Starting your career in Taiwan as a business graduate from abroad - what are your options?
- Daniel Aschauer
- Jan 28, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Feb 8, 2024
Are you an international business student or young graduate in Taiwan and wish to build your career here, but you are unsure what your options are? Then this article is for you.
In November 2023, I held my first guest lecture about growing your career in Taiwan as a young international business graduate at NSYSU. Before using lessons from the book "Design your life" to teach students how life design principles can be applied to their career, I also shared my observations regarding the job market for international business students in Taiwan. Having been quite active in the foreign community in Taipei for over 5 years, I have noticed some patterns in the type of jobs most foreign graduates are landing, which I will share with you here.
Two comments before we get started: In general these are my personal observations only, not based on external research or official sources (the parts which are, I have linked in the article). Even though the content probably will apply to most business-graduates in Taiwan from abroad, it is mainly based on my observations regarding people coming from Western countries (America / Europe).
Why to stay / not to stay in Taiwan after graduation?
First of all, why do international students often choose to stay or not to stay in Taiwan?
The upsides: Taiwan overall offers a very high quality of life. It keeps topping global expat rankings (3/52 in 2022, 5/53 in 2023) with especially strong areas in healthcare, transportation and safety. The island has friendly locals, beautiful nature, great & affordable food and is overall described by many people living there as very convenient in many ways. Foreign students can already experience that Taiwan is truly a great place to live.
Furthermore, personal income tax rate is lower than in many Western countries, and probably due to the low birth rate the Taiwanese government is actively trying to attract international talent to work and live in Taiwan. In recent years it has launched programs such as the Gold Card, updated the entrepreneurship visa, shortened the requirements to obtain permanent residency and in Nov 2023 has just established Talent Taiwan, a one-stop service for foreign professionals. There are still many things to be done, but overall it feels nice to live in a place that actually wants to attract foreigners to come and work here (it feels many countries worldwide are doing quite the opposite these days).
The downsides: On the contrary, Taiwan also comes with challenges that make many foreigners (actually many Taiwanese too) consider to better build their career elsewhere. First and very apparent, the housing prices especially in northern Taiwan have gotten out of hand. For many young people it has become totally unrealistic to eventually buy their own house in Taipei. Comparing the average housing price to the median income through a study from TNL, Taipei has already become the 2nd most expensive city worldwide after Hong Kong - many other Taiwanese cities are also high up on this ranking. Buying a house just doesn't make sense for many young people here - the alternative is renting (often shared apartments) or staying with their parents for a long time.
Compared to many Western countries (and also many similarly developed Asian countries), Taiwan offers little labor benefits: The minimum wage has just been raised in 2024 to 27,470 TWD per month (~810 EUR), according to TW labor law in their first year employees get only 3 days of paid leave (to be used after 6 month), sick leave would only be paid at 50%, which is not very attractive compared to other (especially Western) countries. Many companies in Taiwan (especially international ones) usually offer much better conditions than that, but surprisingly many still follow these minimum standards (which makes it hard for them to attract qualified international talent, who are often able to secure much better benefits elsewhere).
Finally, even if foreigners want to give working in Taiwan a try, especially international business students are often facing limited career opportunities. Many jobs in business require Chinese skills, the language barrier makes it often difficult to get hired. Taiwanese companies often prefer to hire locals over foreigners, and even if you can secure the job, many international employees find it difficult to adapt to Taiwanese working culture.
If you are curious to learn more, I can highly recommend these articles from Alan McIvor (a Scottish headhunter based in Taiwan), who shared excellent insights related to this topic:
Common career paths for int. business graduates in Taiwan
Besides these challenges, there are still many foreign graduates each year starting or building their careers in Taiwan. Since I am living and working here for 5 years and am quite active in the international community, I observed patterns many of their careers have in common. Many of the career starts of foreign business graduates fall typically into one of four categories, which I will share here with you. This doesn't mean no other options are available (of course they are and I also know people successfully pursuing them), these just appear to be the most common ones to me:
Path 1: English (or other foreign language) teacher
A career path very common in Taiwan for foreigners (especially from Western countries) is to become a foreign language teacher, often at so-called cram schools (Buxiban 補習班).
There are several reasons for that: It is usually easy to get started (any university degree + being a native speaker is often enough to teach at cram schools), it offers comparably high starting salaries and shorter working hours than most office jobs - many schools will even provide the materials for the teachers. If often is the starting point for many foreigners for their career in Taiwan, since learning foreign languages is very popular there is always demand especially for experienced teachers.
However, there are also some (potential) downsides: Some foreign language teachers realize after some time that they are not as passionate about teaching as they initially thought (or planned it as kind of a gap year anyways). Once that's the case, depending on how long you have been teaching already it could get increasingly challenging to leave this industry while staying in Taiwan - some language teachers find it hard to transition to good jobs outside of teaching. Even if they do, they often face an initial downgrade of salary and increased working hours, which can be hard to adjust to. While their native speaker background offers an advantage in the Taiwanese job market, some foreigners may wonder if they ever wanted to go back home after a long time teaching in Taiwan, what job could they probably go after back at home again? Some more common transitions I heard happening are towards translations/technical writing and ultimately towards copywriting/marketing, or towards working in curriculum planning / consulting for schools.
Benefits | Downsides |
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How to find out more about this path?
If you are interested to learn more about this path, there are many active Facebook groups (such as this one or many more) where English teaching jobs are posted regularly. Teach Taiwan could also be a useful resource to check out.
Path 2: International sales / marketing for Taiwanese companies
Taiwan has a strong manufacturing industry, and many companies want to increase their success in foreign markets. When foreign business graduates land jobs at local Taiwanese companies, they very often work in two fields: Int. sales and marketing. Since other business related functions such as e.g. accounting, logistics or HR usually require native-level Chinese skills and knowledge of the local regulations, foreigners usually cannot compete with local talent. However, when it comes to helping Taiwanese companies to become more successful abroad, their unique cultural background of foreign graduates can be a clear advantage and benefit for the company.
Int. business graduates following this path can often expect a position with high responsibility right after graduation, which might take longer to achieve at home. Their language skills and cultural knowledge of the target markets often allows them to take leading roles in the company fast and reach a position of high responsibility, which in turn boosts personal growth and the start of a promising career. Skills acquired in this area are highly transferable, also when changing countries or companies.
It's a promising direction, but also comes with possible downsides. I heard that often Taiwanese companies still prefer to hire locals compared to foreigners for these jobs, especially companies with less international experience. Reasons might be the trouble of applying for a work permit, or the worry he/she might not fit into the working culture. Compared to teaching, the initial benefits are often lower - longer working hours, often (unpaid) overtime and little vacation days are common, besides often lower initial compensation. I heard it's not uncommon to secure steep salary raises once you have proven yourself, but this of course depends highly on the company you pick, your manager and ultimately on your own performance. The Taiwanese working culture can also be difficult to adapt to - you can find more on that in the articles from Alan McIvor linked above.
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How to find out more about this path?
If you are interested in this direction, I can recommend you to check out the two largest job boards in Taiwan which are named with numbers: 104 and 1111. Also, I can recommend the organization All Hands, which offers networking opportunities in Taiwan, and the chance to learn about job opportunities from often more international-minded companies.
Two final, personal recommendations:
Go where foreigners are working already: If you want to have a better start, look for companies who already have foreigners working for them. It takes much more time and effort for a company to hire their first international employee compared to their 2nd, 3rd or 10th. Having already international employees is a good indicator the company is willing to hire more, is familiar with the work permit process and often already made their culture and working processes more friendly to retain international talent. It can be hard to be the first foreigner in the company.
Go North: It's unfortunately the case that most employment opportunities are in North of Taiwan (Taipei / Hsinchu area), especially for foreign talent. Even though Kaohsiung or Tainan are great places to study and live, their career opportunities are unfortunately more limited (even many locals move North after their graduation).
Path 3: Start your own business
If the Taiwanese job market doesn't seem so attractive to you, as an alternative you can also start your own business instead.
Starting your own business in Taiwan means being able to work on your own terms, having flexibility in your working schedule and also possibly bypass many of the disadvantages of Taiwan's job market. You can utilize your own unique skills and background to create a unique offering for your target group, and decide how much to charge for your service. Good news is that it's relatively easy to start a business in Taiwan, the government is actively trying to encourage entrepreneurship especially from international talent with the gold card and entrepreneurship visa program, which has been extended in 2023 to now cover a 2 year duration.
Of course, the first step is always a viable business idea. If you don't have one, this path will be difficult to start. Compared to being employed with a steady paycheck, the risks of having your own company are of course much higher. I did hear as well that some foreign entrepreneurs had troubles obtaining financing from the bank or faced other administrative hurdles, unless a Taiwanese (business) partner was on board who could help with it.
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How to find out more about this path?
If you are interested in this direction, there is a very active community in Taiwan TIE - Taiwan Impact Entrepreneurs, which can help to give you more guidance, help with administrative processes and sharing experience from already successful businesses.
Most businesses I saw started by foreigners in Taiwan revolve around the areas of food (e.g. open a restaurant/bar/café), import/export goods from/to their home country (also often related to food items), consulting (often around marketing - similar as in previous path 2, but as a freelancer instead of being employed) or translation/copywriting.
Path 4: Work as an expat / work remotely for a foreign company in Taiwan
Often seen as the holy grail for foreigners planning to work in Taiwan, becoming an expat in Taiwan for a foreign company is considered as the best option by many. Working remotely for a foreign company based in Taiwan is another option, often providing similar benefits. Being a local hire for foreign companies is possible too, but actually more rare than you might think, since these companies often set up an office in Taiwan to serve the local market, for which they need local talent. Local hires would anyways fall into path 2.
The advantages are clear: Usually these employments are coming with a higher salary than local job offers and often even include nice perks such as flight tickets back home, extended vacation days, housing or transportation allowances etc (all dependent on the company and function). Since it's a foreign company, often the working culture and processes in their Taiwan office are closer to what you are used to from back home, so the adjustment should be much easier than if you were working for a local Taiwanese company.
The major downside here is that these jobs are hard to find, since they are often filled internally and thus not posted externally - if they are, they could be very competitive to get. In fields of Engineering, IT or senior management these positions are more common, for business graduates it's unfortunately less common, but they do exist. Since expat positions in Taiwan are rare and their duration is often limited to a certain number of years, if you already have such a position and realize you want to change jobs in Taiwan, it can get very hard to find a similar job again.
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How to find out more about this path?
One good start is to look out for graduate trainee programs of companies from your home area. Some companies offer trainee programs at international locations for business graduates - if you express your willingness, they might offer you to stay afterwards. Also, follow job boards in your home country and other countries to which you are culturally close (often you can even set job alarms for certain criteria) - sometimes these jobs do get posted and if they do, you wanna be the first in line to apply. LinkedIn or Indeed also are good sources to browse for jobs.
Even though it sounds like a cliché, don't forget networking as well. Since these jobs are often not posted externally, let your network know you are looking - if you know someone in an organization who becomes aware they will open an office in Taiwan or want to hire someone for their already existing office, you might get a foot in the door before the job is even posted, so you can possibly bypass the regular application process.
What else is out there?
Besides these four main paths I mentioned above, I also know foreigners working at the trade office or embassy of their home country, or at companies serving foreign companies in Taiwan (e.g. international law firms). These opportunities are somewhere between path 2 and 4, and can be a great alternative and even promising stepping stone to transition to other companies, since usually you get to know many foreign businesses in Taiwan through that work.
I also noticed some foreigners going into media, acting or modeling, since there seems to also be a steady demand for international talent in the entertainment/advertising industry.
Besides everything mentioned so far, of course there are also many business graduates from abroad living and working in Taiwan who landed jobs in other areas - it would be impossible to list down all directions of them here.
I hope this article was helpful for you to get an overview of the most common options you may have in Taiwan, so you have a starting point for your journey. Even after 5 years I still love living and working here - I can highly recommend you to give it a try. Let me know if you need any help with it, feel free to reach out. Good luck :)