Jeffery has been in mainland China for 4 years, managing teams with the philosophy of "possessing abilities at a higher level" (Photo provided by Jeffery)
"No one needs to take responsibility for your knowledge." After the formal interview ended, I admiringly asked Jeffery "how are you so amazing," and he stated this sentence firmly yet gently, leaving me deeply moved. For me, this is what makes interviews interesting—when someone simply shares the ordinary in their life, yet it becomes something extraordinary to most people.
Since university classmates, Wang Yan-qi, Jeffery, had already demonstrated the ability to lead teams, transforming an annual departmental event into a large-scale activity attracting 200 teams across the entire school; in high school, he attended a performing arts school and was once considered a student who didn't love studying. Nearly a decade later, he has become the Vice Director of Media Planning at a multinational group's Shanghai branch, leading a five-person team managing a market worth over 100 million yuan in mainland China. This year, he transitioned to Asia-Pacific's largest Chinese AI company as a Product Commercial Planning Director at just 28 years old.
"When I join a company, I feel fortunate to learn anything, because the company pays you to work and contribute, not to study." I remember when we were about to enter the workforce that same year, I thought quite superficially, only caring whether the starting salary matched my education. But Jeffery was different—he comprehensively evaluated salary, benefits, promotions, company status, industry opportunities and changes, made thorough plans, and was even willing to start as an intern. After entering, he likewise worked late nights and weekends, but in just over a year, he was recruited to the mainland branch, maintaining this very attitude.
Analyzing Cross-Strait Differences! Taiwan Lacks "Market" Concept; Mainland China Faces Talent Shortage
Regarding work differences between Taiwan and mainland China, Jeffery believes Taiwan relatively lacks a "market" concept. Northern, central, and southern regions have little difference in product marketing approaches because cultural distinctions aren't that significant for enterprises and advertisers. However, mainland China, with its vast territory, multiple ethnicities and cultures, while divisible into markets like North China, Central China, South China, first-tier, second-tier, third-tier and below cities, even new first-tier cities like Hangzhou and Chengdu show distinctly different consumer insights and media usage behaviors. The relatively complex market environment creates differences in marketing perspectives, especially evident in media planning.
However, mainland China faces extreme talent challenges. Hardworking young people mostly start their own businesses, while other first-tier market office workers tend to frequently job-hop for raises to quickly escape tedious and frustrating entry-level positions. Although Taiwan shares similar trends, mainland Chinese job-switching frequency is much higher—changing positions every six months to a year. With such a vast environment and market, there are too many opportunities to jump to, creating serious talent cultivation gaps and quality issues. Jeffery shares he prefers hiring workplace newcomers and training them afresh, because experienced people cost more and might possess unprofessionalism and bad habits.
Comparatively, this becomes Taiwan's advantage. In planning, public relations, advertising, and media agency sectors, Taiwan is relatively mature and doesn't lack talented people. Because Taiwanese spend more time in entry-level positions, building solid foundations through polish and refinement, they can withstand testing.
However, entering mainland markets now, some industries make Taiwanese no longer as competitive as before. Salary negotiations may not work as favorably, so one must recognize strengths and weaknesses, set phased goals, lower initial expectations upon entry, and discuss promotions later when more appropriate.
Focus on goals, continuously learn, and view management from execution perspectives, treating everything as "cultivation" (Photo provided by Jeffery)
Abundant Opportunities, Huge Market! Many Are "Fantasizing" About Entering Mainland China—Must Focus on Goals
However, many people harbor "fantasies" about mainland China's market, seeing only surface opportunities—abundant prospects, large market, self-improvement, and desires to make a big impact—while overlooking necessary administrative procedures required by China's large-scale business management. Many leave because they can't tolerate these.
Jeffery presents his response method: "Focus on personal goals." Many people feel administrative processes, expense reports, time-tracking, and similar matters occupy time meant for learning or demonstrating "professional abilities." They even view these as mere "to-do items" without priority, leading to procrastination until deadlines loom, creating stress and frustration.
But when you shift perspective and learn from a management mindset, you realize it's a form of cultivation with opportunities to examine how large enterprises operate at different industry scales and organizational complexity. Afterward, you understand which systems work effectively and what factors diminish employee enthusiasm. By thinking this way at execution level, you gain reference points for future management roles.
Don't dismiss all learning opportunities because you're in Taiwan or face workplace hardships and emotional bosses. In advertising and media agency sectors, Taiwan's market is quite solid with mid-to-senior management positions having spent considerable time on the front lines. You can definitely learn much from them. Even managers others call "merely talkative" teach proposal techniques. Don't just complain why your boss doesn't teach you.
Jeffery has spent four years in mainland China, transitioning from media agency to AI industry with high self-demands (Photo provided by Jeffery)
Observe Management from Execution Level! First Achieve "One-Level-Higher Abilities"
Approaching team management differently, Jeffery says "My standard for my team and myself is that members demonstrate abilities one level above their current position." For example, a manager wanting to become senior manager shouldn't wait for promotion but should first attempt tasks a senior manager handles. If unsuccessful, find problems and solve them. Because for the company, such "talent" represents exceptional value rather than something to be developed after promotion. For supervisors too, promoting someone means having time to advance to the next level rather than still managing the newly promoted person, creating positive team cycles and maintaining competitive strength.
When asked what would differ had he not chosen mainland China work back then, Jeffery believes he could have developed well in Taiwan too, accumulating extensive experience, but would experience some gap with the global perspectives, mobile payments, and AI insights gained in mainland China.
Because mainland China possesses a hot and mature capital market, and with mobile payment ubiquity and global leadership, many cutting-edge digital business models first emerge in mainland China. Similarly in AI, data generated through mobile payments, mobile internet, and government internet-plus policies allows AI and commercialization to develop with more opportunity than other markets, leading many international enterprises to locate Asia-Pacific research teams there. Only by being in mainland China can one truly sense "the world is changing, and it's happening fast."
