I've received a few emails from people asking about the job market in Asia - mainly, how to market their language skills and international experience to find a job overseas. Well, I decided to answer this question in a post to share with others who might have similar interests and to see if anyone else has some good insight or input to this.
Basically, my advice in marketing yourself for job opportunities should be the same no matter what country or region you're searching in. I think the key is to be focused, proactive, and open minded. I think it's also important to evaluate yourself and your situation in the eyes of your target company. What are your key selling points? And what risks do you present to the company if they were to consider you? If you address both key selling points while mitigating any risks you present to targeted companies, you'll find yourself a lot more attractive to hiring managers - no matter what part of the world you're jobhunting in. This is all very similar to a post I wrote earlier on moving to New Zealand. In general, here's my advice:
1. Be focused. Assess your strengths and clearly have in mind the position you're looking for and the type of industry/company you want to work with. Don't think "I'm flexible, anything will do." Employers want people who are goal-oriented and passionate about the work they do, which all requires focus. Focus on the country and city/region you want to relocate to. Do your research. If you currently work for a biotech company as a Communications Manager - do you want to stay in the biotech industry? If so, then find all the big biotech companies in China - get their contact details, find out who the people are in the HR department and contact them directly. If you're open to similar industries, research multinational companies that have offices in China. You basically want to target the right companies that hire the kind of position you want.
2. Be Proactive. Make yourself visible and accessible to the right people. Join professional groups and online networks within your industry and geographic area, or even in your targeted foreign language. LinkedIn is a good online network to join. Make yourself known in your industry and targeted country/culture/language - blog or become involved in the blogosphere by commenting to articles and posts. Many hiring managers and recruiters source for candidates through the Internet. Attend, or even better, present at industry seminars, conferences and meetings.
3. Be open minded. If you have the experience and performance record to prove that you're a great candidate, as a foreign candidate, you need to minimize other risks that a hiring manager/recruiter perceives. The biggest risk being that you are not physically in the country of where the job is. If a hiring manager/recruiter is presented with applications from qualified and experienced local talent along with equally qualified with better experience from an overseas candidate, the recruiter will go to the local talent first. Even though the background may not be as good as the overseas candidate, there are so many more steps to take with the overseas candidate. When will the candidate move to the country? What about immigration? Will the candidate actually stay in the country? What about compensation, family issues, political issues, etc. There are so many risks, it does make an overseas applicant less appealing. So a great way to minimize those risks are to GO THERE. If you've done your research and made contacts in your targeted companies, go there and meet with them. The company sees your commitment in being there - that should mitigate some of the risk for them in considering you.
While this all may be pretty general - it's something that I've seen work. If anyone else has some good advice or insight, please let me know.
Next Action:
1. Make a list of targeted companies in your targeted country/region.
2. Join LinkedIn.
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