Job Discussion Forums

[Bat_Guano]

The job on offer is with a small private language school (Treville Education) in either of two locations: Guilin or Yulin, Guangxi Province.

The job in Guilin pays "between" 5-7000 yuan / month, and the one in Yulin pays 10,000 yuan per month. (I've already inquired about the very noticable difference in the salaries, and was told that it's because Guilin is a comparatively popular / attractive location, so it's easier to find foreigners who want to go there - which makes enough sense to me. She said that Yulin is "also a beautiful city" (which could be code for "it's a ****hole" - I don't know).

She says the job is to teach 20-24 classes per week in two different kindergardens, kids between 3 and 6, class size 30-40, with Chinese T/A.

In addition to the salary, the school offers (on a ten month contract) 7000 yuan for airfare, 2200 yuan one-time payment for travel allowance, accident insurance, sponsored Z visa and a choice of two housing options**:

1) The school provides free housing on a shared basis with one other teacher.

2) They provide assistance with rental of a furnished apartment, and an additional 500 yuan per month added to salary to partially subsidize the same. (The HR says a typical apt goes for between 500-900 yuan in those parts.)

** I've already given the theoretical nod to the latter, as I'm married and not really into the sharing- and -caring arrangements anyway.

I've been reading a lot of the posts on other threads here from people with considerable experience in China (much, much more than my paltry ten months and one contract's worth) regarding jobs, salaries, etc, and I'm taking them seriously. But it almost seems from some of them that if one sees a posting advertising a high salary, "run away!" and I'm sure in some cases, that is good advice, but...?

Apart from the bit about the 3-6 year-old clientele (and I'm not taking that information lightly), what is, on the face of things, wrong with this offer? Any red flags? the person I'm talking with is the HR of the school, not an agent.

[johntpartee]

It's not good. Too many hours for the money (ESPECIALLY kindergarten; kindergarten is one of the highest paying teaching positions in China). The housing thing is bad, too.

[lemak]

40 kindy kids per class will leave you wishing for cancer. Seriously.

[Denim-Maniac]

I wonder if my recent posts could lead to readers thinking Im suggesting the 'High Salary = RUN!' thing. If it is something I've posted that leads you to think this, its definitely not my intention. I do often suggest people look at things other than salary, and if you take a job purely for the salary, it 'could' be trouble. Let me expand further. If you dont have a particular interest or idea about the location, and dont have much in the way of interest or experience in the age group or type of teaching, but choose the job 'because they pay the most', well, trouble often seems to follow those people IMHO. Added to that is the old saying 'If something looks to be good to be true .....'. That equally (or perhaps more) applies here.

Anyway ... now Ive got that out of the way.

That Guilin job looks like it pays awfully low at the 5k end of things. It doesnt look great at the 7k end either TBH. Guilin isnt that popular with foreigners ... other places close by are, but they arent really to be confused too much with Guilin IMHO. They key thing in that job is working quite a lot of hours, with a rather undesirable class profile, in two different places, with rather large classes. If this also includes weekend work that Id have to say it has nothing worthy of attraction really. The 500 a month for an apartment would be a bit on the low side too I think. You could get a place in Yangshou for that, but it wouldnt be any better than the school accomodation as it would probably be a single room in a shared building. If you want nice digs to share with a wife Id think you could need at least double, excluding bills of course.

If you have a desperate desire to work in Guilin, and a preference for kindergarten over all over types of work, this offer could have merit. But if the you dont, I wouldnt see anything to get excited about.

I dont know anything about Yulin. Looked on wikipedia but there isnt much there. The location looks like it might be OK. Hainan doesnt look too far away, and I guess HK / SZ wouldnt be a long bus ride either?

[Bat_Guano]

[Bat_Guano]

[clarke501]

I saw this job posting this morning and did a quick google. First result...http://eslwatch.info/china-2/bad-school-review-in-china/6682-treville-foreign-language-school-scam-guilin-guangxi

[Denim-Maniac]

I should also say I do recognise the value of earning both a decent and honest living ... Im not a total hippy seeking nothing but inner peace, job satisfaction and good karma.

I just think people need to apply the same common sense we'd have at home and look at everything from climate to currency. If we didnt, we'd all be applying for those classified ads that say 'Earn $$$$$$'s from home - just a few hours each week'.

I think you have answered your own question about the Guilin job though. The location and the nature of the job isnt of any real interest, and the salary isnt anything special either, so there would be no reason why you WOULD take this job. Is there? Especially considering the little review posted above.