| Good point, Ginger! I think it makes sense to divide foreign job-seekers into different categories: 1. Fresh graduates without work experience and no Mandarin skills 2. Fresh graduates with Mandarin skills (it makes less of a difference if the language skills are good or excellent for they will improve considerably anyway) 3. People with work experience, but no Mandarin skills 4. People with work experience and Mandarin skills While being unaware of any HR policies of MNCs in China addressing foreign job-seekers, I would argue that due to the influx of voluntary foreigners to the Chinese labour market, salaries for foreigners (especially if inexperienced and w/o Mandarin skills) will drop further. I have never understood why a company in China gives in to a foreign international business graduate's (Cat. 1) excessive demand of RMB 15,000 gross per month + accommodation. In my view, he first has to learn Chinese to be of equal value compared to a local. As an aside, I have fellow students who have just graduated in Germany (Cat.1) and demand EUR 4,000 gross per month for a job as a local in China, while the company only offered RMB 7,000-8,000 gross per month w/o accommodation. Needless to say, they didn't reach an agreement. In fact, those people wouldn't even earn EUR 4,000 per month in Germany unless they were part of the elite and could nail a job in one of the DAX30 companies or in the field of consulting or IB. And even RMB 7,000-8,000 is unjustified imo if local graduates who do understand the local language, culture, people, and market, earn approx. 50% of that. Getting back to the original question: I think we first need to clarify to which category the Italian Engineer belongs to and secondly, in case he belongs to Cat. 3 or 4, if the company really needs an experienced foreigner for this job. If not, then the company has more the upper hand for they can choose a cheaper candidate instead and thus exert pressure on the Italian to accept a lower salary or look for a job elsewhere. |
Salary for Foreign Engineers