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How to build a long and successful career in Taiwan as a foreigner - Part 1
If you have an expat package in Taiwan and wish to stay here for work even though your company want to send you to Japan, finding a similar job and package is going to be incredibly difficult, almost impossible (although I have seen examples of this happening). Expat packages are for people who were sent here, they are almost never for locally hired candidates.
I recently published an article about the job market in Taiwan for foreign talent (link here) and am happy to say that the reception was very positive. It seems the article’s analysis answered quite a few common questions asked by the foreign professional community in Taiwan. In the middle of this article, I promised to write a more detailed follow-up that would focus on the bracket of talent who are already on the career ladder in Taiwan and wish for advice about how to improve and sustain their career here. Several people have recently flagged this promise to me, “Looking forward to the next one, which appears will pertain more to my demographic” wrote Jeremy Olivier, a senior editor himself at AmCham. Well now! Looks like I should probably deliver on that follow-up article I promised. So here it is!
How do you build a long and successful career in Taiwan as a foreigner? I’m going to give 15 different suggestions in a numbered format because people love lists don’t they. I’m also going to finish the article with some quotes from foreign talent who have lived and worked successfully in Taiwan for several years, people who I see as having “made it”. I’m in no doubt there will be aspects of the topic that I miss or specific points that you disagree with, but as always, I appreciate feedback in the comments. Let me take care of some housekeeping first and then we can delve into the advice section.
First bit of housekeeping would probably be explaining who I am and why I feel qualified to give advice on this topic. I’m a headhunter in Taipei, currently Practice Leader at Paul Wright Group, the best headhunting firm in Taiwan (I’m just joking, don’t report me for false advertising please). I don’t often hire foreign talent for my clients in Taipei (95% of my candidates are Taiwanese) but I have worked with and interviewed hundreds of foreigners in the Taiwan market who work in various roles at various levels. As a very visible (cough* KOL) foreign recruiter, I have had one or two foreigners every day reach out to me for job seeking advice for the past eight years. I’ve given speeches on this topic at several business events, chamber of commerce events, on podcasts and as a guest lecturer for GMBA students at five different Universities. I was even invited by the government Gold Card Visa program to give advice on this topic to a selection of Gold Card holders in Taipei recently.
I’ve also built my own career up to its current level in the Taiwan market, starting as an English teacher 12 years ago, through entry-level recruitment consulting, to Director level management within my industry. I would count myself as one of the foreigners who have “made it” here. Actually, I think even my mother would agree that I have done well in my career, and she is a hard woman to impress let me tell you! Started from the bottom now we here as Drake would say.
Next bit of housekeeping is addressing my use of the word “foreigner” in the first place. I had a conversation with the hyper-intelligent John Murn recently about this topic and he convinced me there is a problematic issue here. Basically, in the UK or the USA, if you were to label an individual as a “foreigner” in your work or social life, it would be seen as incredibly rude and a bit racist. If Taiwan wishes to fully internationalize, we need to stop being seen as the “other”, “outsider” etc. Surely, someone like myself, who has lived and worked in Taiwan for over a decade, has a Taiwanese wife, has a half-Taiwanese baby and speaks Chinese should eventually be seen as part-Taiwanese. How long do I have to live here before I am both Scottish and Taiwanese? It is a good question. Unfortunately, I can’t find any easy replacement words for the catch-all term “foreigner” or wai guo ren, so for now I’m going to reluctantly stick with it. Alternate suggestions so far have been expat, immigrant, international businessperson, non-Taiwanese, Alien (like on the visa). I don’t know, are any of these better?
Next thing I’m going to say before I start, is that this article will focus on what are known as “local hire” foreigners. The expats who are sent over to be the Taiwan Country Manager by their company’s headquarters need to be differentiated from the people like me who arrive in Taiwan as a student or English teacher and then start to build their professional career from the ground up. Expats who are sent to work here in C-Level Management roles are not the same demographic. They usually don’t stay for more than five years before being given their next mission and they are usually paid very high salaries, double or triple what the local C-Level Taiwanese get paid on average. This means that this article simply isn’t as relevant for this group of people.
If you have an expat package in Taiwan and wish to stay here for work even though your company want to send you to Japan, finding a similar job and package is going to be incredibly difficult, almost impossible (although I have seen examples of this happening). Expat packages are for people who were sent here, they are almost never for locally hired candidates. Ok! Enough of that, let’s get to the list!
I want to remind everyone about the title of the article once again for the purpose of clarity: How to build a long and successful career in Taiwan as a foreigner. Here is my analysis/tips & tricks/advice.
1) Communicating disagreements
This is a good place to start and something that often proves to be a major culture shock for expat professional talent. Across the world, disagreements in the office are handled in a certain way according to the cultural nuances of the country. In some cultures, they value honesty and sometimes blunt feedback. In some places, criticism is softly delivered using the sandwich method of – positive comment, negative comment, positive comment. In many Western countries, an argument about business strategy is a common occurrence in a meeting, where different opinions are debated around a table before a decision is made. In Taiwan, communicating disagreements is something that needs to be done very carefully, and proves to be the major barrier to progress of many foreigners.
Taiwan is a fairly non-confrontational culture. As a generalization, Taiwanese don’t like to argue, criticize, or debate in an open setting, especially in the office. If you are loud and opinionated (like me unfortunately), you will struggle in a Taiwanese office. You have to learn quickly how to soften your feedback, how to make a suggestion rather than a critique and how to give an opinion in a way that is deemed constructive by your colleagues. My trick was always to speak softly but clearly, and repeatedly state that I was thinking on behalf of what is best for the business rather than seeking attention for my own ideas and opinions. I also learned to sometimes just keep my mouth shut (choose your battles).
Another massive tip would be to never have disagreements over text or email. Written arguments lack context, are permanent, lack the nuance of verbal delivery and often get heated and passionate in a way that seldom happens in face-to-face discussions. A former Taiwanese boss of mine would always prefer to send me a Line chat message if she had something contentious to discuss. I would always reply, “happy to discuss!” then walk into her office and close the door. This way I was able to avoid serious conflict and maintain a positive relationship with her over a number of years.
Foreigners need to learn how to handle internal conflict as quickly as possible. Most of the failed careers I’ve seen in Taiwan are examples of foreigners who had clearly created problems in the office and then didn’t understand why their company wanted to let them go. These people have often spent 10-20 minutes on the phone to me complaining about their previous company/boss/culture/colleagues without much introspection about how their own behavior affected their firing or stagnation in the company.
Top Tip: Causing colleagues or a boss to “lose face” in a meeting is a serious error on your part and one that you will pay a high price for in the long and short term. Combative personalities don’t tend to do very well in Taiwan.
2) Relationship with your boss
This point is definitely tied to the previous paragraphs. Handling your relationship with a Taiwanese boss is critical to how well you will do in that company. If your boss likes you, then the promotions, salary raises and extra responsibility that you will be given can see you secure that long and successful career in Taiwan. The opposite is obviously also true, if you cause your boss to lose face, challenge them publicly or just generally become a nuisance for them, then your career will suffer as a result. Of course, I understand that in some extreme cases, bosses can be highly emotional or irrational. In Taiwan, there is a work culture of “boss is god” in many companies, and they do not expect to be challenged about anything. This is often especially typical in the more traditional and family-owned businesses here. In the worst examples, of which there are many, owners walk around these companies like it is their personal fiefdom. Yes, I will concede that managing your relationship with a Taiwanese boss can be challenging and frustrating, but it is absolutely essential to your success here.
Top tip: make sure your boss sees you as an asset and an ally. Work hard to impress them and purposefully work to improve your personal relationship. It will pay dividends in the long run.
3) Being liked by your colleagues
Obviously, this is a factor in job success wherever you are, although as a foreigner in a company that is predominantly Taiwanese, I think this is an important point to emphasize. The more liked you are, the better you will do. Being liked by colleagues will be noticed internally by other colleagues and bosses in the company. Teamwork will be much easier with close relationships and mutual respect. This is especially true if you often need help with tasks or internal bureaucracy. Being able to ask colleagues questions and have them respond positively and patiently will make your life so much easier. I am going to add a disclaimer though. It might not be advisable to become close personal friends with too many co-workers. Late drunken nights at KTV can be fun, but keeping things professional and courteous is probably a better idea, save those drunken nights for your other groups of friends.
Taiwanese don’t tend to enjoy discussions about controversial issues, which is in contrast to my personal social circle of friends who love discussing deep philosophical, controversial and often very personal topics. You don’t want to overshare in a professional work setting as you never know what office gossip is going to do to your reputation and relationships. Throughout my work experiences in Taiwan, I always did my best to avoid being dragged into the office cliques that would naturally form. In many of my past offices there were groups of colleagues who did not like other groups of colleagues. If you can avoid getting involved and avoid malicious gossiping, this is probably a good idea. As a quick example, a couple of years ago I quietly shared disappointing work-related news (a big, failed deal) with a colleague that had been spread around the whole office within an hour. You would be surprised how much of your behavior and actions get noticed but not commented on. Be very careful of this, watch your tongue.
Top Tip: Buying food for colleagues is a nice way to be friendly. Especially when returning from a vacation, it is advisable to pick up some snacks for your workmates to eat in the office. I once made the mistake of buying a box of Krispy Kreme donuts for my colleagues that they all said they were too sweet and so I ended up eating half the box. Don’t make that same error. Buy something you think they will enjoy or ask for advice about what kinds of snacks would be well received.
4) Being stable, focused and changing jobs well
My previous article about the job market for foreign talent made it quite clear that Taiwan is not the best country in the world for career opportunities. If you compare Taiwan to some other Asian spots like Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Bangkok, then Taiwan comes out lacking in terms of professional job options for foreigners. This is especially the case if you live outside Taipei. So, changing jobs well is something you really need to think about. You want your resume to look like a clear upward trajectory, increasing in title and salary with every step on the ladder. If I were to throw some shade on some of the foreign talent I know here in Taiwan, I would say their resumes can often end up looking more like a patchwork collage than a linear career path. Having a resume that has a bit of this and a bit of that is not going to get you anywhere in the long run (maybe happy, but that’s not the point of this article).
If anyone is confused by this point, let me explain in a bit more detail. If your CV has 3 years teaching English, then 8 months of full-time yoga teaching, then a stint as a photographer for a fashion magazine, then some freelancing as a content writer, then some digital marketing, then a food start-up selling gluten-free cupcakes, you are never going to reach the high salary, high status jobs here. Maybe this is not what you want, no problem, but again, the point of this article is offering advice to those who do want to see themselves in a senior level position and in a good company by age 45. The way to do this is to be purposeful and precise with your career moves.
In reality, you will probably have to commit to your job function e.g., sales, marketing, supply chain, HR, finance, engineering. It can be a good thing to gain experience in some different areas, but you also want to show a clear commitment to your craft. Put it this way, someone who has spent eight years in a digital marketing function will have much better job prospects than someone who spent 3 years in teaching, 2 years in digital marketing and 4 years in overseas sales. This is especially true when it comes to “Head” titles. If you want to be a Head of Marketing one day, your CV better include years of experience and promotions through the various marketing titles (Marketing Supervisor > Assistant Brand Manager > Brand Manager > Senior Brand Manager > Assistant Marketing Manager > Marketing Manager > Marketing Director). A lot of the foreigners that I meet have a tendency to think they are capable of anything, and I salute them for their confidence, but confidence isn’t going to get you jobs in a market where the other candidates up for consideration have much stronger and more stable CVs.
This also means sticking it out in jobs for 2-3 years. In the headhunting and HR industry, we refer to someone who changes jobs too often as “jumpy”. If your CV has a couple of eight-month stints, HR are going to judge you as unreliable regardless of how justified you felt your resignation from those roles was. Another relevant piece of headhunter lingo would be RFL (reasons for leaving). We check these with candidates during an interview and you would be amazed at how many red flags are revealed. Your list of RFL better be convincing, and by that, I mean practiced, professional, understandable, and supportable in reference checks. Here is a tip, if you left a company because the working hours were too long, or your boss was crazy, or your company had several fundamental issues, then you are best to keep those things to yourself. A good RFL should be something like:
“I was approached on LinkedIn by the Head of HR from (company name) and I thought the opportunity sounded really interesting and challenging. I thankfully passed the difficult interview process and ended up taking what was a fantastic offer from them. It was sad to leave my previous company, but my former boss was understanding and kind about me wanting to try something new.”
I do sympathize with the fact that for many foreign workers in Taiwan, their burgeoning careers are often filled with negative experiences. However, I would still recommend trying to put a positive spin on your work history for the purposes of a professional interview. Save your complaints for your family/partner/bezzy mate.
Top Tip: Always be thinking about your next move and try to have options. This means being aware of the market and keeping an eye on potential companies who you know have good reputations and working cultures. When the time comes to change jobs, you want to make sure you have the best circumstances for yourself and your career trajectory.
5) Building up your experience and skill set, forming a strong CV
I don’t want to re-hash the points made in the above paragraphs, but a lot of the things I said are relevant to this one as well. I’m not sure if many people reading this article will really understand what a good CV looks like. We are trained in my industry to quickly identify good resumes and become very proficient at it over time. Ultimately this involves a combination of these things; good academic background, lengthy stays in companies and promotions along the way, gradual step-ups in title, several prestigious brands/companies, management responsibility, indicators of performance success within those previous jobs, etc. If you want to really build a strong career, then you must focus on hitting as many of these marks as possible.
In an interview setting, you have a chance to promote yourself and your previous achievements to the best of your ability. However, the harsh reality is that you won’t get interview opportunities in the first place without the “on paper” achievements I listed above. Brand recognition is very important, often more than people think. For example, if you have worked for McKinsey, Google, Uber, Amazon, Facebook, or Apple at some point in the past, then your CV is going to look a lot stronger at face-value than someone who has worked for companies that most HR and recruiters have never heard of. This seems obvious but it really is a sliding scale, just in the same way Harvard and Cambridge University degrees would be rated more favorably than degrees from a former Polytechnic. For example, a foreigner who has written articles for the Taipei Times will open more doors than a foreigner who has written articles for Compass Magazine (I’m sorry, I know this will cause offence and I apologize). In the same way, a foreigner who has worked for Asus or MediaTek will look better on paper than a foreigner who has worked for some small component manufacturer in Taoyuan. Try to get as many of these recognizable brands on your CV as possible, hopefully in an ascending scale of impressiveness.
A mistake I often hear young people talking about is thinking they can leave university and jump straight into AirBnb or Tesla. These companies are ridiculously hard to get hired by. Often you will need a “steppingstone” or two before you can make that kind of move. For example, if you have 4 years’ experience in the Taipei Times you might be able to get into Bloomberg. If you have experience in TVBS or Next Media, you might be able to get into Netflix. Experience in Acer might land you a job interview in Dell or HP. I have no doubt that some of the value judgements I’m making about companies will be challenged by some readers, and that is fine. However, think about it from a recruiter’s point of view, a 10/10 company like Apple is probably not going to be too interested in hiring someone from a 6/10 company like BenQ (sorry BenQ). If you think I’m being defamatory, I would encourage you to look at Glassdoor reviews. I’d also remind you that salary is often directly linked to company reputation: the best companies also have the best pay.
Top Tip: Getting into the best companies is extremely difficult and as a foreigner in Taiwan, even more so. Having a referral from someone inside the company is probably your best bet. When I interviewed with Google, it was through a senior level contact in that company who recommended me directly to the Taiwan HR.
6) Being good at your job
The same thing that will see you be successful in Taiwan is largely the same thing that will see you be successful anywhere in the world. If you want to have a long and successful career here, then you need to be good at what you do. If you are in a sales position, that means hitting targets, successfully finding new clients through diligent business development and growing strong relationships with existing key accounts. If you are an engineer, that means designing things good (Hahaha, I don’t know anything about engineering, not sure if you noticed). Sorry, in all seriousness, if you are in a more technical role, proving yourself to be an asset to the company and their product development will make you stand out. Think on behalf of the business all the time; how can you help the company improve, how can you make things more cost-effective, how do you contribute to growth and gross profit. If you focus on having this type of mindset alongside your own self-improvement, you will go a long way.
I think it would be interesting for me to add that a lot of the foreign talent I’ve met in Taiwan have struggled with their careers because of issues related to points 1, 2 and 3 on this list. Often, their performance and capability are excellent, but the culture, boss or their own personality have clashed, thus stunting their career growth. Still, if your foundation of strong performance can be matched with a nuanced understanding of how to navigate Taiwanese working culture, then you are giving yourself the best chance for success.
As another piece of advice, I think it is important to look at where you can use your foreignness to your advantage. From personal experience, the most obvious place would be client-handling and creativity. I would argue that foreigners have an advantage over many of their Taiwanese colleagues when it comes to handling international partners, vendors and clients. Maybe it is to do with language, being more international, being more “street wise” or whatever. To be honest I’m not really sure why, but it is something I’ve noticed. Even as a junior headhunter I would be asked to chaperone high-level business contacts on behalf of my company. I think doing the “small talk” thing was seen as being much easier for me than it was for my local colleagues.
With regards creativity, there also seems to be a large gulf between the average foreigner and the average Taiwanese person. In my opinion, the blame falls largely on the local education system. If I was to be harsh, I would go as far as arguing that Taiwanese education is a 12-year memory test, rarely verging into critical thinking, debate, creative essay writing, etc. Even in mundane situations like, “where should we eat for the office Spring Wine?” or “what should we do for team building?”, I found my Taiwanese colleagues almost completely lacking in ideas. If you can step in and solve these problems, you have already proved yourself useful enough to keep around the place. If you are a naturally creative person and someone who enjoys looking for lots of creative solutions to problems, then you can certainly use that to your advantage. If colleagues see you as the best person to come to for suggestions and solutions, you are obviously doing something right.
Top Tip: Work hard, be useful, put in effort, apply yourself to your role.
The original article: How to build a long and successful career in Taiwan as a foreigner
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