Job Discussion Forums

[ronald jenkens]

Hi thanks for all the useful advice here. I'm in a bit of a tough spot because I was really hoping to teach in China this year, but extenuating circumstances left me ill-prepared for this career move. Now I'm left scrambling at the last minute.

I understand signing contracts with agencies is a bad idea in general, but I don't seem to have many other options at this point. I'm just not getting the offers from individual schools but I have been given offers by several different agencies. (Just a little on my qualifications: I have degrees but little teaching experience and no certificate.)

Is signing a contract with an agency truly a guarantee that I will get royally screwed? Better just to hold off until next year and hope I can prepare better next time? Are there any folks out there who signed contracts with agencies and had it turn out ok? Other advice on exploring my options?

Ideally I'd like to teach at a public school because I feel like there's less pressure on my performance as an inexperienced teacher, and frankly more of a basic "babysitter role" that would be good for starting out in the field. I'd prefer not to teach university for the same reasons, and I'd rather live in a warmer medium-sized city instead of somewhere near Beijing or Shanghai.

I'd also like to ask whether anyone has experience with the following recruitment agencies:

- Beijing Zhouwen International Culture Exchange Co. My contact there claims her name is Darlena. They seem to deal with various public schools in eastern/southern China.
- BoAo TongWen International Culture Exchange Co. Wow I just realized how close the name is to the first firm. And they just made an offer worse than that from the first firm. Possibly both fronts for the same agency? Anyway my contact there is "Michelle".
- Infee Teaching. Seems to be based in Sichuan? I've seen their ads but I was also referred to them by TEFLPanda, so maybe again this is fronts for the same agency? They haven't even been able to provide contact info for foreigners who worked for them so I think I'm done with them. My contact there is "Summer".

Any information is appreciated, thanks in advance!

[rogerwilco]

It is probably better to use an agency that will be introducing you to a school and allows you to sign with the school, than with an agency that requires that you sign only with the agency.

The first type typically collects a one time fee from the school, while the second type typically collects a monthly fee for the duration of the contract.


Sent you a PM

[ronald jenkens]

Thanks for the various replies and messages, and also thanks for mentioning the pm here rogerwilco, I probably wouldn't have thought to check my messages otherwise. I was feeling pretty discouraged about finding work this year, I'm feeling a little more hopeful now. It does look my best bet is going to be an after-hours private training center situation, which I've read can be pretty taxing, and would also limit my ability to supplement my income with private tutoring gigs.

I have to apologize because I should have been more diligent in my research before posting here. I dug a little deeper and found out that the two agencies are fronts for the same firm. Beijing Zhuowen International Culture Exchange Corporation and Boao Tongwen International Culture Exchange Corporation are allegedly known for running scams. They supposedly encourage teachers to come on tourist visas and then have them arrested for violations before they are ever paid:

http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/forum/index.pl?page=6;read=70401#Responses

They are also both frequent posters on the job boards here on this site, ironically enough. Oh well good to keep your enemies close I guess.