Would my husband find work?

@ScotNZ,

Welcome to China. Well,  actually know ALOT about finding work in the ME field n China.  I have good news and bad news.

I myself an a degreed ME from the USA.  I was working in a senior capacity in the USA going back and forth to China and back. Over time,  met a girl and fell in love. We decided to move to China for good.  We got married and I have been living in China ever since.

First Arrival
When I first arrived, I had a great deal of difficultly in finding work in my field. All the ME positions required full language fluency, AND be a degreed ME. I did not have that.  Heck, I still can only speak Chinese with a terrible accent. To get work, I did what all expats do.  I went for the "low hanging fruit".  I went and got a teaching job first.

Getting Equipped
Since I had a degree, and was from one of the five preferred nations (USA, Canada, Australa/NZ, UK), all I needed was a ESL diploma.  I got mine online through a USA college.  It was 50 hours of class and cost me around $300 USD. Then, to get experience, I tutored some people in the USA for a while.  That gave me the experience.

Finding Work
I had no problem getting work as a teacher.  Eventually, I became the "Director of Teachers" at our branch office. I liked teaching, and still do. But, it's not for everyone.  It is hard work.  To meet my salary expectations I had to take on full-on 12 hour days on the weekends, and aggressively market my skills as a teacher.  I did fine.

Engineering
The entire time that I was teaching, as much as I liked it, I felt that I was not utilizing my full abilities.  Other teachers came and went.  They were often much younger than me (in their 20's) and ended up making the same salary that I was making more or less. Though, I was making more with all my client load. They would come teach, and then leave China for an adventure in another nation. I felt that I could be making more if I were working in my field.

I was wrong.  English teachers, in China, can make from 10K RMB/month to 25 RMB/month depending on the city and the work load.  If you work in a 2nd or third tier city you can have a great and fantastic standard of living, though your salary is only 10K/month. It depends where you live.

Engineers in China make from 5K/month to 20K/month depending on the skills and situation. So if I were to leave my teaching position and compete against Chinese engineers I would be a speaking disadvantage, and I would make much less money.

What I wanted was to be employed as an expat-engineer or expat-manager.  Here, a foreign engineer is hired for their experience and knowledge over a native Chinese engineer.  As a result they are paid much more.  Salaries vary from 30K/month to 70K/month with bonus systems put in place. The problem is that I had been out teaching for a while and could not easily go back into my field.

What I ended up doing was take on QC and Marketing work (in addition to teaching) for my wife's family businesses. I did what every I could do.  I helped design piping for ships, I helped make brochures.  I troubleshooted electronics, and even physically checked stocks for quality.  I did everything that I could.  SO while I was doing all of this, and teaching, I was still looking for work.

Eventually, I found work through friends of friends.  I found work through old colleagues who hired me, and now I am working as the GM of a company. It was a hard and long slog.  I am not going to sugar coat it. You need to work, but it is possible.  Just don't give up and be ready to do whatever it takes.

Summary
I want you to achieve your dream. I think that if you want to come to China and build up a life, it is indeed possible.  But you will need to start teaching to get an income stream flowing. Then while you have money going in, look for work.

I would consider you for an engineering position, if one opens up in Zhuhai.  Please contact me privately via email and I can give you details.  Please, Don't get your hopes up too high.  I have no openings at this moment.

Thanks for your honest advice. On another note, do you have any contacts or know of any recruitment agencies that my husband could contact before we even seriously consider this move to China? Ideally we'd want him to be set up with a job before we arrive there.

I would suggest he use LinkedIN and use their job search option.  That would be the best way to proceed.  Good luck.

@vannrox provided a concise reply to your post but I would also add the following points. China is not short of skilled workers in all fields and I think it is generally accepted that companies (which must be registered to employ foreigners) will only employ foreigners when the position cannot be filled by a Chinese applicant. Foreigners need a "special skill" to find employment easily and this usually limits the choice to language teaching.

Beware of offers from prospective employers/agencies to provide the necessary work/residence permit after he arrives in China. This usually means they are not registered and the permits will not be forthcoming. Working illegally is quite serious and can result in fines, deportation and ban from entering China again.