Job Discussion Forums

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

How muany of you use connections to get jobs?
1. Have you used connections for jobs in the past?
2. Did you use connections for the job that you have now?
3. If you are job searching, are you using connections?

Connections just make things easier. If you know someone at the school, they can tell you what the school is like.

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

Hmm, some how I thought more people use connections to get jobs.

Deborann · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 8:56 am Post subject:

When I decided to come to China, I answered a number of advertisements in papers, and also had a look at the internet to play the comparison game. In the end however, I mentioned in an email to a Chinese friend that I was returning and she suggested that as she was the only person I knew in China, it would be good for me to be somewhere near her - so she took in qualifications, CVs etc to the university she had attended (not worked at though) and it blossomed from there. So that was a connection type job.

Other jobs have always been through a formal public sector employment process.

zaneth · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 5:45 pm Post subject:

Yes,
Yes,
and Yes.

Sometimes the connection is as thin as somebody I met hitchhiking, but hey, whatever works. Seems like every time I start the formal process for a job search, I end up just getting something through connections.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I usually find or look for jobs by myself. There have been a couple of exceptions, though. While finishing my MA, a friend of mine got me a job doing part-time freelance teaching. And my current job--I found it and applied for it on my own, but I discovered that an alumna from my MA program had worked here a couple of years earlier. I don't think I did too much name-dropping, but I'm sure the connection helped. Apparently she was well-liked here, and I'm sure that helped me.

I got a friend of mine a job here. Not in the same program, but at the same school. One of the teachers was leaving, so I just walked into the office and said that a friend of mine was interested in the job. The director's face just lit up, and I was immediately sure that my friend would get the job. Which he did.

I'm usually too shy to shmooz. (How do you spell that?!?!?) Makes it hard to network effectively.

d

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

schminken

Really.

tarzaninchina · Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 348 Location: World

My subject heading for my reply is similar to yes and no.

Go to a search engine, type in a city and then university or English. You can also try ESL directories online.

As far as the better schools go in terms of programs and what not, they - in China anyway - tend to remain a little hidden and above the crowd. That's because they want good teachers that are also experienced. I suppose it would also help to find a place where they can find you through word-of-mouth. That's difficult if you're shielded by those at your school.