Job Discussion Forums

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

I have been offered a fantastic job in another province, and if I decide to take the position, I plan on giving my boss all the proper notice and even help him find a new teacher, etc.

Can I change jobs that easy? Or do I have to do like in Korea, which is ride out my existing contract prior to signing on with a new place?

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

Oh yeah, make sure you get a release letter! Or else things could take forever, like six months to get things done! Trust me, I've been there.

ChinaLady · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:21 pm Post subject: finish the contract!!

finsih the current contract. get a tourist/travel visa. so NOT believe the current school, No matter how NICW, that there is "no problem" with the Z visa expiring. HA! costs, like 1,000 won or more.
tell the current school you "want to travel in China" for August.
get an "L" visa, the new university will do the new paper work.
we all hope - YES!
smile - this is China!!

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Do you expect your disloyalty to your current employer to be rewazrded? How "easy" is it going to be for them to replace you?
Have you signed any contract? Can you read your contract, especially its fine print (perhaps in English)? It will detail the procedures you must follow.
Usually, you pay a breach penalty.
If you have a legal position, then you cannot quit that easily! Your visa would have to be cancelled, a new one applied for, which might be declined on account of your unreliability!

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

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

Where is your new job?

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

Crap!

How's that for a kick in the balls?... Sad

The offer is outstanding. It is where I want, at the wage and hours that I want.

Everything sounds "too good to be true", so I am taking a train ride up/down there (don't want to give away where it is just yet) to check it out.

My plan was, if it is all up and up, I would take it.

Now this really puts a hamper on everything.

But wait!

I am not on a foreign expert visa, I'm on a different visa. Maybe that could work in my favour?

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

I have seen job advertisements where they DO offer a completion bonus (and not that travel pay of 2200rmb or the airfare reimbursement). That seems like a nice way to go.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

I don't want such a bonus because they have every right to withhold it from you!
Airfare is the way to go - it's yours, no matter whether you "deserve" a bonus or not; still, it does get pocketed by the wrong people sometimes! I don't want Chinese to determine whether I deserve a "bonus" - they can't determine that!

ranmawoman · Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 64 Location: San Francisco, CA

Everyone on this site has been really nice and honest and helpful.. I don't ever intend to offend anyone. Thus let me put on a disclaimer before I write what I am about to write... I could be completely incorrect and jumping to conclusions, but this post isn't directed towards anyone per se... I'm speaking generally to be fair and honest about the whole situation...

If given a better position or offer, I'd take it too considering that you don't get fined, and your Visa situation is ok. I wouldn't want anyone getting screwed over in China. =) And it is nice that you would want to find a replacement so as to not screw over your boss.

The thing that I would be careful about and a general rule in life... is to be honest with others. "Do on to others as you would have them do on to you..." Apparently through this site, people in Asian countries aren't too honest. Kinda sad. Brings a bad name to us "overseas" Asians...

If I were to find a replacement, I would most likely yeah, do it behind my boss' back (not really being honest, but a white lie cause you're actually trying not to screw him over)... but I would most likely tell the replacement what's going on... That this is a possible job opp because I don't want to screw my boss over, thus I'm trying to look for someone to cover for me etc etc...

Life isn't always fair... but I feel that in someway it should be common courtesy when in a way the person is helping you out and you're also helping the person out...

That's my spiel... my 2 cents... hope I didn't offend anyone in anyway. Wink

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

I am offended! Evil or Very Mad

(just kidding) Wink

I'm not taking the job, so I can tell you all all about it now.

The job was in Jilin Province teaching Korean students English. It was a nice job offer, with good pay to boot.

Being able to speak Korean, and the fact that there are many Koreans in Jilin spiced up the deal (don't want to lose a language I spent so hard learning).

Oh well.

I'm going to ride out my contract. What's a measely 7 months?

Don't get me wrong-- I love my boss and I love my job. But I always thought 6-7000 RMB a month was at the top of what someone could reasonably be assured of earning here.

Guess I was wrong, so I will be looking for a more plump job next time around.

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

My job changing situation has been going quite well, the transition is about 90% completed now. Just got a new flat downtown. No more suburbs and commutes!!!!!!!

But there's one final complication: airfare. I've finished at my school but the contract expires on June 30. That means two more days to settle this.

I tried to negotiate a flat-RMB settlement but that failed. Instead, the school wants me to fill out a form and have the travel agent fax over a booking receipt. In turn, they'll reimburse me for a one-way ticket from Shanghai to the 'place of origin' (Vancouver)

The trouble is I have no clear date when I'm going back home nor do I have a clear departure city. It will mos tlikely be from Hong Kong or Bangkok and this is cheaper than a ticket from Shanghai. I told them this, but they insist, because of the contract, it must be from Shanghai.

Any ideas on how to solve this?

Steve

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

I would find a carrier that goes both out of Shanghai and out of Hong Kong or Bangkok.

After you have the ticket and it is in your name, just transfer it. You might have to pay a bit of a fee, not sure.

But when I taught in Korea, I wanted to leave from Tokyo even though my return ticket was from Seoul. I simply changed tickets with no extra cost to me.

Just a guy · Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 267 Location: Guangxi

I didn�t read the fine print so well in my contract when I signed it either,
It says;
�Party A will Bear the plane fare to the nearest destination�

so�
I went to a Few travel web sites & printed out the quoted fares, for different dates. I used weekend dates because they tend to be higher, near the time my visa runs out.

I�m hoping this will work, All fares are over the 4000 RMB stated as the highest the school will pay,
All are from Shanghai to Hawaii, so I�ll be able to use my going to Shanghai expenses in my talks too.
I also have the receipt for my ticker when I came.

Maybe you can do the same, explaining that your not sure of your departure date.

`GooD Luck�