China is a country with a fast-growing economy, an interesting culture, total overpopulation, and new business and career opportunities. Recently, the country has become popular both among international students and among those who have already graduated and want to start a career path outside their homeland. In this article, we have collected 11 proven tactics, following which you can find a post-graduation job in China, or at least catch on in this country to look for new opportunities yourself.
1. Start Learning the Language Before Looking for Work
The Chinese language is very difficult to learn, especially for those whose mother tongue belongs to a completely different linguistic group. For example, if your native language is English, then you can easily learn Spanish or German, since all these languages have Latin roots, have a similar alphabet, pronunciation and word order in the sentence.
However, the Chinese language is much more complicated. You will have to learn hundreds of hieroglyphs that at first glance do not carry any semantic meaning, plus learn to pronounce words that are completely atypical for your tongue and ear. And it is obvious that when looking for a job, even a minimal knowledge of Chinese can be your indisputable advantage.
2. Find Useful Contacts and Opportunities at Your University
The second tactic is to begin to take active steps before the issue of getting a job in China becomes extremely urgent. Therefore, even before you graduate from university, start looking for useful opportunities within it. If your university accepts international students (and this is most likely the case), then most likely the opposite option is also possible. Find out if your university has contacts with Chinese partners, research laboratories, research centers, and so on. Ask direct questions to everyone you can. Talk with your teachers and ask if they know anything about such opportunities.
Hint! Surely your university supports student exchange programs. Moreover, even if the university does not have a direct connection with China, but has a connection with Russia and the Far East, this is a good opportunity to make a start, and then move to China.
3. Contact Chinese Universities and Learn About Their Post-Graduation Programs
If the previous tactics did not work, then this is not a reason to abandon your idea and be disappointed. You still have the opportunity to get in touch with Chinese universities directly. Make a list of schools that you think are potentially suitable and browse their sites. Most likely, you will find opportunities for foreign graduates, for example, to become an English teacher, or to undergo additional training in a master’s program in your specialty.
However, even if you do not find direct indications of active exchange programs, no one forbids you to write a direct letter and add your resume. It is possible that the university has something to offer you, it’s just that this information is not advertised anywhere. In any case, the more attempts, the more chances there are.
Moreover, all these are good opportunities to move to China, start improving the language on the spot, and expand your network of professional contacts.
One more hint! There is wild competition in China. Getting to a prestigious university in China is very difficult. Therefore, there is a clear system of perception of a person and a specialist according to the rating of the university in which he studied. If you graduated from a university included in the TOP universities of your country or a faculty related to the TOP in your field – be sure to indicate this in your letter. This is an important indicator that you have already passed a certain filter demonstrating your high abilities.
4. Brand and Promote Yourself via Social Networks
Social networks are also a good way to make new friends and open up new opportunities for yourself. And in this case, LinkedIn and Instagram will be the most useful.
If you still haven’t done this, then create a profile on Linkedin, fill out it, indicating your university, achievements, internship and other important information, and do not hesitate to contact Chinese HR managers and CEOs. Add a short message about yourself, offer to establish contact and stay in touch, and immediately write that you could be useful to a certain company. Use the job search as well.
As for Instagram, this platform is useful for you to search for new acquaintances and useful information on hashtags. Check out the latest posts on the hashtags #jobinchina, #chinarelocate and the like. Subscribe to all pages that may be potentially useful to you.
5. Look for Relocating Opportunities
So what is the essence of this method? The bottom line is that you need to make a list of companies that work in your country and find out if they have representative offices in China and whether new employees are needed there. The easiest way to find such offers is to open Indeed, choose the option to relocate and send your resume to all suitable vacancies indicating that you are very interested in the opportunity to work in China.
In addition, you can also use the reverse strategy – to find Chinese companies that work in your country and do the same, indicating that you could be useful at the company’s head office in China.
6. Make your CV China Job Market-Oriented
Perhaps this is perhaps the most important element of any tactics that you choose in order to find work in China. Your resume should be oriented towards the Chinese labor market and take into account the Chinese mentality. For example, the Chinese are very fond of a beautiful appearance and, ceteris paribus, they will choose the candidate who will be more beautiful and physically attractive.
Here is another important point. Your resume should be long enough and describe your experience in as much detail as possible. What can you write in your resume to get a job in China if you were a student just yesterday?
- Describe the internship programs you have completed
- Add links to personal projects, if you have any
- Also, make a list of your research.
- In addition, try to compose your resume so that you can easily adapt it to each position to which you will send it.
- Be sure to add a photo of your face and try to express confidence, openness, and friendliness.
7. Apply for Post-Graduation Job Positions in China on Specialized Platforms
So, when your resume is ready, you can start looking for suitable vacancies yourself. Here are some resources you can use for this purpose.
Indeed. All vacancies from around the world are collected here, so finding offers from Chinese companies is not difficult.
- AmCham China, Shanghai Expat, Asia Expat. These are specialized platforms for foreigners looking for work in China.
- LaowaiCareer. A job-site where 70% of all foreign expats would search for jobs around China.
- China Job. Everything is obvious here, just open the site, register and start the hunt for vacancies.
- Zhaopin. This is a rather specific site, however, this does not make it less effective.
- 51 Job. And even more.
- Jobs DB. Using this site you can find work in China and other Asian countries.
- China HR. This is a very simple and intuitive site that will definitely not complicate the performance of your main task.
- New China Career. Here, the name also speaks for itself, and therefore it is a great place for graduates to look for work.
P.S.: Many Chinese people use the kanzhun.com website to analyze the company where they were invited for an interview. This is an analog of the western site glassdoor.com. On the site, you can see the rating of the company and the median salary. The rating is made by former employees of the company. They also share internal problems and gossip. This site is not an indicator for foreigners, but just another source of information for thought.
8. Create a List of Suitable Companies and Contact Them Directly
Remember we talked about tactics when you need to contact Chinese universities directly and ask a question about whether there is a suitable opportunity for you? Here, everything will act by analogy. Make a list of companies that work in the field corresponding to your academic knowledge and begin to establish contact.
Hint! Write two letters – one to the HR manager, and the second to the head of the company. Why do we recommend writing just two letters? That’s right, this is necessary in order to double your chances of a positive answer. Moreover, the HR manager will only look at your letter and resume, and decide whether to add it to the database or delete it. But the decision to hire you or not will be made by the responsible manager or even the CEO.
If you can’t find the email address you need, then just use the Email Finder service or something similar. And if you have difficulty writing a letter, then pay attention to the Online Writers Rating site. This platform has collected the best writers from all over the World Wide Web and here you can definitely find someone who will help you write an attractive letter, the chances of an answer to which will be quite high.
9. Contact a Recruitment Agency for Help
Perhaps this is the easiest and most effective tactics for finding a job in China, but be prepared for the fact that you have to pay serious money for cooperation with specialized agencies. However, on the other hand, you are relieved of headaches and unsuccessful attempts. Agencies that help you find jobs abroad, and in particular in China, already have a database of useful contacts, direct links with companies, and moreover, they will help you make a resume, get an interview, get a visa and will even support you at the first stages of living and working in China.
Moreover, your cooperation with such agents will be legalized, that is, you will have someone to turn to and even sue in case something goes wrong as planned. One of the agency that can be trusted is Mandarin Cafe. They also have plenty of positive reviews from job seekers all over the internet. They have a program named Career Jet Program that you may want to consider as well.
10. Do Not Refuse a Volunteer Opportunity
Well, if none of the above worked, although it is unlikely, even this is not a reason to give up. The modern world is full of opportunities, and volunteering is one of them. This is an ideal chance to move to China, plunge into this environment, begin to improve the language, get your first work experience, albeit without money, or for symbolic thanks, plus meet useful people. Therefore, if other features have not worked, pay attention to this one. In addition, volunteering in China will be a good experience that you can add to your resume in addition to knowing the spoken language. This will give you a clear advantage over competitors.
This is ideal for you if you are able to do something online, and then you can combine volunteer work and earn a living without stress.
11. Network Offline
So, it’s time to talk about your most important strategy. Online interaction is certainly good and effective, but a live network of contacts and word of mouth, especially in a foreign country, are simply irreplaceable assistants for any purpose. Therefore, get acquainted, make friends and chat with everyone whom you meet on your way in China. Do not forget about your main goal – to get a permanent job in this country.
Speak directly to your new acquaintances and do not hesitate to ask questions about the opportunities that may be known to them. Perhaps someone is starting a business and looking for someone with good English to establish contacts with foreign partners. Perhaps someone is working for a company that recently announced an internship for foreign students. In other words, you can never know where your chance comes from, but networking increases the likelihood of getting it several times.
Conclusion
As you can see, it is not so easy to get a job in China, but the same can be said of any other country. Language skills, determination and the ability to communicate with different people will definitely help you along the way. Plus, use additional features both online and offline and never rush to refuse, even if it seems to you that a certain option does not suit you at this stage. Temporary part-time jobs and even volunteering can be a good springboard to get used to in a foreign country, find friends and get the career growth and development opportunity that you originally wanted.
Let us know if you have tried any of these 11 tactics and what was the outcome? Also, feel free to share your own tips on how to find and secure a post-graduation job in China in the comments below.
