Challenges facing returned overseas Chinese 

cctv.com 07-19-2005 12:43

The number rises each year, causing competition in China's human resources market to grow ever fiercer. Liu Ming finds out why job prospects of overseas returnees aren't quite what they used to be.

This is a get-together of alumni from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, most of who now live in Beijing. They have got together not to talk about the good old days back on campus, but the harsh reality of finding a job in the Chinese capital.

Many such returned students have encountered the same problem, but some see the picture clearly. Xue Lian (WHAT IS HIS OR HER SURNAME?), a program officer in a Chongqing University, thinks she knows the real reason why her friends are floundering on the job market.

Though some are more optimistic of the job prospects of students with a foreign education background.

Overseas returnees may have a head start on the one hand, but on the other, they also at a disadvantage.

A company employer said: "Many of them don't have any experience of working in China, so they don't know much about the local market. They usually demand a high salary and are reluctant to start at a low level."

Statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Personnel show that between 1978 when China started reform and opening-up to the outside world, and 2004, about 700,000 Chinese went to study in more than 100 foreign countries and regions. 170,000 of them returned - and the number is increasing at a rate of 13 percent a year. This increase is one excuse many overseas returnees use for failing to find a job. But is it the real reason? Below are some tips from employers and experts to those overseas returnees.

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Remove superiority and change mentality

Extend your choice of jobs

Request your salary according to the market

Adjust your way of thinking and doing things

Get rid of your sense of superiority and be prepared to compete on an equal footing;

Don't limit the choice of your job locations to just a few fashionable cities.

Don't calculate your salary request by the cost of your overseas education, but by the market rate of the position you're seeking;

Be ready to adjust your western way of thinking to the Chinese way of making things happen.

The overseas returnees must have a better understanding about the rule of nature: survival of the fittest. Just as when they went overseas, they had to learn how to adapt to a strange environment - If they learned their lesson well, their re-adapting to back home will not cause them much trouble.

Editor:Wang  Source:CCTV.com