Job Discussion Forums

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

They say that if you go to Taiwan, you'll find a higher paying job than if you arrange one beforehand. One the internet most jobs are between 50,000 and 70,000 a month for about 20-30 hours. And per hour I've seen between 500 and 650 NT.

So, how much is the average wage if you don't arrange a job beforehand?

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

Why so few replies?

Okami · Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Posts: 121 Location: Sunny Sanxia

Because after you work here a while you find that money, while important, is not the major determining factor for a job. I consider the question silly after the huge strain that private schools are going through currently. There's hypercompetition, an economic downturn, and then SARS. You may think these things do not affect you, but as a young Canadian is finding out on the tealit board. It's quite relevant

http://tealit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4150&highlight=&sid=09e3c30341043cf7c25585c56b4d7c5a

He can't get a new ARC(work legally at another school) till his old one is cancelled and his boss is on the run. His boss is the only person who can cancel his ARC so he can't get a new ARC till his old one is cancelled or expires. To me this would be like mana from heaven, but he's in a difficult situation. He could possibly cancel it himslef, but then he wouldn't be able to get a new ARC till the old one expired. I can assure you that the Taiwanese gov't will not be too helpful. I'm sure he was well paid, when he had a job. I'm also sure that there were signs that this was going to happen, but he didn't heed them.

Schools that get it right and work with you as well as you work with them are more often a better bet for your long term future and sanity. A good enviroment can often be worth 50-100NT/hour less in pay as long as there are other benefits. Management plays a critical role with your job because EVERYTHING HERE IS ABOUT PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS!

I have friends who are currently being told they pronounce the sound of a short 'a' wrong by a manager who can barely speak English. She thinks short 'a' has the short 'o' sound, common mistake for my classes to make. My last kindy job paid only $550/hour, but included a paid half hour lunch(great food), a free hand to do what I wanted and a hands off management as long as the kids were having fun and learning. I was paid by one school $650/hour and it was terrible. It included telephone tests, kids who only knew how to parrot English, a boss who couldn't speak English, and her atrocious little offspring in K1 who regularly did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted because mummy was the boss. Try to teach a class when you have a 3.5 year old running around screaming, tossing chairs and toys around, and hitting other children; and neither you nor your Chinese co-teacher can do anything about it because he's the boss's son.

There's more than money in life and choosing a job.

CYA
Okami

killian · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 3:51 pm Post subject:

seems to me that 600/650 per hour is fair from a boss that minimalizes the silliness. what is silliness? stuff like graduation speeches for kindy classes, telephone "teaching" and so on.

okami is right. monetary pay is but a single part of a larger package. when i evaluate jobs, i try to narrow the field and then compare/contrast the pros/cons of each contender. this is not a fool-proof system. getting burned is part of the game. all we can do is try to minimalize the scaldings.

the tealit board is good. dave's is also fine. tealit doesn't require registration, so it tends to pick-up some cri de coeurs that don't get posted here. it is worth a check see. be warned that the admin there alters/deletes postings without acknowledgement. one is forced to take everything there with a grain of sand. it pains me to no end to see my answers there minced up so badly.

good luck.

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

I have to agree with the above. There are more factors involved than just hourly pay. Hourly pay can also be deceiving. A person may get a high hourly wage, but have to work loads of unpaid hours. This effectively lowers your actual wage. IE. someone who earns 700 per hour but actually works an extra hour for every paid one actually earns, well you get the picture. Other issues include getting your hours, consistently and in large enough numbers to make the wage add up, and general working conditions where you are employed. I've met long term foreigners who don't make as much as you'd think, but they'd never consider jobs other than the ones they currently have. They must be on to something.

EOD · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 167 Location: Taiwan

There aren�t that many jobs that pay by the hour anymore. The trend lately has been to hire teachers on a monthly salary. You can still find schools that pay by the hour but they are not so common anymore.

TaoyuanSteve · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan

I think buxibans are more likely to pay by the hour. Large kindies (Hess etc) more often pay you with a salary. At least this has been what I've seen. I'm usually suspicious of salaries. They usually conceal a lower per teaching hour hour pay. IE: sure they pay a guaranteed 55000, but how many hours do you need to work to get it? Are salaries really the trend? This is disturbing news. Maybe we should have a new poll: "are you being paid by the hour or by salary?"