As crazy as employment practices are in China， this can also work to your advantage. The lack of a formalized or standardized process in hiring foreigners can open up doors that otherwise wouldn’t exist in a formalized environment. I’ve also met a number of expats here with great jobs which they came into by pure chance through crazy circumstances like they happened to meet a CEO at a bar and the CEO offered him an executive position between shots of tequila.

Most recently， I was actively recruited by a headhunter for 6 months to join a public relations firm as a consultant. I went in for what I believed was an informal meet and greet where we talked about my favorite food and music and the very next day I received a call from HR and was given an official offer. I’d never before been approached by a headhunter and offered such high level work and tricked myself into believing my career had finally turned a corner. Instead， I was literally shuffled around the office of over 500 employees for 6 months as nobody had a clue what to do with me and none of the departments wanted to be responsible for my hefty salary. Despite that the contract and business card labeled me as a consultant， everyone just referred to me as the“English polisher” and would sent me their English documents to proof read because they didn’t know what else I’d be good for. Whenever I requested real work they would simply tell me “Adam， this is a Chinese company and you need to learn the business before engaging in real work”. However， that didn’t stop them from highlighting me as an integral part of their operations to clients in proposals and reports.

When I’d ask for real work they’d say I needed experience but I couldn’t gain any without being involved so it was a catch 22. Worst of all was that I was living a lie， I had to constantly make a decision of whether or not to tell people I had a worthless do nothing job or tell them I was a high profile consultant. For many months I even tricked myself into believing I was a consultant and it was just a matter of time before it became realized. I ultimately just told people， “I work in PR.”

China is an amazing place where one can literally stumble into becoming an executive or celebrity television host by accident and I’d argue that most successful expats here that came here and then found work are not successful by being smart or working hard but just found themselves in the right place at the right time. However， the pitfalls are numerous and I’d estimate 2/3 of all expats who found work while in China are working under 1 titles but like me were too embarrassed to admit it. One way to avoid such pitfalls is to ensure your contract ensures that you will indeed be doing the work they are hiring you to do and that there are financial consequences to the employer should they not be dealing with a full deck.

Just today I was handed a document entailing a hefty sum because I proved they broke their contract by never giving me consultant work and thus they owed me a large payoff. It’s no substitute for the 6 months I’ve squandered doing intern level work and improving my fantasy baseball team greatly but this costly mistake has taught the company a lesson they shall not soon forget as the current ads on the Internet to find my replacement are now slightly more accurately labeled as “copywriter.” I am now in the midst of my own job search and will not accept any positions unless the contract clearly stipulates what my work and responsibilities will entail and what kind of financial penalty the company will face if they fail to live up to their promises. Hell， I may just make a career out of accepting 1 offers.