Ok, I'm annoyed, I had just finished writing this post when I hit the wrong commands on my trackpad and deleted the whole post. Let me see if I can summarize.
There has been an article floating around the business community about an American who was a contestant on a Chinese game show about getting a job. It was written by John Pasden of Sinosplice and basically it did not go well.
You can read the full article here.
The Bosses’ Reactions
First of all, I should mention that foreigners on Chinese TV are generally given quite a lot of slack. In general, they’re made to look good, given face, not expected to do a lot, but still rewarded with smiles and applause for whatever it is they do on TV. I’m not saying this is right, but it’s certainly something I’m used to seeing on Chinese TV.
Not so with Nathan. The host’s first reaction to Nathan’s introduction (clearly recited from memory) was, “you learned all the bad habits of Chinese TV hosts.” It was a light-hearted jab made in the spirit of fun, but it was probably an unsettling start for Nathan. He went on to explain that he wasn’t quite done with his undergraduate degree in Beijing, but he was looking for a job in advertising where he could help a Chinese company market to foreigners.
The big issue the bosses had with Nathan was that he was 25, has neither a college education nor work experience and only has the fact that he spent the past 3 years studying Mandarin as a strength. Now imagine if a 25 year old from China studied English in the United States, and without any experience, expected to be offered a well paying advertising job.
My generation, I'm sorry to say, has grown up with a feeling of entitlement. I'm guilty of it, yes, I admit it. A little further down the article, John posts an interview he had with Nathan which further irritated me. First of all, he mentions a headhunter who tells him he could be making 20,000rmb for a monthly salary. For someone in Nathan's position, yes this can be true, but that is for English teaching. For the past decade there has been an expectation that foreigners could just show up in China and find well paying jobs. Though this was true to an extent, things have changed and those without skill will run into the same issues they have in their home countries. When I lived in China, my friends explained to me the hierarchy of salaries for expats. Foreigners recruited from their home countries or who are sent to their company's Chinese branch will command the highest salaries. Usually it is on par to what they make in their home countries along with other incentives and benefits. If a skilled and experienced worker moves to China first and then locates a job, companies will pay them less, usually around 10,000rmb - 30,000rmb dependent on experience, type of company, and type of position. If you move to China without experience, you're likely looking at work as an English teacher or any other positions that require a foreign face over skill. Those positions can pay well, but they give job applicants an over-inflated view of their salary potential in other industries.
I think that neither the host nor the bosses understood why I came on the show or what kind of job I was seeking. I am uncertain of whether the opinions that they voiced on the show were their true thoughts. However, when I went backstage they continued to maintain the stances that they took while onstage. I was baffled during a large portion of the interview because I have never heard statements from the Chinese like learning the Chinese language and culture is unimportant. Views stated were both ignorant and uneducated. Learning Chinese language and culture has been very useful to me, and I expect it to allow me to find a better job. Furthermore, I have never had issues finding a good job in China.
Second of all, I find Nathan's statement above to show that he hasn't learned from his experience on the game show. Every bad experience we have has an opportunity to teach us something. Nathan, putting the blame on the bosses and misunderstanding their meaning when they tell him simply learning Mandarin was not as important compared to actually having skills just shows his own ignorance and his own self preservation mechanism kicking in to justify why the reactions of the bosses did not fit his own expectations and evaluation of his skills. When I watched the show itself after reading John's write up, I didn't see any bias against Nathan. He received the same reaction he would have gotten from many other potential employers who are confronted with a potential hire who does not have a clear direction or experience. He was asked what he could see himself doing in his ideal day to day on the job and he admitted he had no idea since he didn't have any experience, but when asked if he would have any interest in an internship, he said he had no interest in that.
From a hiring manager's standpoint, why would I want to hire a foreigner who will cost me more when all he has to offer is the ability to speak English and moderate Chinese? I can hire a Chinese native who is educated (many Chinese now even study abroad and return to work in China), speaks both languages fluently and asks for a salary at less than half of what Nathan would ask for. Economically, it makes no sense for a company. As a job applicant, you need to be able to think about what you have to offer a company and if the answer is very little, then don't expect good results. Having a foreigner's perspective is no longer an asset.
My point of writing this isn't to bash Nathan, though I'm afraid it might come across that way, but the main take away is that we need to take an honest evaluation of ourselves to realize these entitled attitudes do not serve us in the long run. I give props to Nathan for having the chutzpah to go on a Chinese game show with his level of Mandarin, that is something not everyone would be able to do.
Like I said, I suffered through these same entitlement ideas as I went through my career. It's hard not to when your peers are the same way, especially in the tech industry here in Silicon Valley. Suddenly we all have over inflated valuations of our own usefulness. On one final note, I have worked in the advertising industry and for the most part, someone with Nathan's skills would best be suited for an internship, period. I actually have to thank Nathan and the bosses on the show for reminding me that there are no shortcuts. When you take shortcuts you may be able to fool some people some of the time, but you can't fool everyone all the time.
