I'm a 24 year old American with a bachelors degree in international business and Mandarin. I got a 3.2/4.0 GPA and my university is in the top 10% of American schools.

I always thought that if I learned the language and had a degree that I could get a good job, especially in Shanghai.

Now, 6 years after starting to learn Mandarin I am the last one of the students in my college class that is still involved with the language. I have, like many in Shanghai, become trapped in teaching English. I speak better Mandarin than all but a handful of foreigners I know.

I have found jobs out here-
1. English teacher to the Chairman of a real estate group- 32000RMB a month, cash, kept this job for 8 months until it ended. It was supposed to lead to integration into the real estate firm, but they gave up on plans for america.
2. Working at Elite Investment- A complete boiler room, selling investment management to foreigners in Shanghai, quit on the first day.
3. Sales manager for a small jewelry shop- Looked promising in march of 2009 when I was offered the job, still no web site or retail location yet though.
4. International real estate salesman- Great, but selling $3+ million dollar houses to Chinese isnt the easiest task. Well worth looking into though
5. Head Hunting Firm- They had to keep a ratio of foreigners to local staff, but resented having to hire me because I was american, so I didnt take it.
6. American regional developer for a facebook software company. They didnt want a difference between foreign pay and local pay. I didnt want to work for $5 an hour.

I'm currently considering
1. Going back to America to get a job in corporate America.
2. Getting an M.S. or MBA in Finance and trying to work in Shanghai.

What would you do? /Where did I go wrong?

Best

Alex

Other than your degree and language aptitude, what is your practical experience beyond the eight month stint as a private English teacher to the chairman of the real estate group? Did you participate in any internships while a student? Do you have managerial experience? Have you been in the workforce and gained enough insight into not only office relations, but international office relations? Or are you more of an independent person who prefers to eschew an office enviornment?

In the past, it has always been more difficult to find a suitable position while in China. Far better to be hired overseas and sent to China. However, that may have changed.

What do you want to do? Your primary degree is in international business... what did you see yourself doing with this? Is your focus on markets, marketing, project management, development, etc? I think that you need to figure out what you want to do, what will make you happy and then backtrack and try to think about how to make that happen. Relying on your Mandarin ability isn't a shoe-in. While it is an excellent skill and will serve you well, do remember that in certain positions, the ability to speak Mandarin isn't required - an intepreter can be hired (I'm not suggesting you be an interpreter) for, as you said, less than $5 an hour. Way less...there are far more native Mandarin speakers who speak English then there are native English speakers who speak Mandarin. I would consider your Mandarin skills an asset and one that you can use to your advantage (especially as your career develops) but in the career-launching stage, it is a benefit, not a deal-maker or deal-breaker.

Without knowing more, I would say many of the jobs you have found/been offered have been typical expat fallbacks (not meant in a bad way) and/or frontman positions. You need to focus on your goals and what you want to do. Once you have some ideas on what you want to do with your life, determine a game plan to make it happen. Carve a niche. I'm sorry that I couldn't offer specifics, but I get the feeling you are in very much a WTF place since things aren't panning out.

Also, remember that China has been saturated with expats over the past 15 years. The more there are, the more difficult it will be to happen chance into the perfect job for a foreigner. You need a game plan and that plan starts with you figuring out what you want.

Good luck, Alex!

1st question came to my mind is:
Why did you come to China in the first place?

Some choose to come because they want to experience different culture.
Some choose to come because they think there are more/better opportunities here being a developing country and emerging market. That's somewhat true only if you are starting your own business.

In your case, a recent graduate seeking employment, I think staying in the USA is almost always a better idea. You will find a real job and earn a real salary, with real opportunities to move up the ladder. In China, you have no edge, you are just an American who speaks good Chinese, who is in a 3rd world country looking for a 1st world salary, it's tough.

IMHO, you should make it first in your home country, then it's much easier coming to China to catch some waves.

Btw here is my length reply to someone who is thinking of coming to China to work, my feeling on that subject largely apply in your case too, you can get a more detailed idea where I am coming from, it's worth a read.
post1301323.html#p1301323

allalex86 wrote:I'm currently considering
1. Going back to America to get a job in corporate America.
2. Getting an M.S. or MBA in Finance and trying to work in Shanghai.

Further more.
I have done both 1&2.
I have a MBA from a top school and have slaved for a top investment bank in USA.

Let me tell you this, if you do 1&2, you should stay in USA and work, really. That's where the money is.
I am not even looking to work in China, not that I don't think I can find a job in finance, but it's entirely a different environment to work in and game to play, you will not be used it and likely will not like it.
If you can make it on the Wall St, there is no point for you to play in Lujiazui.

I too am attempting to improve my Mandarin and I wish I had the level the OP professes. As for the idea that knowing Mandarin will make you money, I think that is a mistaken idea. How much money do Mandarin speakers make anyway? I think the OP found that out with the $5 an hour job offer If a firm in China needs someone that can speak Mandarin and English, I'm sure there is a million or so unemployed University graduates of 24 years of age that can fill their positions for much less than you are willing to work for. In regards to companies/business, they don't care so much what you have already done, your gpa for example, they care about what you can do in the future to help their business succeed. Sorry, but having a high gpa and bilingual ability in Mandarin and English doesn't show prospective employers that you can help them do anything they are not already doing.

My advice to the OP is use you language ability to make you own money and stop wasting time waiting for others to recognize your talent and pay you for it.

You're 24. That's still young and a good age to start out on your career proper. Unless you are desperate to stay in China I would recommend heading back and get stuck in to earning some serious money back home. The quicker you earn it the earlier you'll be able to start easing off and having a little fun with life. I look at people who are in their 40's 50's and older who are still slogging away working for someone. That's just sad. Earn big earn quick get out.

allalex86 wrote:I'm a 24 year old American with a bachelors degree in international business and Mandarin. I got a 3.2/4.0 GPA and my university is in the top 10% of American schools.

I always thought that if I learned the language and had a degree that I could get a good job, especially in Shanghai.

You have a 3.2 gpa from a "top 10% school" (Omaha Community College ?) and you thought this ? Why, might I ask ? The US is so far removed from reality now that you thought this was actually a valuable skill ?

I speak better Mandarin than all but a handful of foreigners I know.

And crappier chinese than the ten thousand girls working at KTV's all over the country. If you had a set of boobs you could earn more ...

I didnt want to work for $5 an hour.

But that's what you are worth. You're 24. You have no skills. You have a degree speaking a language that 1.4 billion people speak better than you and a degree in "international business." Whoop de doo. Buy low, sell high.

Face facts : you ain't got sh1t, Jack.

Where did I go wrong?

You fell for the service economy propaganda. You have no skill that you can sell. You wasted a bunch of money pursuing degrees which have no value. There's nothing you can do that a street crossing guard in Shanghai can't do better.

Start over. Think about what you like to do, get into that field and start paying your dues. Forget about some hot-air job making a fortune acting important with no skills or talent because those days are over.

Magnolia ? How's he going to be a manager ? He can't even do anything. Don't managers have to have a clue these days ?

Don't answer that

KalanStar wrote: ... As for the idea that knowing Mandarin will make you money, I think that is a mistaken idea. How much money do Mandarin speakers make anyway? I think the OP found that out with the $5 an hour job offer

He did not think knowing Mandarin will make him money, he thought being an American and knowing Mandarin, in another word, bilingual, will make him money. Which sadly isn't true.

I used to think the same, that being perfect, which means speaking like locals without accent, in English and Chinese might give one an edge. I later realized that, employer do not need you to be perfect, as long as you are fluent, it makes no difference. They rather hire some guy from Hong Kong for less than a guy from USA.

crivens200 wrote:You're 24. That's still young and a good age to start out on your career proper. Unless you are desperate to stay in China I would recommend heading back and get stuck in to earning some serious money back home. The quicker you earn it the earlier you'll be able to start easing off and having a little fun with life. I look at people who are in their 40's 50's and older who are still slogging away working for someone. That's just sad. Earn big earn quick get out.

Listen to this man. This is GOLD.

kwan61 wrote:

allalex86 wrote:I'm a 24 year old American with a bachelors degree in international business and Mandarin. I got a 3.2/4.0 GPA and my university is in the top 10% of American schools.

I always thought that if I learned the language and had a degree that I could get a good job, especially in Shanghai.

You have a 3.2 gpa from a "top 10% school" (Omaha Community College ?) and you thought this ? Why, might I ask ? The US is so far removed from reality now that you thought this was actually a valuable skill ?

I speak better Mandarin than all but a handful of foreigners I know.

And crappier chinese than the ten thousand girls working at KTV's all over the country. If you had a set of boobs you could earn more ...

I didnt want to work for $5 an hour.

But that's what you are worth. You're 24. You have no skills. You have a degree speaking a language that 1.4 billion people speak better than you and a degree in "international business." Whoop de doo. Buy low, sell high.

Face facts : you ain't got sh1t, Jack.

Where did I go wrong?

You fell for the service economy propaganda. You have no skill that you can sell. You wasted a bunch of money pursuing degrees which have no value. There's nothing you can do that a street crossing guard in Shanghai can't do better.

Start over. Think about what you like to do, get into that field and start paying your dues. Forget about some hot-air job making a fortune acting important with no skills or talent because those days are over.

Magnolia ? How's he going to be a manager ? He can't even do anything. Don't managers have to have a clue these days ?

Don't answer that

been quite a while since i've seen that particular punctuation/spacing...