Job Interview in Beijing

I had a job interview with some investment company called JC Brothers in Beijing. This operation is supposedly the Chinese representative office. I visited their truly lovely offices on the second floor of a 5 star hotel in downtown. I talked directly with the president of operations there.

The job sounded very interesting. The president told me that the company looks into investments and opportunities in China and sends reports back to the US head office for review as potential investment targets. They wanted me to help in preparing the reports and being part of the analysis team. They would require that I work 9 to 5 and be available to travel to visit many of the companies and see how it looks from a investment perspective. Investment, China, Travel, it all sounded pretty good.

Then they asked me how much I wanted as pay. Well, because I was not familiar with this company and unsure completely of the work content, I was hesitant to say how much I wanted. I didn’t want to lowball in error, I was thinking at least 15,000 RMB a month. So I asked the range the company was looking at for this position and the president said 6,000 RMB. I make more than that already teaching English part time.

Basically they wanted to hire a foreigner at Chinese salary. I told him directly that was too low. The president did not seem to willing to budge either so we just kind of parted ways. I of course would love to get the experience and skills of working in a Investment Company in China, but I still have to pay my bills, live and eat. I mean my apartment is more expensive than the average Chinese, but damn, I do not want to have to reduce my quality of life to that of the average Chinese. That may sound mean or racist, but if some of you see the circumstances of the average Chinese, you may agree with me. 6,000 is not too bad in China, but certainly not good. 6,000 equals only about US $750 dollars. For a whole month of full time work? No way. Anyway, if they still want me, they can call me with another offer. Otherwise I have other irons in the fire.

I spent my birthday doing some of the things I wanted. I cleaned my room, bought a new bedspread to make my bed more comfortable, did exercise and had some of my favorite exotic foods for lunch and dinner. In the evening I ate cake and ice cream with a friend of mine. One thing I love about my birthday is getting to hear from my friends and family. That just warms the heart.

A big storm passed through town last Friday. It cleaned the air up and also began a string of days with cooler temperatures. Fall is on the way. One thing you can say about Beijing is that the weather is seasonal, unlike Hawaii, where everyday, day after day is like summer.