Job Discussion Forums

[Volver]

Hello all.

This is my first posting but I have been reading the forum for some time. Now I would appreciate your assistance.

I work at a small uni in Henan Province and the situation just got untenable. The school says they will release me from my contract on December 25 but I need to negotiate at least a couple more weeks out of them. Here are my goals:

1. Work at a uni in Tianjin.
2. Least number of hours I can get. I am after IELTS and side work so the uni is primarily for a visa and place to live.
3. How do I locate unis to contact if I do not find adverts here or on other sites?
4. Will there be a problem with renewing my visa or getting a new FEC? My visa is set to expire at the end of next June.
5. What problems do you suggest I look for at my current job as far as exiting with all pay and flight allowance?
6. I would like to negotiate no classes on Monday so that I can score IELTS papers.
7. What have I missed?

Thank you all for your help and I will provide any info you request.

Volver

[vikeologist]

3. Universities often advertise on sites such as abroadchina.org or http://en.chinatefl.com/ . Apply to all Universities you can find, not just those that appear to have current ads.

4. In theory you should be able to get a new residence permit from your new employer straight away. Although you may not need a release letter if you're moving province, you should make sure you get it anyway. In reality, there may be lots of problems, but it's hard to predict exactly what they will be at this point because there's lots of info missing or as yet undecided.

5. If you're 'breaking your contract', even by mutual agreement, we can't predict what will happen without knowing what's in your contract. Flight allowances are usually paid at the end of a contract.

6. Are you currently an IELTS writing examiner? I think this could be a very difficult thing to negotiate. It's pretty difficult to schedule Uni classes as it is, without a teacher not being available on a Monday. I think that it may be quite difficult getting a job 'mid-year', so I wouldn't make this a dealbreaker.

7. I think the missing thing is ensuring that you have a residence permit and somewhere to live between 25 Dec and the start of next semester which could be 2 months later. Many Unis don't finish until mid January, but maybe finish classes around Christmas time. They may not have available accommodation before the end of the semester, and even then, may not want you around straight away.

I think the other thing you need to be careful about is expecting unis to appreciate what an asset having an IELTS examiner would be. Some Unis may not even want you to do IELTS work on the side (it is after all illegal) and so the examiner stuff could be either an asset or a problem during negotiations. Make sure you make the Uni feel that they'll be your main focus, and the IELTS is just an insignificant something that won't affect your Uni job adversely at all. Basically, don't overplay your hand.

I know it's just semantics, but you don't have a visa. You have a residence permit, and when you leave your present job, your permit expires. If you're going to get a new FEC by 25 Dec, you need to find the new job quite quickly. With all the new regulations and procedures this year, there's a lot of potential confusion.

Anyway, if you want us to predict problems.

-How long have you been in China and in your current job?
-Will you be leaving your current job on good terms?
-Which country are you from?

[johntpartee]

You don't have enough posts for a PM, OP, but I'm curious as to which college you're at. I did a runner in Henan a few years ago because the school became "untenable" (intolerable). When they started ripping off the teachers I asked for a release but they wouldn't do it so I split. Perhaps they wised up and will release teachers instead of finding out at the last minute that they are short a hand. It was Henan Business College in Zhengzhou.

[Volver]

The uni is between ZZ and Shijiazhuang. I was here last year and everything more or less went OK but then I was pretty overwhelmed with this country. This year was a mess. They couldn't recruit another FT and then they wanted us to work 26 hour weeks at Y100 per hour for the extra time. I helped with recruiting for them this summer and sent at least 20 good candidates and they blew every one of them. I stopped recruiting and said that I would take on extra work but not at Y100 per hour. Broke a tooth the night before leaving the States and ran up to BJ to get it pulled (at my total expense) as there were no English-speaking dentists here. Major complications and I was over 4 hours in the ER and several days in bed afterwards. The uni docked my pay for not getting their "permission" and pulled my flight allowance. I told them I would fight like hell and suggested it was better to get rid of me than get into a hassle with the president. The FAO agreed. There were other problems, but this appears to be the big one. Oh, almost forgot the landlord where the FTs live gave us all eviction notices and shut off our power. I didn't get books for one class until 6 weeks into the semester. None of the listening labs could read .pdf files and the what they stole off the Internet doesn't work very well. Pure 3rd rate uni incompetence. Very little side work here unless you enjoy teaching kids.

I guess I am not leaving on good terms. So be it. I'll still try to get a recommendation letter out of them. I am from the US and have been doing your basic oral English classes plus aviation English since last year. No complaints from students. My goal is private work and IELTS but I will probably not mention anything about either.

The living situation and government paperwork is my concern. Hoping to negotiate something that lets me live here longer and start living at the next place earlier.

Thanks for the info.

V

[teenoso]

Why not apply to language schools in Tianjin, then you could start work straight away in January (and get the RP), rather than have to wait until the next Uni semester in March?

A Uni might not want a teacher for March to be in residence so early (at the end of December) .

[vikeologist]

They have to give you the release letter, by law. I think you probably will need it, whichever province you end up in.

Your experience at your Uni sounds fairly typical.

If you're from the States, let's hope you won't need a criminal check. (In theory you would need one for a new job, and maybe have to go back to the States to get it, but I think a lot of provinces have not implemented it. They don't have to. It's a recommendation, not law).

Anyway. If you are an IELTS examiner, I think you should mention it. Just don't let on that will be your primary income stream.

My advice would be to get clear in your head what your priorities are, because I'm not sure there will be lots of jobs, (or rather the ratio of jobs to jobseekers is lower than in September - probably. I'm basing my assumption on an extensive survey I did in my imagination.

From what you've said, you might want

-An FAO who is clearly well organised and competent, because if you take a job and then some unexpected hitch comes up on 24 December, you'll be screwed.
-A city with lots of IELTS work, or at least near to one
-A University near to the city centre, (if you're planning to examine in that city) as you will need to get to the centre on a Sunday morning. Alternatively, you need to be near a train station.

It might be that there are lots of other things which will be much less important than these things, and I would consider whether the free Monday thing is at all realistic. You might need to make some quick decisions, so I'd suggest being very clear about what order your priorities are in. Get a new job, and accommodation etc, agreed as soon as possible. From a risk analysis point of view, getting jobs and permits in China is problematic, as poor nellychess on another thread has discovered.

You haven't actually said you're an IELTS examiner. If you're not an IELTS examiner, and are instead intending to become one, there is a massive hole in your plan, (that hole being that you might not pass the certification).

[BlueBlood]

re the "criminal check"

Vike, I'm from the States, and I've researched this in anticipation of (eventually) getting a job offer and applying for me Z-visa. As with everything about China, it's as clear as mud.

One FT I know didn't have to get one. Period. No probs processing his visa.

Another had to get full-blown "FBI" check; fingerprints and all. Took 6 weeks!

Another only had to visit his local Sheriff's office, provide his identifiers, no prints, no charge, got a report, and was on his way.

And don't get me started on the medical check. I had mine done last month, and won't be pleased if I "need a new one"