American Graduates Finding Jobs in China

Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

Mick Zomnir, 20, a rising junior at M.I.T., landed a summer internship at JFP in Beijing.

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BEIJING Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home.

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Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

Joshua Arjuna Stephens, a 2007 graduate of Wesleyan University, works in Beijing for XPD Media, which makes online games.

Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by Chinas surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States.

Ive seen a surge of young people coming to work in China over the last few years, said Jack Perkowski, founder of Asimco Technologies, one of the largest automotive parts companies in China.

When I came over to China in 1994, that was the first wave of Americans coming to China, he said. These young people are part of this big second wave.

One of those in the latest wave is Joshua Arjuna Stephens, who graduated from Wesleyan University in 2007 with a bachelors degree in American studies. Two years ago, he decided to take a temporary summer position in Shanghai with China Prep, an educational travel company.

I didnt know anything about China, said Mr. Stephens, who worked on market research and program development. People thought I was nuts to go not speaking the language, but I wanted to do something off the beaten track.

Two years later, after stints in the nonprofit sector and at a large public relations firm in Beijing, he is highly proficient in Mandarin and works as a manager for XPD Media, a social media company based in Beijing that makes online games.

Jonathan Woetzel, a partner with McKinsey & Company in Shanghai who has lived in China since the mid-1980s, says that compared with just a few years ago, he was seeing more young Americans arriving in China to be part of an entrepreneurial boom. Theres a lot of experimentation going on in China right now, particularly in the energy sphere, and when people are young they are willing to come and try something new, he said.

And the Chinese economy is more hospitable for both entrepreneurs and job seekers, with a gross domestic product that rose 7.9 percent in the most recent quarter compared with the period a year earlier. Unemployment in urban areas is 4.3 percent, according to government data.

Grace Hsieh, president of the Yale Club in Beijing and a 2007 graduate, says she has seen a rise in the number of Yale graduates who have come to work in Beijing since she arrived in China two years ago. She is working as an account executive in Beijing for Hill & Knowlton, the public relations company.

Sarabeth Berman, a 2006 graduate of Barnard College with a major in urban studies, initially arrived in Beijing at the age of 23 to take a job that would have been difficult for a person her age to land in the United States: program director at BeijingDance/LDTX, the first modern dance company in China to be founded independently of the government.

Ms. Berman said she was hired for her familiarity with Western modern dance rather than a knowledge of China. Despite my lack of language skills and the fact that I had no experience working in China, I was given the opportunity to manage the touring, international projects, and produce and program our annual Beijing Dance Festival.

After two years of living and working in China, Ms. Berman is proficient in Mandarin. She travels throughout China, Europe and the United States with the dance company.

Willy Tsao, the artistic director of BeijingDance/LDTX, said he had hired Ms. Berman because of her ability to make connections beyond China. I needed someone who was capable of communicating with the Western world.

Another dynamic in the hiring process, Mr. Tsao says, is that Westerners can often bring skills that are harder to find among the Chinese.

Sarabeth is always taking initiative and thinking what we can do, he said, while I think the more standard Chinese approach is to take orders. He says the difference is rooted in the educational system. In Chinese schools students are encouraged to be quiet and less outspoken; it fosters a culture of listening more than initiating.

Mr. Perkowski, who spent almost 20 years on Wall Street before heading to China, says many Chinese companies are looking to hire native English speakers to help them navigate the American market.