The following happened at MTI but it could equally go under the marketing in Taiwan topic – or even a separate one, ‘Mickey of the day’ - I have since worked in other Taiwan companies and while the marketing is bad Mickey took it to new heights of stupidity.
Every three or four months Mickey would call an emergency meeting after being roughly appraised by the upper management - Now that we had a qualified engineer in charge of marketing, they couldn’t see why big things weren’t happening.
“Xien zi wo di pressure hao da. (I am under a lot of pressure at the moment.) Hen dwo ren zi ask product marketing xien zai zai zuo she ma?” (Lots of people are asking what product marketing is doing),” said Mickey in the part English/part Chinese style all the guys use in these companies.
“Wo men bu gou professional, bu gou innovative. (We have to be more professional and innovative).”
It was those special two words again that western companies supposedly were and therefore every manager in Taiwan had to pay lip service to - Pity he never gave any concrete example of how. And this missed the point as it didn’t seem to occur to him that nobody in his department was doing product marketing: Mickey was acting as assistant to the vice president spending most of his time abroad talking to clients; Fred, the new guy recruited as a product manager was actually performing the job of account manager; the technology guy spent all his time testing new solutions; Josh was working with sales; and the girl recruited to handle marketing information was doing manuals…oh, and Joe, the guy who didn’t recognize my white skin, he had an unusual job: Mickey found out that Joe could actually do marketing and so his job was to organize all the research he had done in his previous job for an international company and give us daily presentations. Mostly of them totally unrelated to the smartphone market but it didn’t matter to Mickey.
Anyway, then we got to the point of the meeting: we were going to get better by internally reorganizing. “I think one thing Robin Liao did was organize marketing into good divisions, but I think we can do it better,” said Mickey.
Product marketing, corporate marketing and technical marketing. You can get that on the first page of the textbook, I thought.
Mickey continued, “But I think we should now be divided into PIM, MIM and TIM – product information management, marketing information management and technology information management. And I think because Bryant is obviously in TIM and Josh, because you don’t have a technical background are in MIM…Now the people in MIM are going to provide the data to support the people in PIM who will be drawing up specs…”
So I can’t propose a product only fucking write the marketing plan once it has been done…Hold on it doesn’t matter as I don’t think PIM are actually allowed to think of new products either.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes X
Amazingly almost two years had passed since I entered the company. When I did there were about 50 employees and now there were 400 or so – for all the micro-management by engineers they were doing exceptionally well: had gone on the market, opened huge new headquarters, and were close to a billion US dollar turnover.
And that led to the crux of Taiwanese companies: they were micromanaged which meant that if the boss was good then the company was good, and vice-versa. In the case of William Kuo, the vice-president, who was the guy actually running the company, he was direct, rude, prone to shouting and screaming a little; not interested in facilitating his workforce – but he worked eighteen hours a day and had an exacting sense of quality. In short, it worked. However, now we were becoming an international company he was prone to calling everyone together to give long talks on how we needed to start thinking like one…
“We are on the market now and we need to start to think differently. Many companies have moved into this area and we need to be more professional. I know in Taiwan we have a culture of listen to the boss, but if we are going to compete internationally then we have to think like international companies do. I am not going to make the decisions for you, I am very busy. I want to pass ownership and responsibility to you all. I know you are very busy, but I want you to stop thinking about what worked last time, that attitude won’t do, you have to start thinking ‘out of the box.’ This means forever trying to think of how to do it better; be more creative.” He would say speaking in mostly English because he believed, if you were going to talk about how to behave like an international company it had more impact in English.
A scan of the room screamed he had his work cut out. It was filled with those engineers with the thick glasses, glasses so thick demolition balls would bounce off. Most of them hadn’t slept for a week and were thinking about the fact that they had enough work to stop them sleeping for the next one too; that their girlfriends were going to dump them because they didn’t have time for them - and it had taken them a lot of time in Internet chat rooms to get them in the first place – they weren’t exactly outgoing guys.
Fuck this shit about us not being innovative, they were thinking, if only he knew the creativity at this moment going into not falling asleep.
And that led to the crux of Taiwanese companies: they were micromanaged which meant that if the boss was good then the company was good, and vice-versa. In the case of William Kuo, the vice-president, who was the guy actually running the company, he was direct, rude, prone to shouting and screaming a little; not interested in facilitating his workforce – but he worked eighteen hours a day and had an exacting sense of quality. In short, it worked. However, now we were becoming an international company he was prone to calling everyone together to give long talks on how we needed to start thinking like one…
“We are on the market now and we need to start to think differently. Many companies have moved into this area and we need to be more professional. I know in Taiwan we have a culture of listen to the boss, but if we are going to compete internationally then we have to think like international companies do. I am not going to make the decisions for you, I am very busy. I want to pass ownership and responsibility to you all. I know you are very busy, but I want you to stop thinking about what worked last time, that attitude won’t do, you have to start thinking ‘out of the box.’ This means forever trying to think of how to do it better; be more creative.” He would say speaking in mostly English because he believed, if you were going to talk about how to behave like an international company it had more impact in English.
A scan of the room screamed he had his work cut out. It was filled with those engineers with the thick glasses, glasses so thick demolition balls would bounce off. Most of them hadn’t slept for a week and were thinking about the fact that they had enough work to stop them sleeping for the next one too; that their girlfriends were going to dump them because they didn’t have time for them - and it had taken them a lot of time in Internet chat rooms to get them in the first place – they weren’t exactly outgoing guys.
Fuck this shit about us not being innovative, they were thinking, if only he knew the creativity at this moment going into not falling asleep.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes VIII
Unfortunately maintaining my freelance role hadn’t been completely possible. The sales director wanted me to continue with him, but apparently William, vice president, also thought I would benefit from taking on some more responsibilities in the marketing department.
You might ask why didn’t I quit? Well, I had a bunch of shares promised me when we went on the market in about a year.
Six months later it was proving to be worst than the worst pessimist’s predictions.
“So what does the layout of a PCB board look like again? Dimensions?” I asked Bryant the technical marketing guy.
Mickey, seeing the commonsense of the engineers’ point of view had said: Yes, if marketing was now responsible for input into device features and specifications - for example whether it should have email or the color of the casing - they should also write full technical specs.
As I say I was just going to make a report on how many buttons we should have on the side of the device to improve ease-of-use – and to do so I had to complete crash courses in engineering across the board from mechanical to electrical over the last couple of months. It had been a hell of fifteen hours days and then Mickey walked over to my desk: “Hmm, Dan, finish the technical specs you are doing, but I have discussed with William and he thinks technical stuff should be left to the engineers. They are more professional. Can do a more professional job.
He hadn't finished, "Hmm, still i think you should complete them anyway."
It was bad enough that nobody wanted my specifications any more, but there was a more salient point: WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I FINISH THEM??
He then turned his attention to Bryant. “How many times do I have to ask you to change this? You really need to pay attention to what you are doing…The grammar, and I want these headings all the same size. We are supposed to be marketing - about communicating…Professional.”
Bryant’s role was even harder: In hi-tech companies in Taiwan most internal documents were written in English so Mickey, aware that he didn’t know how to do marketing, came up with a new plan to show the department had some value: he asked get Bryant to write detailed product specifications for all our products; the only problem was these specifications already existed so the only service we were offering was to make them more presentable and better organized (remember marketing in Taiwan was thought of as the department that makes everything look pretty: if you need your power point presentation to look good go to marketing, and if need someone to redesign a website don’t go to a webmaster…). Now, everyday I sat open mouthed at the stupidity of the director - who's written English was hardly perfect - getting angrier and angrier because Bryant, who was employed to test new software solutions, couldn’t perfectly punctuate an English sentence.
You might ask why didn’t I quit? Well, I had a bunch of shares promised me when we went on the market in about a year.
Six months later it was proving to be worst than the worst pessimist’s predictions.
“So what does the layout of a PCB board look like again? Dimensions?” I asked Bryant the technical marketing guy.
Mickey, seeing the commonsense of the engineers’ point of view had said: Yes, if marketing was now responsible for input into device features and specifications - for example whether it should have email or the color of the casing - they should also write full technical specs.
As I say I was just going to make a report on how many buttons we should have on the side of the device to improve ease-of-use – and to do so I had to complete crash courses in engineering across the board from mechanical to electrical over the last couple of months. It had been a hell of fifteen hours days and then Mickey walked over to my desk: “Hmm, Dan, finish the technical specs you are doing, but I have discussed with William and he thinks technical stuff should be left to the engineers. They are more professional. Can do a more professional job.
He hadn't finished, "Hmm, still i think you should complete them anyway."
It was bad enough that nobody wanted my specifications any more, but there was a more salient point: WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I FINISH THEM??
He then turned his attention to Bryant. “How many times do I have to ask you to change this? You really need to pay attention to what you are doing…The grammar, and I want these headings all the same size. We are supposed to be marketing - about communicating…Professional.”
Bryant’s role was even harder: In hi-tech companies in Taiwan most internal documents were written in English so Mickey, aware that he didn’t know how to do marketing, came up with a new plan to show the department had some value: he asked get Bryant to write detailed product specifications for all our products; the only problem was these specifications already existed so the only service we were offering was to make them more presentable and better organized (remember marketing in Taiwan was thought of as the department that makes everything look pretty: if you need your power point presentation to look good go to marketing, and if need someone to redesign a website don’t go to a webmaster…). Now, everyday I sat open mouthed at the stupidity of the director - who's written English was hardly perfect - getting angrier and angrier because Bryant, who was employed to test new software solutions, couldn’t perfectly punctuate an English sentence.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes VI
The next day I had an email from the director Robin Liao.
‘It has been good to work with you all…." it said. In truth I was going to miss the guy as, for a few months, the marketing team had been one: meetings were held in which the director facilitated opinions and ideas, rather than for the purpose of getting his across; there were weekly status reports, organization, and things ran on time. It had persuaded me to get involved in marketing, now I was going to have to go crawling back to sales.
Among Robin’s grievances: no budget, spending the early hours arguing with the president only for him to say no anyway, and the fact that they had promised him he was supposed to setting up an office in Seattle. “I may be Taiwanese, but I really don’t understand how to deal with these people, anymore,” he had confessed to me one night. “You are a foreigner. How do you deal with it?” I wanted to tell him he was a foreigner too, but if he didn’t get it now, then he never would.
Next to go was the product manager Eric; all sharp suit, narrow rimmed glasses, and repertoire of attentive, earnest, busy and thoughtful expressions, he had the international executive look that was now available over the counter of a lunchtime as a quick injection at business schools around the world. On maybe, the second or third day at work I had told him: “You look like overseas Chinese” and he was so happy, I thought he was going to die on his chair having completed his life’s journey. Clearly his MBA and subsequent work for international companies had been too much of an enlightening experience for him.
For most of his time in the company he cut a forlorn figure alone in the meeting room waiting for the others. He wore his suit and sat upright, straight-backed, leaning slightly forward on his chair, pulling his routine of expressions that were meant to let you know he was here for you, and he would like to be able to count on your support too – and together as a team they could conquer the world; the engineers sat slumped on their elbows, slouched cross-legged or with their feet on a chair, playing with their notebooks or phones – thinking how bored they were and wondering why he was going on with this bullshit because he didn’t have any authority and so why the fuck did he think they were going to listen to him.
Background: Eric’s father was one of Chiang Kai-Shek’s soldiers who came over in 1947 so he couldn’t speak Taiwanese – and, for reasons only known to himself, believed the people on the mainland to be more classy than the Taiwanese. Taiwanese were often not subtle but spend a couple of weeks in China and then in Taiwan and it was like going from the stone age to a classical music concert.
Eric didn’t get along with anyone, nor was he prepared to try – but, to be fair to him, it didn’t matter: whatever happened they weren’t going to listen to the product proposals he was employed to come up with because he didn’t have a technical background.
The communications manager was the last out. Nana, because her parents taught her to question (and didn’t believe that 11th hour of school on Sunday was productive) was one of the few to come through the Taiwan education system with her natural inquisitiveness, independence and personality intact – One could not overstate the strength of character needed to complete the education system without becoming a zombie. And therefore, because of this, she didn’t see her spell abroad as the complete source of her present confidence. She was told she had been employed to handle the company’s corporate image in China, but once she had organized the opening of the new headquarters and arranged the publicity for the company going public he found she had nothing to do: the company was afloat, attention had been generated, the stockholders had been appeased so now the board could drop the idea of having their own brand.
…Actually, the first to go was the technical marketing guy – an easy oversight because he didn’t really behave as part of the team. He had left almost immediately once he realized he had a manager.
‘It has been good to work with you all…." it said. In truth I was going to miss the guy as, for a few months, the marketing team had been one: meetings were held in which the director facilitated opinions and ideas, rather than for the purpose of getting his across; there were weekly status reports, organization, and things ran on time. It had persuaded me to get involved in marketing, now I was going to have to go crawling back to sales.
Among Robin’s grievances: no budget, spending the early hours arguing with the president only for him to say no anyway, and the fact that they had promised him he was supposed to setting up an office in Seattle. “I may be Taiwanese, but I really don’t understand how to deal with these people, anymore,” he had confessed to me one night. “You are a foreigner. How do you deal with it?” I wanted to tell him he was a foreigner too, but if he didn’t get it now, then he never would.
Next to go was the product manager Eric; all sharp suit, narrow rimmed glasses, and repertoire of attentive, earnest, busy and thoughtful expressions, he had the international executive look that was now available over the counter of a lunchtime as a quick injection at business schools around the world. On maybe, the second or third day at work I had told him: “You look like overseas Chinese” and he was so happy, I thought he was going to die on his chair having completed his life’s journey. Clearly his MBA and subsequent work for international companies had been too much of an enlightening experience for him.
For most of his time in the company he cut a forlorn figure alone in the meeting room waiting for the others. He wore his suit and sat upright, straight-backed, leaning slightly forward on his chair, pulling his routine of expressions that were meant to let you know he was here for you, and he would like to be able to count on your support too – and together as a team they could conquer the world; the engineers sat slumped on their elbows, slouched cross-legged or with their feet on a chair, playing with their notebooks or phones – thinking how bored they were and wondering why he was going on with this bullshit because he didn’t have any authority and so why the fuck did he think they were going to listen to him.
Background: Eric’s father was one of Chiang Kai-Shek’s soldiers who came over in 1947 so he couldn’t speak Taiwanese – and, for reasons only known to himself, believed the people on the mainland to be more classy than the Taiwanese. Taiwanese were often not subtle but spend a couple of weeks in China and then in Taiwan and it was like going from the stone age to a classical music concert.
Eric didn’t get along with anyone, nor was he prepared to try – but, to be fair to him, it didn’t matter: whatever happened they weren’t going to listen to the product proposals he was employed to come up with because he didn’t have a technical background.
The communications manager was the last out. Nana, because her parents taught her to question (and didn’t believe that 11th hour of school on Sunday was productive) was one of the few to come through the Taiwan education system with her natural inquisitiveness, independence and personality intact – One could not overstate the strength of character needed to complete the education system without becoming a zombie. And therefore, because of this, she didn’t see her spell abroad as the complete source of her present confidence. She was told she had been employed to handle the company’s corporate image in China, but once she had organized the opening of the new headquarters and arranged the publicity for the company going public he found she had nothing to do: the company was afloat, attention had been generated, the stockholders had been appeased so now the board could drop the idea of having their own brand.
…Actually, the first to go was the technical marketing guy – an easy oversight because he didn’t really behave as part of the team. He had left almost immediately once he realized he had a manager.
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes V
Taiwanese companies are known for things like working a lot of hours, micro-management and listening to the boss - but this company was overdoing its stereotype.
I had used my foreign status in the previous job to go home on time, but this time I figured if I was to be respected I had to beat them at their own game.
“It is 12 0’clock why are you still here?” I asked the graphic designer.
“The boss he doesn’t like this edge and this corner is not lively enough. He wants to see the new one tomorrow morning…No chance to go home.” And he put his hands together flat, tipped his head to the side, then pointed at the desk.
“Ne na? (You),” he asked.
“I was having a meeting with the boss,” I replied. The meeting had originally been scheduled for five 0’clock, but had then been postponed until eight – and it had just finished: 12 midnight.
I looked at the design. This was why I hadn’t gone straight home: I had to send it to a clients in the States the next morning. “Hey, I don’t think you will be able to get it done before tomorrow - Best to notice everyone.”
“Lao ban (boss), say tomorrow, so I have to do it before tomorrow.”
Still I knew I would have to postpone first thing tomorrow morning at the last minute and walked away shaking my head. Most westerners get frustrated and angry because the Taiwanese agreed to a deadline and then when it is not met, accuse the Taiwanese company of being liars or devious. No doubt, sometimes they are being bullshitted but there was often a cultural thing at play: hard work and effort is the way to attain entry to heaven, employees are afraid to tell their boss they can’t do it, and the boss will actually appreciate the loyalty of the employee for trying, and not appreciate his directness by saying he can’t do it on time.
“Take it easy, man,” I said. As I walked off I saw him flick back to the 2nd hand car auction website that would be his companion for most of the night.
The internet is a god send for people in Taiwanese companies - Remember you are rewarded for the number of hours you sit in the office, not the amount of work you do so you need something to do for those six hours a day you are sat at the desk waiting for the boss to go home. Smart people set up their own company on the side; do evening course or online degrees; download MP3s or buy something from eBay; the lazy ones exhaustively check through newspapers and porn websites – A great advantage of local companies is they never bother to monitor the Internet and email usage of their employees meaning – “Fuck off bastard, up your fucking cunt” – will land smoothly in the inbox of the computer on your Taiwanese friend’s desk at work, as will pictures of your favourite porn actress performing, dildos and organs inserted at will.
I know this is a top-down company so everybody follows the boss, but why not organize your time once he has told you?
A day like that day, namely having to hang around in the office for 15 hours - it couldn’t be called work – would leave me lying awake at night wrestling with this question and others; wrestling with why everything was such chaos. Why they didn’t go bankrupt the next day.
I see - the boss is always changing things so you can’t organize your time well. I thought I had a breakthrough, until……So why doesn’t the boss organize his time? – Because he is too busy. Why is he too busy? Because he feels he has to supervise everything….Why does the boss feel he has to micro-manage everything? Yes, the engineers are slow and indecisive, but many are bright so I refuse to accept it cannot be changed - Then the sun would come up and it was time for work again.
The next day didn’t get any better.
I had used my foreign status in the previous job to go home on time, but this time I figured if I was to be respected I had to beat them at their own game.
“It is 12 0’clock why are you still here?” I asked the graphic designer.
“The boss he doesn’t like this edge and this corner is not lively enough. He wants to see the new one tomorrow morning…No chance to go home.” And he put his hands together flat, tipped his head to the side, then pointed at the desk.
“Ne na? (You),” he asked.
“I was having a meeting with the boss,” I replied. The meeting had originally been scheduled for five 0’clock, but had then been postponed until eight – and it had just finished: 12 midnight.
I looked at the design. This was why I hadn’t gone straight home: I had to send it to a clients in the States the next morning. “Hey, I don’t think you will be able to get it done before tomorrow - Best to notice everyone.”
“Lao ban (boss), say tomorrow, so I have to do it before tomorrow.”
Still I knew I would have to postpone first thing tomorrow morning at the last minute and walked away shaking my head. Most westerners get frustrated and angry because the Taiwanese agreed to a deadline and then when it is not met, accuse the Taiwanese company of being liars or devious. No doubt, sometimes they are being bullshitted but there was often a cultural thing at play: hard work and effort is the way to attain entry to heaven, employees are afraid to tell their boss they can’t do it, and the boss will actually appreciate the loyalty of the employee for trying, and not appreciate his directness by saying he can’t do it on time.
“Take it easy, man,” I said. As I walked off I saw him flick back to the 2nd hand car auction website that would be his companion for most of the night.
The internet is a god send for people in Taiwanese companies - Remember you are rewarded for the number of hours you sit in the office, not the amount of work you do so you need something to do for those six hours a day you are sat at the desk waiting for the boss to go home. Smart people set up their own company on the side; do evening course or online degrees; download MP3s or buy something from eBay; the lazy ones exhaustively check through newspapers and porn websites – A great advantage of local companies is they never bother to monitor the Internet and email usage of their employees meaning – “Fuck off bastard, up your fucking cunt” – will land smoothly in the inbox of the computer on your Taiwanese friend’s desk at work, as will pictures of your favourite porn actress performing, dildos and organs inserted at will.
I know this is a top-down company so everybody follows the boss, but why not organize your time once he has told you?
A day like that day, namely having to hang around in the office for 15 hours - it couldn’t be called work – would leave me lying awake at night wrestling with this question and others; wrestling with why everything was such chaos. Why they didn’t go bankrupt the next day.
I see - the boss is always changing things so you can’t organize your time well. I thought I had a breakthrough, until……So why doesn’t the boss organize his time? – Because he is too busy. Why is he too busy? Because he feels he has to supervise everything….Why does the boss feel he has to micro-manage everything? Yes, the engineers are slow and indecisive, but many are bright so I refuse to accept it cannot be changed - Then the sun would come up and it was time for work again.
The next day didn’t get any better.
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes III
Four months later I had a key role helping sales and business development. As with many things in life you have to ignore the naysayers – the naysayers in this case being the disgruntled foreigners who populated the bars and swore you couldn’t get accepted for doing anything other than teaching – and see what happens. I started off correcting the English, then restructuring the powerpoints…and pretty soon I was writing the reports and presentations and being taken along by sales to give them. The sales director wanted me to transfer but I wasn’t allowed because the chairman believed a foreigner should only be doing marketing – so I continued in my unofficial role. My unstructured set up had its advantages: I was a law unto himself and could learn anything I wanted as long as it didn’t cost money.
Still there was one thing I couldn’t do: propose features for the product because I wasn’t an engineer - I didn’t understand.
“Josh, we need a product proposal presentation for the new smart phone. You know, statistics for market potential etc. Do you think you could help?” asked the sales director.
“No problem,” I replied willing to ignore the fact that he was doing research to justify an existing product, rather than doing the research first. As I said they thought I had the background and knowledge to design the marketing strategy for a product that already existed, just wasn’t qualified to do the marketing strategy to propose the product.
“Do you have anything from the original proposal?” I would often ask. “As this product is a year’s work of the company’s resources."
“Maybe William (Vice-President) has, but I don’t think he will share,” replied the sales director. I wasn’t going to ask why: A man’s brain can only take so much stupidity in a day.
Having no budget meant that several weeks later I was regretting promising to do the product proposal.
Okay, I thought, I have subscribed to every online magazine, have joined every related free association and body, all technical support web groups and chat rooms, I regularly raid Nokia and Motorola’s web site for any presentations, I have sat through countless sales presentations from market research companies lying to them that we were interested in purchasing just to get free data, and I email our clients for old materials…Is there anywhere else I can get some data?
The first six months were great: I was in the hottest area of telecommunications, and the company was growing really fast. Then one day William called me to a meeting…
Still there was one thing I couldn’t do: propose features for the product because I wasn’t an engineer - I didn’t understand.
“Josh, we need a product proposal presentation for the new smart phone. You know, statistics for market potential etc. Do you think you could help?” asked the sales director.
“No problem,” I replied willing to ignore the fact that he was doing research to justify an existing product, rather than doing the research first. As I said they thought I had the background and knowledge to design the marketing strategy for a product that already existed, just wasn’t qualified to do the marketing strategy to propose the product.
“Do you have anything from the original proposal?” I would often ask. “As this product is a year’s work of the company’s resources."
“Maybe William (Vice-President) has, but I don’t think he will share,” replied the sales director. I wasn’t going to ask why: A man’s brain can only take so much stupidity in a day.
Having no budget meant that several weeks later I was regretting promising to do the product proposal.
Okay, I thought, I have subscribed to every online magazine, have joined every related free association and body, all technical support web groups and chat rooms, I regularly raid Nokia and Motorola’s web site for any presentations, I have sat through countless sales presentations from market research companies lying to them that we were interested in purchasing just to get free data, and I email our clients for old materials…Is there anywhere else I can get some data?
The first six months were great: I was in the hottest area of telecommunications, and the company was growing really fast. Then one day William called me to a meeting…
Monday, May 4, 2009
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes II
A few days after starting I managed to haul down my team member from the other room -Steven Liao was in charge of technical marketing (in other words he was Chief Technology officer).
“Do you know the name of the girl in marketing in Taoyuan? What are her main responsibilities?” I asked.
“I am not sure! I haven’t met her,” he answered trying to sell his best dummy to get past me.
“Do you think we should have a department meeting some time?” I said. “I know it is a little bit of a grand term for the three of us.”
“I am a little busy at the moment.”
“I thought we should get together to discuss department strategy.”
“Aren’t you reporting to William? He will tell you want he wants you to do.”
“Ok,” I said. “So could you feel me in on your marketing strategy up to now? Presumably there are some files I could look through…”
‘Have a look on Claire’s (the girl I replaced) computer.” At which point he cleverly pointed in the direction of the computer skipped past me the other way and was gone.
Oh well, I shrugged, I shouldn’t ask for training when I said I had experience and could already do it.
I didn’t entirely blame him either as technical marketing (or chief technology officer) he actually no doubt had a full plate of work with real things to do. The last thing he needed was to try and do any marketing.
I had also bothered to talk to Josh because starting this position so I could work out a strategy. Josh said I should offer my services and try and move quickly to a department that had things to do like sales or business development. I went back to my desk and found the number for the director of sales. I wasn’t looking forward to this: remember Pierre’s obsession with not being pigeon-holed as an English teacher? ...Well none of us liked it in truth, and now I was going to swallow my pride and live up to my stereotype.
“Hi,” I said speaking English – no point in going half way with the white man stereotype I guessed. “My name is Dan Chapman. I am the new marketing manager.”
“Yes,” he interrupted. “I heard we have a new foreigner in the company. Welcome, welcome.”
“Thank you,” I said. “No doubt I will put on a song and dance routine when I have settled in a little better.”
“What?” he replied.
“Sorry,” I said before swallowing my pride. “So…maybe, you have some power points you want me to look over…Check the English…Add a foreign marketing spin…I don’t know if that is helpful to you?”
“Yes, of course,” he replied. “I don’t like doing power points…You know we Taiwanese are all engineers – and I wish my English was better...”
I thought you were supposed to be sales, I said to myself. “Great,” I said. “So my email is...”
Once I had put down the phone I called business development and had the same conversation…
“Do you know the name of the girl in marketing in Taoyuan? What are her main responsibilities?” I asked.
“I am not sure! I haven’t met her,” he answered trying to sell his best dummy to get past me.
“Do you think we should have a department meeting some time?” I said. “I know it is a little bit of a grand term for the three of us.”
“I am a little busy at the moment.”
“I thought we should get together to discuss department strategy.”
“Aren’t you reporting to William? He will tell you want he wants you to do.”
“Ok,” I said. “So could you feel me in on your marketing strategy up to now? Presumably there are some files I could look through…”
‘Have a look on Claire’s (the girl I replaced) computer.” At which point he cleverly pointed in the direction of the computer skipped past me the other way and was gone.
Oh well, I shrugged, I shouldn’t ask for training when I said I had experience and could already do it.
I didn’t entirely blame him either as technical marketing (or chief technology officer) he actually no doubt had a full plate of work with real things to do. The last thing he needed was to try and do any marketing.
I had also bothered to talk to Josh because starting this position so I could work out a strategy. Josh said I should offer my services and try and move quickly to a department that had things to do like sales or business development. I went back to my desk and found the number for the director of sales. I wasn’t looking forward to this: remember Pierre’s obsession with not being pigeon-holed as an English teacher? ...Well none of us liked it in truth, and now I was going to swallow my pride and live up to my stereotype.
“Hi,” I said speaking English – no point in going half way with the white man stereotype I guessed. “My name is Dan Chapman. I am the new marketing manager.”
“Yes,” he interrupted. “I heard we have a new foreigner in the company. Welcome, welcome.”
“Thank you,” I said. “No doubt I will put on a song and dance routine when I have settled in a little better.”
“What?” he replied.
“Sorry,” I said before swallowing my pride. “So…maybe, you have some power points you want me to look over…Check the English…Add a foreign marketing spin…I don’t know if that is helpful to you?”
“Yes, of course,” he replied. “I don’t like doing power points…You know we Taiwanese are all engineers – and I wish my English was better...”
I thought you were supposed to be sales, I said to myself. “Great,” I said. “So my email is...”
Once I had put down the phone I called business development and had the same conversation…
Thursday, April 30, 2009
My next computer company job and really learning the ropes I
About five months after leaving the software company I had another job as a marketing manager – or whatever that meant in Taiwan.
This time I hoped I had been a little smarter in my choice. MTI, an up and coming company that made smart communication devices, so it was mostly a hardware company – Choosing software hadn’t really been the best idea as India was famous for software, Taiwan for hardware. Over 80% of the world’s notebooks were made in Taiwan, not to mention the myriad of other devices in the market. Taiwan had a competitive advantage in this area that wouldn’t be going away for a while.
The downside was I was going in at a position lower than the previous job – I was taking a gamble it wouldn’t matter; that there wouldn’t be a well-oiled marketing machine in the company with my role set out in stone.
First day in the company and I was being given a personal welcome invitation by the vice-president of the company, William Kuo – My position didn’t warrant this attention, but I was a foreigner so the boss wanted to show he was a caring, laidback kind of boss who was down with the people, just like in those Hollywood movies he watched.
“You foreigners are more creative. I hope you can challenge us and bring new ideas. We hope to create a very innovative company. We hope marketing will be more and more important in the future,” he said. I was excited at this but then he added the expected: “This is a very competitive area and we want to be the leading ODM manufacturer in the world.”
Background: ODM was the official term for what we know as making things for other people - but to be fair to this company and others in Taiwan ODM wasn’t exactly as the stereotype went of elfin-size oriental people slaving away on wooden production lines in dark factories. That still went on in China to make your cups, but modern hi-tech ODMs were situated in huge gleaming new buildings of concrete, steel and glass. They designed the product, did the research and development, tested it, packaged it, in short they did everything apart from the final stage of putting their own name and putting up the billion dollar advertising costs – they preferred a foreign company to do that. What makes it a product of HP or any other big company? Well, they have an engineer posted in the company making the product, and they claim it lives up to their exacting standards??
A good example is Quanta, where I had a gig teaching for a year or so. Nobody has heard of them, but with about five other ODMs they make most of the world’s computer hardware. Their offices outside of Taipei are about the size of two football fields and twenty storeys high. Inside, sat hunched over tables in their jeans, there were logic engineers, power engineers, electrics engineers, circuit engineers, hardware and software engineers – more kinds of engineers than the world had plant life - but they all looked the same: thick glasses; glasses so thick demolition balls would bounce off – there was more glass on faces than in the building’s windows; bulging, swivelling eyes and mouths hanging half open from staring at a computer screen 24/7 from about 2 inches away –- think swinging watch.
In England everyone wants to be a lawyer and a journalist, in Taiwan everyone is an engineer.
…Anyway, the upshot of all this was I wasn’t going to be running any high profile marketing promotion campaigns in the near future.
“I am looking forward to making a contribution,” I said.
“I will show you where you are sitting,” said William. "I must go now. You can maybe contact your team. My secretary will give you a phone book.”
Apparently, there was a girl below him in the other branch office in Taoyuan, an hour away, who it seems it was not important to meet - and a guy in the next room who didn’t want to be met.
“It is ok, I’ll work it out,” I said. “I have worked in a Taiwanese company before.”
"Great," he said. "I know you foreigners are more independent - that is what we need..."
This time I hoped I had been a little smarter in my choice. MTI, an up and coming company that made smart communication devices, so it was mostly a hardware company – Choosing software hadn’t really been the best idea as India was famous for software, Taiwan for hardware. Over 80% of the world’s notebooks were made in Taiwan, not to mention the myriad of other devices in the market. Taiwan had a competitive advantage in this area that wouldn’t be going away for a while.
The downside was I was going in at a position lower than the previous job – I was taking a gamble it wouldn’t matter; that there wouldn’t be a well-oiled marketing machine in the company with my role set out in stone.
First day in the company and I was being given a personal welcome invitation by the vice-president of the company, William Kuo – My position didn’t warrant this attention, but I was a foreigner so the boss wanted to show he was a caring, laidback kind of boss who was down with the people, just like in those Hollywood movies he watched.
“You foreigners are more creative. I hope you can challenge us and bring new ideas. We hope to create a very innovative company. We hope marketing will be more and more important in the future,” he said. I was excited at this but then he added the expected: “This is a very competitive area and we want to be the leading ODM manufacturer in the world.”
Background: ODM was the official term for what we know as making things for other people - but to be fair to this company and others in Taiwan ODM wasn’t exactly as the stereotype went of elfin-size oriental people slaving away on wooden production lines in dark factories. That still went on in China to make your cups, but modern hi-tech ODMs were situated in huge gleaming new buildings of concrete, steel and glass. They designed the product, did the research and development, tested it, packaged it, in short they did everything apart from the final stage of putting their own name and putting up the billion dollar advertising costs – they preferred a foreign company to do that. What makes it a product of HP or any other big company? Well, they have an engineer posted in the company making the product, and they claim it lives up to their exacting standards??
A good example is Quanta, where I had a gig teaching for a year or so. Nobody has heard of them, but with about five other ODMs they make most of the world’s computer hardware. Their offices outside of Taipei are about the size of two football fields and twenty storeys high. Inside, sat hunched over tables in their jeans, there were logic engineers, power engineers, electrics engineers, circuit engineers, hardware and software engineers – more kinds of engineers than the world had plant life - but they all looked the same: thick glasses; glasses so thick demolition balls would bounce off – there was more glass on faces than in the building’s windows; bulging, swivelling eyes and mouths hanging half open from staring at a computer screen 24/7 from about 2 inches away –- think swinging watch.
In England everyone wants to be a lawyer and a journalist, in Taiwan everyone is an engineer.
…Anyway, the upshot of all this was I wasn’t going to be running any high profile marketing promotion campaigns in the near future.
“I am looking forward to making a contribution,” I said.
“I will show you where you are sitting,” said William. "I must go now. You can maybe contact your team. My secretary will give you a phone book.”
Apparently, there was a girl below him in the other branch office in Taoyuan, an hour away, who it seems it was not important to meet - and a guy in the next room who didn’t want to be met.
“It is ok, I’ll work it out,” I said. “I have worked in a Taiwanese company before.”
"Great," he said. "I know you foreigners are more independent - that is what we need..."
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Beyond teaching IV: More reasons to employ a foreigner II
Eventually I had a job for Eversoft, a company specializing in security software. They had about twenty employees and a nice big office on the fifteenth floor of a building. They said they were closing deals with various big international companies but I didn’t have a clue…
The first day everyone squeezed into a meeting room to meet the new foreign employee. I was nervous of course – Even though I had already been in Taiwan for four years or so, this was my first time to work in a Taiwanese company where I was obliged to speak Chinese and do things on their terms.
My direct boss was Joe Hung, one of the partners of the company and vice president. I was the marketing manager meaning I was a one man department – unless of course you included the girl who could use photoshop.
Joe introduced me: “Hello, everyone. We have talked along time about making Eversoft into a top software company…Uh…international. For a long time we have searched for the right colleague with international experience. Last month, I was very lucky to meet an old friend who works in England. He introduced me to his friend Dan Chapman. My friend told me what a good man and professional worker Dan is. I interviewed Dan over the phone and he agreed to come and help our company,” said Joe. “He is going to help us with the HP account. You know the foreigner is more creative - Can bring new ways to break through our problems.”
Hmm, I thought, that was a good piece of bullshit. It seems we were going to pretend I had been sent from overseas. Still, I didn’t mind. It was not as if I had told the truth on my resume so I was happy to go along with the ruse.
There was a problem, however: Joe would ask me to introduce myself soon and I wasn’t sure if I was now supposed to speak Chinese or English. I wanted to practice my Chinese in this environment but I obviously couldn’t show too much.
“Ok,” said Joe. “I want Dan to say a few words. He worked in Shanghai for some time so he can speak some Chinese.”
It seems Joe had thought of everything.
I got up and spoke slowly in Chinese making sure I didn’t use too high level vocabulary, peppering my sentences with phrases like ‘I am not sure how to say this’ and occasional English words. I told them how I was humbled by this opportunity and I thought they could all teach me a lot.
I had no idea if it was well received or they all thought I was a complete liar because in Taiwan you just couldn’t tell from the standard blank expression.
At the end we went to Joe’s office.
“You know,” said Joe. “I told them that you are the expert from England so you will get their support. They will listen to you.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Do not mention anything about your salary to the others. Your salary is high compared to them, and many people will jealous you.”
Sure, I replied. I knew my salary was high compared to the locals so I was happy to keep mum.
“We have a back-end security product that they were trying to sell to HP. This product has been rejected several times so we would like you to help. Get together a product review,” said Joe.
“Great. No problem. So when do I meet my colleagues,” I asked.
“You will be directly reporting to me,” said Joe. “Sorry. Excuse me, I have some phone calls to make.”
I went and sat on my seat, presumably Joe would call me back in later to discuss strategy.
The first day everyone squeezed into a meeting room to meet the new foreign employee. I was nervous of course – Even though I had already been in Taiwan for four years or so, this was my first time to work in a Taiwanese company where I was obliged to speak Chinese and do things on their terms.
My direct boss was Joe Hung, one of the partners of the company and vice president. I was the marketing manager meaning I was a one man department – unless of course you included the girl who could use photoshop.
Joe introduced me: “Hello, everyone. We have talked along time about making Eversoft into a top software company…Uh…international. For a long time we have searched for the right colleague with international experience. Last month, I was very lucky to meet an old friend who works in England. He introduced me to his friend Dan Chapman. My friend told me what a good man and professional worker Dan is. I interviewed Dan over the phone and he agreed to come and help our company,” said Joe. “He is going to help us with the HP account. You know the foreigner is more creative - Can bring new ways to break through our problems.”
Hmm, I thought, that was a good piece of bullshit. It seems we were going to pretend I had been sent from overseas. Still, I didn’t mind. It was not as if I had told the truth on my resume so I was happy to go along with the ruse.
There was a problem, however: Joe would ask me to introduce myself soon and I wasn’t sure if I was now supposed to speak Chinese or English. I wanted to practice my Chinese in this environment but I obviously couldn’t show too much.
“Ok,” said Joe. “I want Dan to say a few words. He worked in Shanghai for some time so he can speak some Chinese.”
It seems Joe had thought of everything.
I got up and spoke slowly in Chinese making sure I didn’t use too high level vocabulary, peppering my sentences with phrases like ‘I am not sure how to say this’ and occasional English words. I told them how I was humbled by this opportunity and I thought they could all teach me a lot.
I had no idea if it was well received or they all thought I was a complete liar because in Taiwan you just couldn’t tell from the standard blank expression.
At the end we went to Joe’s office.
“You know,” said Joe. “I told them that you are the expert from England so you will get their support. They will listen to you.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Do not mention anything about your salary to the others. Your salary is high compared to them, and many people will jealous you.”
Sure, I replied. I knew my salary was high compared to the locals so I was happy to keep mum.
“We have a back-end security product that they were trying to sell to HP. This product has been rejected several times so we would like you to help. Get together a product review,” said Joe.
“Great. No problem. So when do I meet my colleagues,” I asked.
“You will be directly reporting to me,” said Joe. “Sorry. Excuse me, I have some phone calls to make.”
I went and sat on my seat, presumably Joe would call me back in later to discuss strategy.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Beyond teaching III: Reasons to employ a foreigner
My first job was doing the quality assurance, but that had again been special as they wanted a foreigner. Once I finished there I decided to actively seek jobs in local companies where it wasn't specified a foreigner was needed.
As a foreigner my role was set out clearly: international sales or marketing - I spoke pretty good Chinese but read badly and couldn't write, nobody was going to give me a job selling insurance to locals. And that was only half the story: even if i could do the above perfectly i would be cancelled out for cultural reasons: they would assume I couldn't raise my glass at the right time; tell them to buy it because i was their friend and i would owe them a favor; call them 'big brother' all day and indulge in the necessary ultra-polite oneupmanship; discuss why it was a good time to buy it because the Chinese calendar and a bunch of fortune tellers said so, etc, etc. And i agreed with this: I didn't know how to discuss their subjects as well as them and i had no interest in learning.
I would be applying to hi-tech companies only. It was the area of the economy that was growing fastest, and, if any industry in Taiwan could be called glamorous this was the nearest.
Finally, I wouldn't be applying to Acer, Asus or BenQ or any other large famous Taiwanese company - If you wanted to work in international sales for them the competition was huge with Taiwanese going to study in America for 10 years just to get the chance to work for peanuts for 70 hours a week; either that or, if they needed a foreigner they would go direct to America and recruit one.
Acer did need foreigners in Taiwan, but it was very clear in the job ad: technical writer or copywriter and there wasn't the chance to switch fields.
I would be applying to some small or medium sized company - who were desperate, stupid or smart enough to give me a shot.
Still it wasn't easy. Even though they needed an international sales manager they had no idea a foreigner would apply - they were so surprised by it that in 90% of the cases they simply rejected you. When you asked them why, they said, because they didn't employ foreigners. Remember there was no equal opportunities commission in Taiwan.
For the ones who invited you for interview a pattern emerged.
Scenario A
The actual boss of the company gives you the first interview. This is not a good sign.
"So how do you know about my company?" said boss. "This is so lucky."
You have an advert in the newspaper, I felt like replying, but i would be polite."I have always wanted to work in software and you are one of the best in graphics."
"Wow, this is really interesting," he would say. "So you learnt about me in England."
"Yes," I would reply.
"So lets go out for lunch," he would say.
We would go to lunch and he would phone up his friends and they would arrive, buy me a drink, toast me and then leave. As each one entered he would say to them, hey, they know about my company overseas.
During lunch you would be polite but get more and more stressed there wasn't an interview taking place, desperately trying to steer the conversation back to the interview.
At the end you would ask him if you had a job and he would say, "Yes, we can be friends. Come round to meet my family later."
Scenario 2
You spent three hours at the company telling each of the five people who interviewed you how you had increased profitability and led teams for a numerous large firms back in the UK, then they would say: “I think you will be good. You are native speaker and we have a lot of manuals and some press releases to do.”
“I am sorry, I am looking for a marketing position, not copy editor. As i said I have experience and qualifications for...” I would say desperately trying to keep my patience after having stated it on my resume, and then spelled it out over the phone: I wasn’t looking to be a technical writer. After a while I thought perhaps Taiwanese were all trained lawyers existing on the technicality – say you don’t want to a copy editor and they will assume that doesn’t include technical writing, and vice-versa.
The interviewer would say: “Well marketing is very difficult to get into in Taiwan. Your Chinese has to be exceptional.”
And i would reply: "Hence i said to do North American and European Sales...Well, thanks for interview. Sorry, but this is the field I want to enter.”
As i left they would stare at me incredulously as if to say, I know your resume was full of bullshit why don't you want the technical writing job.
Scenario C
You always have to tell them the following:
“Why do you want to work in Taiwan?”
“My girlfriend is Taiwanese and she wants to live here. She gave me a choice and now I like the place.” It had taken a while to think of this excuse – Taiwanese bosses were very aware that their companies did not have very good reputations and paid low wages so were pleasantly surprised and suspicious that you would want to work for them. The truth: “I have fucked around for the last few years so now I need some work experience. Or, I am a loser who can’t get a job in my own country” – had to be avoided as did overdoing promoting your western experience leading them to believe you would leave quickly.
“Anyway, this is a very good company! You know how high the taxes are in England?”I added.
“Do you how to deal with Taiwanese people?”
“I know you have to be very polite with Taiwanese, not so direct, but I don’t think it is so a big difference. You are smart people, reasonable, open-minded and more modern than you think.” The guy gave me a look that oscillated between you are a real good bullshitter or you are naïve as hell. I could keep a straight face by keeping the concept of relativity in mind: I had spent time in India and China.
Scenario D
Again after talking to me for a long time:“You are good but you do not have a technical background.” This stumbling block was the strangest – I was applying to do marketing and sales, I had a business degree, but I wasn’t suitable because I didn’t study electrical engineering.
Scenario E
Once you had been through 3 or 4 hours of interviews - and finally convinced them to give you a job, the next problem started.
“Can you work in Taiwan?” they asked.
“You will have to apply for a work visa for me - but it is easy, i will tell you how to do it.” Some personnel departments came to the decision this was too difficult, and, even after I had got a copy of the regulations, and showed them how to fill them in completely, they didn’t want to go through the process, as if dealing with the Economics Department was like opening a portal to hell.
After a week or so I would then contact the boss who interviewed me, and we would play conversation ping-pong for half an hour:
“Personnel says they have to apply the special visa for you.”
“Yes, they do, but it is easy. I have already told them how to do it.”
Boss calls personnel and calls back Josh: “Personnel says you don’t have Taiwan identity card. You are not married?”
“No, but you can get a visa for me. They just don’t want to do it.”
Boss to personnel: “He says you can apply for him – he gave you the paperwork.”
Personnel: “He gave us some paperwork, but we don’t know what to do with it.”
Josh to Boss: "I told them what to do with it. I can explain again."
Boss to Josh: “I’m sorry.” He sensed he was hearing bullshit but decided he didn’t have the time or energy to pursue things himself.
Short interruption: Yes, there was another pattern above: they always still invited you for interview and waited till the end to address issues you raised in the first five minutes. I later asked the wife why - and she replied, They are giving you face as you have already come. To which i would reply, I don't have a face problem. Just tell me direct and let me go home and lie on my bed.
Anyway, a couple of months later i had a job.
Unfortunately, i found another foreigner scenario a little too late.
As a foreigner my role was set out clearly: international sales or marketing - I spoke pretty good Chinese but read badly and couldn't write, nobody was going to give me a job selling insurance to locals. And that was only half the story: even if i could do the above perfectly i would be cancelled out for cultural reasons: they would assume I couldn't raise my glass at the right time; tell them to buy it because i was their friend and i would owe them a favor; call them 'big brother' all day and indulge in the necessary ultra-polite oneupmanship; discuss why it was a good time to buy it because the Chinese calendar and a bunch of fortune tellers said so, etc, etc. And i agreed with this: I didn't know how to discuss their subjects as well as them and i had no interest in learning.
I would be applying to hi-tech companies only. It was the area of the economy that was growing fastest, and, if any industry in Taiwan could be called glamorous this was the nearest.
Finally, I wouldn't be applying to Acer, Asus or BenQ or any other large famous Taiwanese company - If you wanted to work in international sales for them the competition was huge with Taiwanese going to study in America for 10 years just to get the chance to work for peanuts for 70 hours a week; either that or, if they needed a foreigner they would go direct to America and recruit one.
Acer did need foreigners in Taiwan, but it was very clear in the job ad: technical writer or copywriter and there wasn't the chance to switch fields.
I would be applying to some small or medium sized company - who were desperate, stupid or smart enough to give me a shot.
Still it wasn't easy. Even though they needed an international sales manager they had no idea a foreigner would apply - they were so surprised by it that in 90% of the cases they simply rejected you. When you asked them why, they said, because they didn't employ foreigners. Remember there was no equal opportunities commission in Taiwan.
For the ones who invited you for interview a pattern emerged.
Scenario A
The actual boss of the company gives you the first interview. This is not a good sign.
"So how do you know about my company?" said boss. "This is so lucky."
You have an advert in the newspaper, I felt like replying, but i would be polite."I have always wanted to work in software and you are one of the best in graphics."
"Wow, this is really interesting," he would say. "So you learnt about me in England."
"Yes," I would reply.
"So lets go out for lunch," he would say.
We would go to lunch and he would phone up his friends and they would arrive, buy me a drink, toast me and then leave. As each one entered he would say to them, hey, they know about my company overseas.
During lunch you would be polite but get more and more stressed there wasn't an interview taking place, desperately trying to steer the conversation back to the interview.
At the end you would ask him if you had a job and he would say, "Yes, we can be friends. Come round to meet my family later."
Scenario 2
You spent three hours at the company telling each of the five people who interviewed you how you had increased profitability and led teams for a numerous large firms back in the UK, then they would say: “I think you will be good. You are native speaker and we have a lot of manuals and some press releases to do.”
“I am sorry, I am looking for a marketing position, not copy editor. As i said I have experience and qualifications for...” I would say desperately trying to keep my patience after having stated it on my resume, and then spelled it out over the phone: I wasn’t looking to be a technical writer. After a while I thought perhaps Taiwanese were all trained lawyers existing on the technicality – say you don’t want to a copy editor and they will assume that doesn’t include technical writing, and vice-versa.
The interviewer would say: “Well marketing is very difficult to get into in Taiwan. Your Chinese has to be exceptional.”
And i would reply: "Hence i said to do North American and European Sales...Well, thanks for interview. Sorry, but this is the field I want to enter.”
As i left they would stare at me incredulously as if to say, I know your resume was full of bullshit why don't you want the technical writing job.
Scenario C
You always have to tell them the following:
“Why do you want to work in Taiwan?”
“My girlfriend is Taiwanese and she wants to live here. She gave me a choice and now I like the place.” It had taken a while to think of this excuse – Taiwanese bosses were very aware that their companies did not have very good reputations and paid low wages so were pleasantly surprised and suspicious that you would want to work for them. The truth: “I have fucked around for the last few years so now I need some work experience. Or, I am a loser who can’t get a job in my own country” – had to be avoided as did overdoing promoting your western experience leading them to believe you would leave quickly.
“Anyway, this is a very good company! You know how high the taxes are in England?”I added.
“Do you how to deal with Taiwanese people?”
“I know you have to be very polite with Taiwanese, not so direct, but I don’t think it is so a big difference. You are smart people, reasonable, open-minded and more modern than you think.” The guy gave me a look that oscillated between you are a real good bullshitter or you are naïve as hell. I could keep a straight face by keeping the concept of relativity in mind: I had spent time in India and China.
Scenario D
Again after talking to me for a long time:“You are good but you do not have a technical background.” This stumbling block was the strangest – I was applying to do marketing and sales, I had a business degree, but I wasn’t suitable because I didn’t study electrical engineering.
Scenario E
Once you had been through 3 or 4 hours of interviews - and finally convinced them to give you a job, the next problem started.
“Can you work in Taiwan?” they asked.
“You will have to apply for a work visa for me - but it is easy, i will tell you how to do it.” Some personnel departments came to the decision this was too difficult, and, even after I had got a copy of the regulations, and showed them how to fill them in completely, they didn’t want to go through the process, as if dealing with the Economics Department was like opening a portal to hell.
After a week or so I would then contact the boss who interviewed me, and we would play conversation ping-pong for half an hour:
“Personnel says they have to apply the special visa for you.”
“Yes, they do, but it is easy. I have already told them how to do it.”
Boss calls personnel and calls back Josh: “Personnel says you don’t have Taiwan identity card. You are not married?”
“No, but you can get a visa for me. They just don’t want to do it.”
Boss to personnel: “He says you can apply for him – he gave you the paperwork.”
Personnel: “He gave us some paperwork, but we don’t know what to do with it.”
Josh to Boss: "I told them what to do with it. I can explain again."
Boss to Josh: “I’m sorry.” He sensed he was hearing bullshit but decided he didn’t have the time or energy to pursue things himself.
Short interruption: Yes, there was another pattern above: they always still invited you for interview and waited till the end to address issues you raised in the first five minutes. I later asked the wife why - and she replied, They are giving you face as you have already come. To which i would reply, I don't have a face problem. Just tell me direct and let me go home and lie on my bed.
Anyway, a couple of months later i had a job.
Unfortunately, i found another foreigner scenario a little too late.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Taiwanese and marketing I
Josh had set up a marketing company because he thought it was clear the Taiwanese needed it. Clear to him and me that is, but not to them....
The first interview he would speak to the marketing manager who would invite me back for what he assumed was project kick-off.
Unfortunately, it didn't work like that.
"Excuse me, excuse me," would say the over-apologetic marketing manager, who interviewed him the week before. "The operations director can't make it today. Can we reschedule for next week?"
He wanted to ask what the fuck this had to do with the operations director, but a pattern was emerging: he would have to meet with 4 or 5 different guys ranging from project management to senior power engineer because the highest position of the person in marketing was manager, and he needed all his budgets approved by everyone else. Marketing was regarded as unimportant – writing a few press releases, manuals – so it had no effective budget, and was usually affiliated to another department.
On this occasion, the 3rd time they had rescheduled - he had cancelled other opportunities and had arrived at the office once before, only to sit in the reception for half an hour. Invariably hot, frustrated, and sneezing black sooty snot, after having driven an hour to find the place in an industrial park. He desperately wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves, but that was the way it was done here.
Then once he had met everyone in the company it still wouldn't go through because a project with an outlay of about 4,000 US dollars had to be authorized by the President of the company.
The marketing company wasn't as glamorous as he thought.
The first interview he would speak to the marketing manager who would invite me back for what he assumed was project kick-off.
Unfortunately, it didn't work like that.
"Excuse me, excuse me," would say the over-apologetic marketing manager, who interviewed him the week before. "The operations director can't make it today. Can we reschedule for next week?"
He wanted to ask what the fuck this had to do with the operations director, but a pattern was emerging: he would have to meet with 4 or 5 different guys ranging from project management to senior power engineer because the highest position of the person in marketing was manager, and he needed all his budgets approved by everyone else. Marketing was regarded as unimportant – writing a few press releases, manuals – so it had no effective budget, and was usually affiliated to another department.
On this occasion, the 3rd time they had rescheduled - he had cancelled other opportunities and had arrived at the office once before, only to sit in the reception for half an hour. Invariably hot, frustrated, and sneezing black sooty snot, after having driven an hour to find the place in an industrial park. He desperately wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves, but that was the way it was done here.
Then once he had met everyone in the company it still wouldn't go through because a project with an outlay of about 4,000 US dollars had to be authorized by the President of the company.
The marketing company wasn't as glamorous as he thought.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
