The difficulties that returned overseas students face in job hunting, I have seen many cases. From a perspective different from that of the returned overseas students, I see some problems that most of them may not be aware of. Taking the previous article as an example, I would like to discuss the common problems I see among Chinese returned overseas students. I hope the returned overseas students will not get angry. Listening to opposing opinions is a good thing.
Problem 1 for returned overseas students:
Most returned overseas students unintentionally use their salaries from studying abroad as a benchmark for their expectations when job hunting domestically. This is the primary reason why many returned overseas students fail in their job search. I have a college classmate who pursued a Ph.D. in law in Germany and earned around 1500-2000 euros per month from part-time work. This salary is not low in most European countries. Similar to the returned overseas student mentioned earlier, he also failed in his job search after returning to China, which led to disappointment and confusion.
Hantang's suggestion: From the first day you return to China, completely forget everything about working abroad. Psychological adjustment is more important than anything else. Consider yourself an ordinary Chinese person who has never been abroad, rather than an outstanding Chinese person who has just returned from living among foreigners.
Problem 2 for returned overseas students:
Most returned overseas students like to boast about their language skills to their compatriots after returning to China. In fact, Hantang has met no less than 10,000 returned overseas students, but even in today's big Shanghai, I haven't seen many truly exceptional ones in terms of language ability. It is evident that the self-perception of returned overseas students is often too high, causing them to lose sight of themselves. Moreover, foreign enterprises in China today pay far more attention to localization than to returned overseas students. Regardless of whether you are a returned overseas student or someone who has always stayed in China, in the eyes of foreigners, you are still Chinese. Foreign enterprises need to continuously reduce labor costs through localization. When it comes to language, they might as well directly hire foreigners instead of hiring returned overseas students whose language skills might only be slightly better than those of local Chinese. Most Japanese people still retained in foreign enterprises in China are usually in positions such as Director of Sales (DOS) or Marketing Director. The reason is that foreign enterprises need these Japanese individuals to interact with the Japanese senior management of client companies. This is not an issue of language ability but rather one of cultural background. Returned overseas students cannot solve this problem and instead unnecessarily increase labor costs. Therefore, returned overseas students are sometimes less favored in the workplace than local Chinese.
Hantang's suggestion: Stop showing off your language skills acquired abroad. Carefully consider where your true advantages lie beyond simply having met more foreigners than ordinary Chinese people.