With China fresh from its plunge into the World Trade Organisation and brimming with anticipation ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, many foreigners are taking jobs for the "China experience".
Singles, in particular, are taking mid-ranking positions, while they learn Mandarin and absorb something of the Chinese way of life.
A nation of 1.3 billion potential consumers is the stuff of many a marketer's dreams, and as China takes a great leap into the global economy, the mainland looks to be one of Asia's hottest postings.
Oliver Draper, director of executive search and selection firm Consult Group's Greater China operation, says that, while openings at graduate level are scarce at the moment, the current economic climate makes this a good time to look for senior marketing positions.
"Marketing is one of the major areas that we find we're being asked to recruit for in China at the moment,
he says. "When there's a slight downturn in the economy there are a few key positions that companies always want to strengthen. One is finance people to sort out the books, a very strong human resources team because normally they're having to make a few redundancies and you really need to push up your sales so marketing and sales people are in really high demand."
China's vibrant sectors for marketing job-hunters now include retailing, banking and insurance, particularly consumer banking, along with property and chemicals. And, while the salaries may not match those paid in Hong Kong, for example, they are fair considering the much lower cost of living.
One successful candidate recently joined a chemicals company as regional marketing manager on a package of US$64,000 a year plus housing allowance.
Life in China is not as tough for foreigners as it once was.
An American marketing consultant who worked in Beijing and Shanghai in the early 1990s recalls: "When I was there, restaurants were closing at 6pm and the only place you could eat was at a hotel, and you couldn't get wine or cheese and things like that. We came to Hong Kong to do all our shopping."
Now, the nightlife is thriving and Shanghai has its own version of Hong Kong's famed bar and nightclub district Lan Kwai Fong. Designer fashions and European cars are available in the major cities and not only can you buy wine, China is bottling its own.
But, as China modernises, it is becoming an increasingly competitive job market for outsiders to break into. Locals are gaining not only exposure to Western business systems but also to the English language; growing legions now speak English fluently. At the same time, a foreigner's ability to speak Mandarin is not necessarily a passport to job success.
"To hire a full-time interpreter to support a senior executive is a minor cost - you can hire somebody for under five per cent of the manager's salary to follow them like a shadow but, that said, if you have it (Mandarin) you're very much closer to the edge,
Draper says.
"There's an awful lot of expats with Mandarin skills and an awful lot of Chinese with English skills - but it's about getting the complete package.
In expats, tolerance is a huge quality we look for and determination - somebody who can assimilate the two cultures and yet focus on the core business objective."
Ivy Chow, executive director of international search firm Russell Reynolds & Associates, agrees that an appreciation of Chinese culture is far more important than a grasp of the language is. "They need to know how to communicate with Chinese and motivate local staff to work,
she says. "Chinese culture is one where people do not like to confront one another. They may say 'yes, I agree' or 'yes, I understand' but deep down what they're thinking may be completely different. It's important that you understand that you can't air all the dirty laundry in public."
Culture shock is not just the province of pale faces from the West. The systems and practices unique to the mainland can be almost as foreign to overseas Chinese as they are to Americans and Europeans.
Susan Chen came to the mainland 18 months ago from Taiwan and is vice-president of Swatch China and Hong Kong, with responsibility for marketing and sales. "Don't have too much of a dream about what it's like in China,
she advises potential candidates for marketing posts on the mainland.
"You need to work hard because the Chinese have a very strong work ethic and because of the size of the country. It takes a long time to travel around and spend time in the market, so time management is even more difficult here, and you'll spend a lot of time at work,
Chen says.
"People also have different ideas about delegation and accepting responsibility for things.
She says making contact with senior executives in other companies can be a battle as access is only given through a chain of command.
"Rank is very important - people here listen to the direction from the top more than they do elsewhere and they don't quite understand accountability.
I wouldn't say it's frustrating but it's challenging. It's very important that people who come here have the sort of personality that enjoy an adventure and like to take a risk, although you must be careful,
Chen says.
The business of marketing is itself also unlike anywhere else. Foreign companies and foreign marketers have for years had to battle local rivals whose marketing strategy was almost entirely price-based, but that too is now changing.
Michael Jong studied economics at Columbia University in the United States before returning to his native China in 1990. He was initially with Hill & Knowlton, but has been with Intel for nine years and is now based in Beijing as marketing director of Intel China.
"In the early stages of marketing in China, maybe five or 10 years ago, local companies had the advantage of price and with less need to focus on branding, but in the past five years especially, companies have invested a lot of money and attention in promoting their brand,
Jong says.
"It's much more than just a price issue - brand is the key area and they're very, very creative and they're very quick.
"In the technology industry particularly, it's very fast-moving. Things change all the time in terms of technology, products and also the marketing activities.
We always need new marketing elements to create excitement among consumers and end-users."
Swatch's Chen says that in terms of consumer sophistication, China is about where Taiwan was 20 or 30 years ago.
"People coming from overseas need to understand firstly that people here haven't been exposed much to the outside world so their understanding is very different and people need to be very careful not to make assumptions.
"You might have a marketing idea that people overseas say is great but, if you don't have the local insight, that same idea might not work at all here."
The up-side of working in such a fledgling market, Chen says, is that in China it is easier to start a trend and lead the way, whereas consumers elsewhere tend to be more questioning, discriminating and tougher to persuade.
"The other thing to remember is that China is a huge country with many markets and they're all different. You can't come to China imagining that it's one market - you need to take a broader view and understand all the different consumers."
While Westerners are still filling the managing director and general manager posts of multinationals, marketing departments are largely being run by overseas Chinese - mainly from Hong Kong and Taiwan - and returnees.
Draper says employers often have strong feelings about returnees and tend to either love or hate them.
"One view is that returnees are massively advantageous to an organisation in that they have a combination of Eastern and Western cultures, they're bilingual and they have an overseas education. The other view is that often returnees come back with inflated expectations as to salary packages, the path and speed with which they'll be promoted within an organisation and often, once there's resentment from local staff around them who haven't been overseas, there is almost a 'tools down' atmosphere,
he says.
Jong, a returnee himself, says most of his peers in companies like Microsoft, Dell, IBM and Cisco are either returnees, Taiwanese or from Hong Kong.
"I don't think most people notice (you're a returnee) when you're working,
he says. "The competition is no longer 'Chinese company versus US multinational'. It's company versus company."
Come pay day, Draper says the top salary earners tend to be Western expatriates, followed by Asian expats, then Chinese returnees and lastly locals - then of course a third of your pay packet is taken by the taxman.
"It's a pretty good ticket for Hong Kong Chinese at the moment, particularly when there's not much going on in Hong Kong,
he says.
But Chen stresses caution: "If you want to make money here and send money back to Taiwan or where you're from, then a middle-management posting may not justify the challenges and the lower standard of living."
Chow of Russell Reynolds says the duration of expats' stays is lengthening as China becomes more internationalised, even as expat packages are shrinking and moving slowly toward the salaries of returnees and locals.
"The cities are a lot more livable than they used to be, so they're willing to stay longer term. Before, expat families went in knowing that they wanted to be out of China in three years,
she says.
While some employers will cover the cost of sending recruits' children to international schools in China, it is rare for them to pay for boarding school in their home country. Housing allowances, hardship allowances and paid-for tickets home are slowly disappearing.
