the hottest in China. There are thousands of advertisements every day on ESL job vacancies. If you are a native English speaker, bingo! You have found your calling! Each city in China, ranging from the smallest to the largest, requires native speakers to teach English at their public/private schools, training institutions or universities. English teaching jobs call for you possessing English teaching certificates like the TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) along with other credentials. You can teach full-time or part-time depending on the institutions’ requirements. There are vacancies open for other subjects (Maths, Economics, Science, so on) teachers in schools and universities too. Bear in mind that, if you are a student in China, you cannot work as an English teacher or work at all for that matter without getting your university’s permission.
• Internships or full-time employment at foreign companies: You must possess the specific skill set required by the foreign companies in China or by the Chinese MNCs to get hired by them. This works faster if you have people you already know working at these companies. Information Technology (IT) sector in China offers a large number of opportunities for foreigners in multiple cities in China. Other attainable jobs in China include Engineering, Marketing, Financial, Hotel Management jobs, etc. Essentially, you will be able to find any job in any area, if you know where and how to look and if you speak Chinese! If you are a student in China, you can apply for internships at companies of your choice and if they hire you, you can become a full-time employee at their Chinese offices or their offices in your country (latter is more popular these days) after your graduation. Note that it is illegal to work in China without proper documentation or permission from your university. Therefore, you will have to get your university’s permission and then apply for an internship visa before you can begin as an intern.
• Translation/editor/writer jobs: You must be multilingual (Chinese should be one of the languages you could speak/read/write, of course!) to work the translation jobs. Editor, proofreader and content writer works will come easy to you if you are a native English speaker already in China working on a work visa (Z visa). There are full-time and part-time jobs available in this area. • Modeling (popular these days) • Business (cannot consider this a job though!) • Graphic designing jobs • Other jobs (anything that does not fall into the above-mentioned categories)
If you are already in China, many of these jobs can come to you without difficulty. If you are a student in a Chinese university, you can intern for the majority of the jobs available in China provided you have a valid internship visa (needs permission from the university to apply for this visa).
B. How to Find Jobs in China
关系Guānxì The best method to find employment in China would be, without doubt, via ‘关系’ (Guānxì- connections/relations). The Chinese culture has long since emphasized guānxì. Having the right personal network helps the Chinese people in their personal, as well as professional lives; the same applies to foreigners who reside here as well. If you have friends or family who are already employed in a Chinese company or school and you have the skills required by the organizations they are employed at, then consider this your free ticket to China. It almost always works. Whether you are a student looking for a part-time job/internship or a professional trying to find employment in China, the right ‘guānxì’ will indisputably work in your favor. However, if you are not endowed with such connections, then you might want to try one of the next options.
Search Online There are ample online websites showcasing job advertisements in China. Some of the most used ones are: • https://www.echinacities.com/ (in English) • https://talentcir.com/ (in English) • https://www.jobsinchina.com/jobs/ (in English) • https://www.careerchina.com/ (in English) • http://jobs.zhaopin.com/ (in Chinese) • https://www.51job.com/ (in Chinese) • http://www.chinahr.com/ (in Chinese) As you can notice, some of the websites mentioned above are in Chinese. This is also a way of saying that finding a job in China would be much easier if you spoke the language. Well, even if you don’t, Google translate can help you a long way anyway! A few of the websites are specifically for English teaching jobs; says a lot about the opportunities in this area, doesn’t it? You can either apply through these websites or search about the companies and contact them directly. Although I must say, these sites make the work much easier. You can also upload your resumes on these websites and let the employers contact you. LinkedIn is another platform where you can upload your CV and let the employers contact you. But these methods take more time and are passive ways of finding jobs.
Job Fairs Expats in China can register for job fairs in China. Multiple cities host annual job fairs setting up platforms for employers to meet potential employees and vice versa, allowing the employers to find the right foreign talent.
Agencies There are agencies in China that can help expats with their job search, applications as well as the Z visa procedures. They usually take an amount of fee for their services.
Applying for Jobs and the Work Visa (Z visa)
The first and foremost step in any job application will be submitting your resume along with a cover letter stating why you are applying for the job and what makes you the right candidate for the position. Your resume/CV should list all your professional and personal skills/qualifications. Content written in points/lists/bulletin is the most welcomed format in China. Some applications may require you to submit your certificates as well. The more certificates you possess, the better. Numbers speak great volumes to Chinese employers (and for Chinese people in general)!
In case, the company or the school you applied to wants to hire you, they will e-mail you the details on an interview or series of interviews (most probably through applications such as WeChat or Skype if you are not in China or if you are located in a different city; in person, if you are located in the same city). This is your chance to get any other info you want and to know your employer better.
Now let’s say your interview went well and you are hired! The next step would be applying for a work visa. The work visa in China, “Z visa”, is issued to foreigners who are employed to work in companies/schools in China. You can visit the Chinese consulates/embassies in your country to apply for the Z visa. The documents required for the work visa applications are mostly: (i) Valid Passport with at least two blank visa pages (ii) Passport-sized photos (iii) Filled-in visa application form (iv) Visa notification letters, and the Work Permit for Aliens or Foreign Expert’s License issued by authorities in China (v) Any other document requested by the authorities.
Once you are done with the visa application, you are good to go. Remember, you will still need to go through a lot more procedures once you arrive in China. In most cases, the organization that hired you will assist you in these steps.
