I got the school job and applied for 6-mth leave-of-absence without pay from my Vegas employer. I struggled with the fax machine for LONG time and eventually got an approval for three months.
我开始在该校工作后，随即向拉斯维加斯的老板申请6个月的无薪长假，在同传真机进行了长时间战斗后，老板批准了3个月的假期。

While I was OK with RMB3000/month, I was wondering whether I could do better. This was why I excused myself to sign a contract with the school to get my pay doubled. I did call/e-mail to find greener grass, however, nothing in near term.
虽然每月3000元薪水还是可以了，但是我一直想知道能否更好些。这就是为什么我没签学校的合同虽然签了薪水长一倍。我尽力想找到更绿的草地，然而，找到的只有个把远期承诺。

I felt only the school owner understood why I gave up US$6000 and now make RMB3000. ALL others had their question marks on their faces but they did not want to ask because they do not consider I am one of them (My sister just said even she does not really understand why I decide to retire in China, let alone convincing others. THEREFORE, I HAVE GIVEN UP ON EXPLAINING WHY I CAME BACK.)
我感觉只有这个学校的老板理解我为什么放弃每月6000美元的工作去做每月3000元人民币的工作。其他所有人都对我这么做存在疑问，但是他们不想问因为他们认为我“非我族类”(我妹妹说，连她都不理解为什么我要辞职回中国，就不必费心再向别人解释了。因此，我不再解释我为什么要回来)。

Let me give you one example on how my work in China tasted. There were MANY bilingual signs on the ten-building campus and most of them were ridiculous Chinglish. The security guard room at the school entrance was named Janitor's Room. And many more I could not remember.
我举个例来说说我在中国工作的体验吧，在这个有着10栋建筑的校园内，有许多双语标牌，但大部分都是滑稽的中式英语。校门口的传达室名为“清洁工储藏室”。还有很多类似的例子，我记不起来了。

I talked to the Canadian teachers that they would lose all their faces in front of foreign visitors because of these signs, especially the school was being accredited by Vancouver education board. They said they mentioned many times, no response.
我对加拿大籍教师说，在外国访客面前，我们会因为这些标牌丢尽脸面，尤其对于这样一个正在接受温哥华教育部门认证的学校。他们说尽管他们提过多次了，但是学校方面没作任何反应。

It was because they could only communicate with the liaison lady, who was the translator of all the English signs in the school!
If I speak up, I would get this lady mad at me FOR THE REST OF MY WORK LIFE THERE.
因为他们只能与联络小姐进行交流，学校的所有英语标牌都是她翻译的。
如果我提出来，那么这位小姐一定恨我恨到我离开学校。

If I do not speak up, as a Foreign Affairs Assistant, I would feel ashamed to take any foreign vistor to tour the campus.
如果我不管，作为一个外事助理，在带领任何一位外国客人进来参观校园时，我都会感到羞愧。

I told the school owner how serious this could be since the accreditation delegation is coming.
于是，我对校长提了这件事情的严重性，因为认证代表团就要来了。

All signs were fixed after being reviewed by the Canadian teachers and I was told to share an apartment with another guy (This was under that lady's jurisdiction.)
在加拿大教师的帮助下，所有的标牌都变得正确无误，而我却被告知要与另一个人共用一套公寓(公寓安排属于那位联络小姐的权力范围)。

Before my Chinese roommate arrives from Canada, I received a letter from my Vegas employer, which said my 3-mth leave was ending and it could not be extended because they have no quota to hire someone else to do my work. If I failed to show up in my office on September 15, 1997, I would be terminated. Period.
在我的室友从加拿大来之前，我收到了拉斯维加斯老板的通知，我3个月的假期到期了，因为他们无法雇佣别人来顶替我的工作，所以不能再往后拖延了。如果我1997年9月15日不能到岗，以辞职论处。

I departed from Dalian on Aug. 28, 1997 heading back to US in the hope of getting my leave without pay extended. On the way back, I stayed in Bejing for 11 days, Shenzhen and HK a few days each, a total of 18 days of job-hunting!
1997年8月28日，我带着续假的希望从大连飞往美国。路上，在北京待了11天，在深圳和香港各待了几天，共计18天，这些天都在找工作。

I sent advance notices to the foreign power-related companies in Beijing by e-mails that I am coming and would like to stop by. I also bought a 2+ inch thick directory of the foreign enterprises in Beijing right after I arrived at Beijing (This kind of directories are now much easier to find and they cost about RMB400-500 each. The best one is well indexed with the name of the top person from each company listed plus their e-mail addresses. Another product has a CD version for which you pay no extra, but this one was made by someone w/o the Western mentality and, therefore, difficult to use.)
我事先就给北京的一些外国电力业公司发了电子邮件，说我要登门拜访。我还一到北京就买了几本差不多两英寸厚的<北京外企目录>(这种目录现在要好找得多，价格大约每本400-500元)。最好的一本是将各公司的负责人的名字及电子邮件都列了出来。还有一本是带光盘的书，也不用另外多花钱，但是这本书是不懂西方文化的人编的，因此，用起来有些困难。

I did a manual blanket search of the directory and came up with an 8-page list of Beijing companies I might have some hope with (The list also included all other job leads I collected over last several years and now I eventually had the chance to knock in!)
我地毯式搜索了所有目录，汇总出8页我可能有些希望的北京公司的名单（这些名单中也包括了我近几年收集的公司名单，而现在终于有了登门造访的机会）。

I called them one by one with the most likely ones on the top of my list (Of course, I faxed my resume with a cover letter the day before my calling.) Here is a trick: You have to e-mail/fax/call the top guy because nobody else would care or help (The hard truth is most Chinese do not welcome a Chinese American to weaken their own positions in the company.) If you do not know who is the top guy, try to ask whoever that picks up the phone. If the Chinese girl does not even want to tell you that and says their top guy is not in his/her office, ask whether you can leave a message on his/her answering machine. If still not, you may ask her to connect you with any other Caucasian in the office because they do not have much conflict of interest with us.
然后，我按希望大小挨个地给名单上的公司打了电话（当然，打电话前一天我就给他们发了简历）。这里面有一个窍门：你必须给公司的负责人发电子邮件/传真/打电话，因为其他人不会在意你或帮助你的（事实上大部分中国人都不欢迎美籍华人到他们公司工作，因为这可能会威胁到他们自己在公司的地位）。如果你不知道谁是他们的负责人，可以试着从接电话的人那里了解；如果这位中国女孩不想告诉你或说他们的负责人不在办公室的话，问问她你能否在他/她的答录机上留言；如果还是不行，你可以叫她帮你转接办公室的其他白人，因为他们跟我们不会有太多利益冲突。

After hundreds of calls, I was able to make few walk-in brief interviews. I found I was in difficulties to convince them why I quit my US government job and took such a risk (Fortunately, this is no longer a big question mark nowadays.) Another reason could be that no matter how good you are, you have to be a RIGHT PERSON showing up in RIGHT PLACE at RIGHT TIME because expat openings are rare - ONLY IF THEY CANNOT FILL THE POSITION WITH CHINESE LOCAL, which are roughly 90% cheaper!
打了几百个电话后，我总算得到了几个面试机会。但我却发现自己很难让他们信服为什么我要辞去我在美国的政府工作到这里来冒这个险（幸运的是如今这已经不是问题了）。另一个原因是：无论你有多优秀，你都必须在恰恰好时间在恰恰好的地点证明你是那份工作的恰恰好的人选，因为他们给海归的机会是相当少的――只有当他们找不到本地人来胜任该职务时才会考虑到海归，因为本地人的薪水比起海归要低大约90%。

I did pass at least one preliminary interview and got into the formal interview with a company affiliated with a major US utility company. While my future boss and his boss are all from HK and, therefore, they did understand my reasons to come back to China (Especially this was 1997, HK just returned to China!), the US HR Director (a Caucasian) found it was too hard for him to understand why I quit my US government job and came back to China for less money (I knew I should not tell them how much I wanted to be paid, but I was SQUEEZED to say "How about US$50K?", which sent the interview to hell.)
幸运的是至少我还是通过了美国一家大型电力公司在中国的子公司的初试，得到了正式面试机会。我未来的老板及他的老板都是香港人，因此，他们能理解我回国的原因（尤其这时正好是1997年，正好赶上香港回归祖国！），但是对该公司美国的人力资源部经理（白人）来说，他很难理解我为什么要辞去美国的政府工作，回国来挣这点薪水（我知道我不应该对他们说我想要多少薪水，但被逼又不得不说“5万美金如何？”，于是这次面试以失败告终）。

I also went to a job fair solely for Beijing foreign enterprises at Beijing Exhibition Center, which looked so much better that the job fairs for local companies (Do not go to the local ones, you would not be able to breathe there and they are useless to you anyway.) I tried to chat with all Caucasian there and I did get a chief rep of a major US oil company interested in me. I got his interview next day in 5-star Kunlun Hotel and he would send me to Tianjin to do marketing there because Tianjin University is very strong in petrochemical and I had good connections there due to my sponsoring a scholarship for my young alumni since 1995. Believe it or not, I asked for a local compensation package and I was given RMB15K per month. I was quickly sent to HR for hiring formalities, but I was kicked out there because their US HR said CHINESE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT ALLOW AMERICAN TO BE HIRED AS CHINESE LOCAL EMPLOYEE (4 years later, I believe there must be a way to get around it, but those big oil companies are arrogant and bureaucratic. They have no reason to go out of their ways to help you out. If you are really that worthwhile, how come you agreed to make RMB15K per month?)
我还去过在北京展览中心举办的一次北京外企专场招聘会，看起来比一般招聘会要好得多（不要去一般招聘会，因为那里无法呼吸，而且对你毫无用处）。招聘会上，我试着同那里的白人交谈，美国一家石油公司对我感兴趣， 第二天在一家五星级酒店－昆仑饭店进行了面试，然后，他们将我派到天津做销售工作，因为天津大学在化工方面很有实力，自1995年以来，我在该校（我的母校）设立了一项奖学金，所以我有很好的关系。信不信由你，当时我要求的薪水是本地雇员的薪水标准，所以我每月工资为1万5人民币。不久，我被人力资源部传了回去，说是要办正式录用手续，然而却在那里被当掉了，只是因为美国人力资源部说中国政府不允许美国人以中国本地员工的待遇标准被聘用（4年后，我相信肯定是有别的原因，但那些大的石油公司都很傲慢，又很官僚。他们没有理由要过头地帮你，在他们看来，如果你真的很有价值，又怎么会接受每月1万5人民币的薪水待遇呢？）。

At the job fairs, I also talked to China''s "official" executive search firm - Zhong1 Zhi4, which had a 25-meter long panel there, looking great. To save your time reading, my conclusion is they do not serve people like us.
招聘会上，我还与中国“官方”猎头公司(公司名：中智)谈过，他们的招聘阵线有25米长，看起来很不错。为了不浪费你的时间，概括地说他们不用我们这种人。

No wonder I e-mailed/faxed my resume to so many agencies I found from Chinese job-hunting newspapers and received ZERO RESPONSE from them.
我还给我在中国招聘报刊上找到的许多单位电邮/传真过简历，然而没有一个单位给过答复。

I then hit the hot button.
终于，我按对了电钮。

I visited American Chamber of Commerce in Sheraton Great Wall Hotel (still there). They had a membership directory for US$395 (I do not remember the price exactly, but very expensive). I borrowed the directory and handcopied all executive search firms'' phone numbers (about 20 of them, most are world class). I then bombed all of them.
我登门造访了在喜来登长城饭店办公的美国商会(现在还在那里)，他们有一本价格395美元的会员目录(我记不得确切价格是多少了，但是很贵就是了)。我向他们借出了这本书，把所有猎头公司的电话号码手抄了下来(大概有20家，并且大部分都是世界有名的公司)。随后，我跟他们都进行了联系。

I got 4 interviews next day and I went to only three because I already bought my ticket to Shenzhen.
第二天接到四家单位的面试通知，因为当时已经买了去深圳的机票，所以只去了三家。

It simply means we are the RIGHT CANDIDATES for these firms to sell to their clients.
其实这只说明我适合他们推荐给他们的客户。

They did get me a few interviews the next year or two, but none was better than the job I got in Fujian few months later.
后来的一两年里，又接到过几家类似公司的面试，但是没有一家比得上几月后我找到的那家福建外企。

How did I get the Fujian job? It is ridiculously simple.
我是怎样得到福建的工作的？答案简单得可笑。

I met a Chinese couple in the Las Vegas forum, who kept trying to marry foreign money with feasible Chinese projects. I met them in Beijing and they told me they knew someone in a US company''s subsidiary in HK. I arrived at HK and called the guy. I then got interviewed by 11 people in HK, Boston and telephone (I did not go to Fujian for site interview because I ran out my vacation.) I then got the job offer.
在拉斯维加斯的研讨会上，我结识了一对中国夫妇，当时他们正在寻求外资以发展中国项目。后来，又在北京遇到了他们，他们告诉我他们知道一家美国公司在香港的子公司可能比较适合我，于是我到了香港，给该公司负责人打了电话。然后，我参加了香港/美国的面试，先后共有11人面试我(因为当时我的假期已休完，所以没能参加福建的现场面试)，最后我被录用了。

It is true that if you are lucky, you can get your job easily without doing all the gymnastics above.
的确，如果你够幸运，你就能轻易地找到工作，就不必象我这么费劲。

One important reason for me to get the job must be my asking for MORE MONEY. I learned the previous lesson and asked for an expat package, which means you would get your US pay doubled.
我之所以能得到这个工作的一个重要原因是我提高了薪水要求，我从以前的经验中得到了教训，于是提的薪水要求为海归的待遇标准，这意味着你就能得到两倍于美国的工资。

However, you do not get your base pay doubled. You usually get only 10% more then your previous pay. But you get a total of 60 % hardship (counting outside US, China and the site in the middle of nowhere), which is 66% raise from your base pay of your previous company.
不过，实际上你的基本工资达不到以前的两倍，通常你的工资只能长10%，但是你还可以得到60%的辛苦补助，相当于以前公司基本工资66%的辛苦补助。

Year-end bonus. I got 104% for my 37.5 months service, an average of 33% for each year.
年终奖：因为我在公司工作了37.5个月，所以我的年终奖总共有每年薪水的104%，相当于每年33%。

10% pension (6% vested because I had only 3 years f service).
10%的退休金(因为我在该公司只工作了3年，所以只得到6%)。

Free room and board (We lived in a 3.5-star apartment eating RMB200 per day per person meals) How much would this be worth before-tax? You figure it out.
免费食宿(我们住的是3星半级标准的公寓，每人每天的伙食标准为200元)，那么它的税前价值是多少呢？你可以算算。

Vacation pays. We were too busy to take our vacations, so that most of our 4 weeks per year vacation time was paid in cash (60% hardship applied to vacation time, too)
带薪休假：因为我们平时都很忙不能休假，所以我们每年4周的大部分休假都休不了，公司于是付双工资(另外，休假期间仍有60%的辛苦补助)。

Medical insurance. It is international and my 9 weeks of hospitalization in special foreigner sections was 100% reimbursed while in US your cost is subject to "reasonability" and co-payment (The former is very troublesome.)
国际医疗保险。我在外宾病房住院9周，所有费用都100%报销，然而，即使是在美国，你的费用报销还得“合理”并须自付一部分(前者非常麻烦)。

My expat co-workers do not like the hospitals in China. They flew with their wives to HK to see doctors and all expenses incl. travel were paid by the company.
那些跟我一样的海归同事都不喜欢在国内看病，于是他们带着他们妻子飞到香港去看病，而且所有费用(包括机票)都由公司承担。

Travel. Transpacific flights would be all in business class (US$5000 HK-LAX round-trip) while you may still take Economy (US$500 for the same trip).
度假或出差：横渡太平洋的所有飞行都是商务舱标准(香港-洛杉矶的往返票价为5000美元)，但是你也可以乘坐经济舱(票价只有500美元)，节余归己。

While I have no dependent, my expat co-workers ook their dependents (wives and kids) back to US 2-3 times per year, all in business class!
因为我没有家眷，所以不能象我的同事那样，每年可以带着他们的家眷(妻子和孩子)回2-3次美国，而且所有的旅行都按商务舱标准。

My expat co-workers also had their kids enrolled in the very expensive international schools in China with more than US$10K per year per kid tuition.
我的同事们的孩子们都是在非常贵的中国国际学校里就读，每个孩子每年的学费就超过1万美元。

These co-workers lived in luxury single detached houses in Xiamen or HK with company paid rent from US$3000 - $10000 per month.
他们住的是厦门或香港豪华的独立住房，每月3000-10000美金的租金由公司承担。

While I love China so much and I did not ask for my own car, these co-workers all had their own cars and their own drivers with all expenses paid.
我很爱中国，所以没有把要求公司给自己买车作为雇用条件。相比之下，我那些白人/海归同事几乎人人都有轿车，有自己的司机，而所有的费用都不用自己承担。

Teambuilding. We had four. 2 in Shenzhen/Zhuhai, 1 in Xiamen and 1 at Wuyishan. All in 5-star hotels except for the one at Wuyishan. All cost paid incl. an RMB600/person dinner with Mr. Hou, Yaohua at the Christmas Eve.
团队精神培训：4次。2次在深圳/珠海，1次在厦门，还有一次在武夷山，除了武夷山那次其他都住的是五星级酒店，所有费用(包括圣诞夜与侯耀华一起共进晚餐时每人600元的餐费)都由公司负担。

Aren''t these more than doubling? I probably still miss something here.
所有这些加起来难道不比以前公司的两倍薪水还要多？何况我可能还有漏掉的项目。

With China getting into WTO, go ahead, guys!
现在中国已经加入世贸组织，伙计们，加油!!

I hope the above 100% true story would help you find a GOOD JOB in China. BEST WISHES!!!
希望上面这个100%真实的故事有助于你在中国找到一个好工作，真心地祝福你!!!

Johnpeng@hotmail.com