Sunday, August 14, 2011

Interview attire

So since my time at Shida MTC is coming to a close, I have to start looking for a job. However, I've been on the hunt for it prior to today. If i'm to fulfill my goals of living in Taiwan, then I'll eventually need a job to pay for living costs. I'm just about at my spending limit, so if I don't find a paycheck, it's back to my mother country. Fortunately, through some networking, I was able to find a job at a local Taiwanese company. They've decided to interview me, so today my only goal was to find a suit. Actually this is my second day looking for a suit. But as the interview day is in a few days, I had to purchase something today or tomorrow. I went to Carnival and finally settled on a suit. Although it was more expensive than what I found at G2000, the extra price tag was worth the 3X increase in quality and fit. I'm happy and I hope I can leave a good visual impression. Now I just have to work on the professional impression so they choose me over the other applicants. For a quick lunch, Yuki and I headed over to a local japanese fast food joint. It also started to rain pretty hard, I mean HARD. Typhoon season rain with large water droplets! Lunch ended up being $300 because it was a fixed price set menu restaurant. You'd think ordering Sushi from a place like that would be crappy, but no. I've learned that sushi quality is pretty good here in Taipei for a really cheap price. Just take a look at the picture. That's a set price fast food Chirashi bowl! Later on in the evening, Yuki and I headed back home. On the way back home, we made a detour to Tea Guan, my favorite neighborhood drink store. We noticed they had mint chocolate pearl milk tea. mint chocolate!? We had to try it. Well...it certainly tastes like mint chocolate. But it's just such an odd combination. It doesn't taste bad, it's just way off the typical path of flavors you'd expect from milk tea.

9 comments:

  1. Hey Brian bro,

    Are you going to look for jobs related to computer database stuff? I believe that was the field you used to do at the Bay Area right? Hope my memory is right.



    ~Javier

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  2. Yes, database management or Project Management.

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  3. hope the interview went well and that you get what you want, all the best!!!

    curious to know, in general do most Taiwan companies expect someone to speak, write Chineae at work.....what other jobs or industries besides teaching English/translating are foreigners working in.

    This is not a negative comment just an observation, Taiwan doesn't strike me as being very multi-cultural or have an international presence of MNCs in the country.

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  4. Taiwan is like any other developed nation. Local companies expect Chinese, but ones dealing with international business will place stronger emphasis on English. I don't understand why so many people think a foreigner can only be a teacher in Taiwan. Foreigners can find any job they want here like any other country. I have a friend that has opened his own private business here and he not even fluent in Chinese. However what you do say is true, there will be less MNC's compared to say Hong Kong. Taipei as a city is relatively young in international business and commerce, but you have to see the possibility of growth and potential.

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  5. if most Taiwan companies use written Chinese for communications/administration, then it's a given that unless you can write memos, reports, etc in chinese, your chances of employment are slim. Employers have the right to expect this as Mandarin is the official language.

    The question really is: how much English (spoken and written) is actually used in any typical Taiwan company? And if so, which industries use a lot more English than others in Taiwan?

    Finding a job and opening a business in Taiwan is not the same. When you run your own gig, you don't have to worry about language issues so much, but it means that if you're not so fluent in that language you will need to depend more on your workers to sort things out due to language barriers.

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  6. This is true for Taiwanese companies, but there are plenty of foreign companies here too, where fluent English is mandatory and Chinese is a plus.

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  7. hi

    what jobs are in demand for English speakers or which industries hire the most foreigners, dish the ESL jobs.

    Any thoughts?

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  8. I believe Taiwan's largest industry would be electronics manufacturing and software development. First off any position would probably require some level of chinese. Taiwan isn't as developed for international business as other asian cities (ie. HK). But any industry that requires communication between English speaking countries and Taiwan are available.

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  9. hi

    thanks for the tips and insights abt work life in Taiwan

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