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Can a Canadian get a dirty labour job?

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  1. #21

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Tuen Mun
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    6,191

    When I arrived I did not want to go straight into teaching in the first crappy centre but knew I had to work and save hard to open my own.

    I did

    1.) Man with a van = good for about 20 -25k per month. On a good day it's easy on a bad day you have to take a sofa bed up a 12 floor walk-up in Central. If you wanted to, you could make a pretty good company here running vans for English speaking customers. You add value by speaking English and labouring, (local co..s only drive!) (Don't forget your diesel costs, if possible have friends in the NTs who can help with cheap fuel ;-)
    2.) Tours and transfers = easy money and you soon have a posse of regular customers, not strictly legal but if you've got to eat....and everyone knows the score. You get customers who want you to take their dogs to the country parks, airport transfers, show their friends around - cross border is very lucrative, I hired a guy and car and still made money, it's super expensive to buy a cross border vehicle.
    3.) Handyman = lol, I had all my tools shipped over from England and, you know, lots of expats can't drill a hole so you can make cash there! To be fair, I am like that now, I don't have time or will to paint so I'd hire a painter now.....anyway, if you're handy, you can make a good living.
    4.) Trading = it's risky but you can go over the border, buy stuff and flog it on ebay, I didn't like this too much and feel free to PM me if you want Nokia hands free kits epads, fake iphones and so on! Maybe you'd be smarter than me at this!!

    A lot of expats are complete tight asses and they will try to squeeze you for every dollar, but my rule of thumb was always never ever take a job for less than 400HKD per hour. In HK, the simplest thing can end up taking hours so you must charge hourly!! Remember it's your time not your labour that you need to get paid for! Seems funny to me now that I did that but, it got me over a hill and now things are different, plus I sure do value where I'm at now!!!

    I haven't done any of that seriously for nearly two years but I still get calls and have done a cheeky airport transfer or two in the last year!!!


  2. #22

    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    193

    Hey loun80, I am with the interview board of my department (IT) from time to time and have some local agency contacts which are specified for IT jobs. You could send me you CV after you update that and I will get you some contacts as well.

    In fact, will you just be focusing in a particular business area or you could be more flexible in the business nature. I have been working in IT in casinos, hotels, and gov't too.


  3. #23

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    6,076

    I did all kinds of jobs here and also did house moves many years ago... our white faces and native English got us loads of expat moves which was good money. We did have to carry washing machines up six flights of stairs though


  4. #24

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    HK
    Posts
    14,624

    i've got to say on this one, respect to BE and Bookblogger, I am impressed.


  5. #25

    Join Date
    Nov 2011
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    626

    Sorry for the PM bryant.english, I was still on the earlier pages of the thread.

    bryant.english likes this.

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Hong Kong
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mat:
    i've got to say on this one, respect to BE and Bookblogger, I am impressed.
    You'd be even more impressed by my time as a gwailo villain at TVB, the two weeks I spent sticking gold leaf onto the ceiling of a hotel ballroom, and my stint running an illegal restaurant in Wan Chai
    bryant.english likes this.

  7. #27

    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    down under/ hk
    Posts
    327

    Have you tried teaching? With permanent residency in Hong Kong I will very suprised if you can't even find a PT tutoring job.


  8. #28

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Clear Water Bay (In Da Jungle)
    Posts
    9,968

    Hard Labour jobs will and still does pay a lot more that an IT job on a local salary, with the construction industry booming again, you can expect to get for eg $600 per day, the higher the risk the more you'll get like putting up scaffolding, you can expect to get like $1000++ a day.

    I havent read all the pages on this thread but if you have HKID (permanent off course), willing to slave it out then give it a go until you find something better.

    check out the labour department site and get yourself a green card (construction site safety card).


  9. #29

    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    It's hard to make a living as a small potato in Hong Kong.



    We are poor working people
    Getting ulcers, running around
    Chicken feed is our reward
    Round deal is what we get

    The boss is ever ready to explode
    His barks are long, his face longer
    When we ask for a raise
    Brother, you're in a treat

    ... Working like a dog
    ... Things keep on going wrong
    ... Why don't we grab a gun and hold 'em up?

    At least making our effort worthwhile
    It's tit for tat, tat for tit
    We are poor working people
    Slaves to money for life
    Our misery, it's unspeakable
    The burden, unbearable

    ... Happiness is not ours to share
    ... Sufferings are ours to bear
    ... A little more is a little more, we care

    wtbhotia and bryant.english like this.

  10. #30

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Tuen Mun
    Posts
    6,191
    Quote Originally Posted by bookblogger:
    It's hard to make a living as a small potato in Hong Kong.


    ... Working like a dog
    ... Things keep on going wrong
    ... Why don't we grab a gun and hold 'em up?
    Vive la Révolution!