What is it about this island in the Western Pacific that continues to attract foreigners with its undeniable charisma? Taiwan -- small but looming large in world trade -- is a dynamic place where people’s entrepreneurial spirit and vitality saturate the entire island. Besides the rewards of a flourishing economy whose high tech products have won international acclaim and trust around the globe, Taiwan’s technological innovation ceaselessly attracts the world, thereby opening more doors to numerous opportunities around the island.

As new prospects emerge, a huge wave of demand particularly for qualified foreign talents to work with domestic enterprises is on the rise. Many that have come to work in Taiwan have lasting memories of their valuable experience on the island.

Think Taiwan, Think High Tech

For decades, Taiwan has been playing a dynamic role in the world economy, in fact, ranking as the world’s top supplier of various ICT products. In addition, reports of several renowned international institutions have revealed Taiwan’s macroeconomic and microeconomic performance as outstanding, while assessment indexes have shown that Taiwan stands out for its growth competitiveness, tax policies, business environment, technology innovation, and labor markets.

Dynamism – The Taiwan Spirit

Fast Emerging Capital Market

Taiwan ranks 4th among the nations with the highest foreign exchange and gold reserves, and 3rd in Asia, just behind China and Japan.  On the capital market, Taiwan has nearly 700 companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of US$572.8 billion. On the other hand, about 534 companies have been listed on the OTC market, 223 companies listed under the OTC emerging market, and 219 companies listed as VC companies.

R&D Hub

Taiwan’s aggressive global economic activity especially towards the Asia Pacific market has promoted her as the ideal location for multinational enterprises to set up their R&D center. Some of the most renowned MNCs with established R&D centers on the island include Intel, IBM, Ericsson, Microsoft, DuPont, NEC, HP, Dell, Sony, Motorola, GSK, Fujitsu, Dow, and Synopsis, among others.  

Strong Industry Cluster with Fully Integrated Supply Chain Networks

Taiwan’s leading manufacturing industries are characterized by strong and efficient vertical integration with a comprehensive range of upstream manufacturing plants that supply downstream assembly lines. Technology-intensive industries already account for over 50% of Taiwan’s manufacturing output.

High Quality Human Resources

A key factor behind Taiwan’s cutting edge in high tech industries is the availability of highly skilled talents. Benefiting from Taiwan’s high standard education system, Taiwan has produced an abundance of well-educated and highly skilled people, thereby boosting the development of Taiwan’s industries.

However, in order to power the next phase of growth and development as well as further lift Taiwan’s technological level, the government is also actively recruiting and inviting foreign high tech experts and corporate expats to take advantage of unprecedented opportunities and quickly join the country’s booming high tech workforce.

By the end of 2006, over 35,000 qualified foreign talents had been recruited by various enterprises around the island, and the top five countries from which these experts come from are Japan, US, Canada, UK, and South Africa.

Taiwan industries: “We urge qualified foreign high tech experts and corporate expats to come…”

Growing Demand, Insufficient Supply

Although Taiwan has the talents to supply the needs of enterprises on the island, the amount of qualified personnel is still insufficient.  As more and more local industries are being urged to shift from labor-intensive operations to high tech manufacturing and services due to the changing global trends, the demand for experts particularly in Taiwan’s high tech sector is vastly increasing.

Official statistics show that Taiwan will have a shortage of between 50,000 and 100,000 experts and professionals from now till 2009.  A lump of the shortage comes from the island’s science and industrial parks, accumulating to around 9,875. Among them, about 5,772 vacancies were for electrical engineers, while 2,899 were for mechanical engineers.

In addition, a survey of 302 domestic high tech enterprises conducted by the Taipei Computer Association (TCA) revealed that 80% of domestic enterprises also have difficulty finding suitable and capable employees, particularly software specialists, to help them meet the global demands.

In Pursuit of Skilled Foreign Talents

Globally recognized for their cutting edge technology and competitiveness in world markets, Taiwan’s major industries are now in active pursuit of experienced foreign talents with high tech capability and engineering innovation to work closely with them in their transition to the next level of technological development.

A number of Taiwan’s leading companies, such as Acer, TSMC, Advantech, Chimei Optoelectronics, Franz, Giant, Jade Yacht, and others in different industrial fields, have also employed foreign talents in order to boost their product design and technology, and successfully expand to the global markets.

Below are some key industries (ranked according to their global production value) that are on the prowl for foreign brainpower:

• ICT (Rank 1st)
• FPD (Rank 2nd)
• Semiconductor (Rank 3rd)
• Precision Machinery (Rank 5th)
• Auto Parts & Autotronics
• Biotechnology and Medical Devices

Survey conducted by the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Development Center for Biotechnology, and the Science and Technology Advisory Group of the Executive Yuan shows that the semiconductor industry is expected to have the highest demand for foreign experts with about 33,600 job opportunities, followed by the biotechnology sector with 22,000, and the FPD sector with around 13,900 job vacancies.

[Fast emerging industries such as retailing and logistics, healthcare, service, leisure, and others also welcome foreign talents specialized in any of these sectors.] 

National Immigration Agency (NIA): “We want to lure as much quality talents from overseas as possible…”

Government Steps Up Efforts in Foreign Recruitment

Due to the short supply of high quality human resources in Taiwan, the NIA is laying out a welcome mat for skilled immigrants that can contribute to the country’s national development and inspire new thinking in order to lift the island’s technological level and make Taiwan’s society more diversified.

The government has therefore taken great measures to loosen certain restrictions on foreign recruitment, at the same time offering more handsome incentives to lure talented foreign professionals and accommodate them during their stay in Taiwan, including providing residence permits, education for their children, healthcare and insurance, tax breaks, and other attractive benefits.

If you are a talented professional looking for a challenging role with abundant opportunities for career advancement in a highly modernized country, then seek no further than HiRecruit’s one stop services.  

Who Can Apply

University graduates with at least 3 years’ work experience either in R&D, industrial design, technical engineering, production, international sales and marketing, brand management, logistics, and/or finance. Post-graduate degree or Ph.D. is a plus.

Where to Apply -- HiRecruit Services

We, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, are a non-profit trade and investment promotion organization in Taiwan with a well-coordinated network of over 600 trained specialists located in more than 40 countries around the world. We have been entrusted by the Department of Investment Services (DOIS), Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, to actively recruit qualified overseas talents to work in some of Taiwan’s major high tech industries. For over thirty years, we have been successful not only in our trade and investment related services, but also in our effective match-making schemes for both domestic as well as foreign enterprises.

Our services include:

• Free demand-supply matching services for overseas high tech and professional talents, as well as Taiwan’s industrial, research, academic and governmental sectors
• Organize recruitment related activities with TAITRA’s overseas branch offices
• Identify the demands, employment opportunities and vacancies
• Provide consultation and information for expats intending to work in Taiwan (including obtaining work permits, visa application, housing, etc.)
• Provide consultation on starting up a business in Taiwan

We are committed not only to bring the same high level of dynamic candidates to Taiwan’s tech firms, but we support individual successes and hope to fulfill life experiences by offering an enriching work environment with abundant rewards.

On the fast track to become the market leader in foreign online recruitment, HiRecruit Online offers the following features and services:

• An in-built active, automatic two-way job matching system that connects employers with applicants
• Free membership registration
• Instant access to information for foreign expats (e.g. visa application, health insurance, taxes, housing, education, etc.)
• Free search-and-apply for current job vacancies
• Regular e-newsletter of employment vacancies, etc.