Job Discussion Forums

[rioux]

Do the chances of being hired increase if both you and your wife want to teach at the same school or would it not matter?
I suppose if they hire a certain number of foreign faculty to work in a university by there being two of you they don't have to worry about supplying that additional apartment.

[Javelin of Radiance]

Still depends on the married couple. Your skills, qualifications, experience where you come from, native speakers or not, do you have a family (meaning you need a bigger flat), salary demands et cetera still weigh more heavily I'd say. There is an advantage in that the school saves on one apartment but to be honest, those savings are probably minimal. If my school apartment was advertised on the local real estate market it would rent for about 800 a month (educated guess). Some people might add that another advantage is the male teacher won't be chasing female students but the fact that 80-90% of ESL teachers here appear to be male is probably an indicator they don't worry about that too much.

[GeminiTiger]

A white couple with a BA+ from America would be highly sought after.

[Babala]

I think universities like to hire couples. I never hire couples as they always want the same time off and complain if they don't get matching schedules. Also if for some reason they leave, you are out 2 teachers at once.

[rioux]

My wife and I would prefer to not have matching schedules. We plan on staying in China together for 2 years. During this time we would both home school our child. One of us should always be with her while the other teaches.

[Babala]

Be sure to tell the school this. Scheduling you and wife to work opposite shifts would be even more difficult.

There are many advantages to hiring couples but personally I find their scheduling demands too much trouble.

[Teacher Jack]

Rouix, we are in a similar situation(with a few differences: my wife lived in the US, had a US teaching certificate, etc) When we applied for jobs, we were sought after and had our pick of jobs. Every job offered us both the same salary, not sure they low balled me and high balled her, but we didn't have any problem. There are a lot of schools out there that will only hire 2 teachers and they prefer a couple.

With our school, we've been able to do a lot of extra stuff with the students and really get involved with the school in ways that single teachers might not be able to and the school knows it.

One thing to consider though is that you are not a teaching couple, but a teaching family.

The biggest problem that I think you will have is finding a school that will arrange your schedule in such a way that you both won't need to be at the school at the same time.

I foresee that as a problem for us in the Spring(my wife will give birth in January) so we'll be hiring someone to help with the baby for sure.

[mambawamba]

We're in the same situation.

Both my husband and I are both qualified and have long experience here in China, we're homeschooling our son (do not get me started on international schools) and we thought that it might be a possiblity to both work different schedules around that.

Basically, right now, we couldn't work it in the place we're at.

Timetables constantly change and there's always extra hours or committments.

Focus on one person getting a well paid job and the other homeschooling. Remember that it's a constant state of flux anyway, what works now may not work down the line. Things have a tendency to evolve by themselves.

If you want more info please feel free to PM me.

[rioux]

Would my wife be able to get a visa if she worked part-time or is this not allowed?

[kungfuman]

[choudoufu]

[Old Surrender]