Pros
salary is okay but quite mean on sick leaves . Overall it's okay when I just get started. the benefits are okay and the then supervisor wasn't really push. Salary is around 20,0000 RMB. But it really depends on your boss- i was later on assigned with a boss who is really mean on subordinates and only gives sick leave on an hourly basis. Reported the issues to the HR no results The location of the company is good though, near the dongerhuan in Beijing. Near embassies and occasionally news assistants are responsible for liasoning with Chinese authorities (mofa) but remember that other than sending fax and files you have nothing to do with the ministry. Yes you will sign the contract with them but beyond that you won't have any relationship with the foreign ministry, embassies or IOs. And I must say that news assistants are prohibited from making direct contact with those departments and agencies so if you are overall interested in foreign policy/foreign service this is a terrible match.
Cons
This company isn't necessarily rule-based. Regional managers are like emperors who will literally decide everything including the sick pay, lieu off , promotions/depromotions, offboarding etc. It really depends on your relationship with your boss and occasionally you have to do some individual work for your boss (picking someone from the airport)etc. And discrimination against non native speakers is high. People there always talk Chinese in lots of English, everyone has study abroad. I'd say that's a perfect for someone who is highly assimilated to western cultures, liberal news values but a horrible place for people whose first language is not English. Some people can send Chinese text with lots of English and even talking English within Chinese citizens. This company features an internal decision making process and the process is never transparent. The HR couldn't even say other things other than: it's not rule-based/ we don't have formal procedures etc. Everything is build upon personal relationship and quite different from public sectors. I'd say it's a good place for those interested in pursuing a further career in private sectors, especially consultancies and bankings and investment firms but a horrible and disastrous experience for someone who couldn't really agree with those values. Also I have to say that they tend to address everything informally and features almost zero formal paperworks and they will never give contractors access to internal documents and excluded most of us from participating their internal events. And the health standards and safety procedures is worrisome- last time I passed out in office before leaving there no one ever bothered to call an ambulance. They eventually give some money as servant rate and tried to tampered things down. I really had high expectations before working for them but after those horrible experiences I will never consider another career in journalism.