Job Discussion Forums

[ben.detw]

Currently I teach in Bangkok and want to make the jump to China. I am planning to come to China in October/November to scout out a university job for a Feb 2014 start. I have a few questions that I hope you guys can help me with.

-I am not interested in teaching in Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou. What are some tier 2 cities that will have a lot universities to choose from?

-How feasible is it to show up at the university and give my credentials to the foreign affairs office or the person in charge of hiring?

-If I start in Febuary and sign a one-year contract with the school, will July and August summer break be paid?

-Is a translator highly recommended when I do my tour of the schools?

I appreciate your feedback!

Ben

[johntpartee]

If you show up in person you are 100% guaranteed a position somewhere (NB: somewhere). I'm assuming you're white, but even if you're not, you can still get something SOMEWHERE.

There will probably be someone at the school who speaks passable English.

Some schools pay during the summer, some don't. Look at the whole package, other perks may balance things out.

[ben.detw]

Just for clarification:

-White 24-year old Male
-B.B.A
-120 Hour TEFL
-3 Years teaching experience

@John: If you were in my situation, where would you go first?

[johntpartee]

Nowhere in particular and everywhere in general. Your qualifications are impeccable.

[teenoso]

You could try Nanjing , Wuxi, Suzhou - all big cities less than 2 hours by fast train north of Shanghai, or south of Shanghai head for Hangzhou , and Ningbo. All have lots of Unis.
Qingdao and Tianjin further north are both worth considering, and Xiamen further south. Some people rave about the northern city Dalian , but it will be very cold in winter !
Inland , consider Xi'an.
South west, look at Nanning and Kunming - you could travel overland via Vietnam from Thailand , and arrive in Nanning.

Watch out for visa requirements (discussed on this forum in different threads). I mean , be prepared to go back to your home country for the z visa process; it seems difficult to do in Thailand ; HK may be possible , but check with the Uni

I would not worry about having a chinese -speaking guide - too expensive to hire .

[muffintop]

As far as bringing a translator to the schools.......if you can pull it off YES!! Not so much for a simple tour of a school...but when it's time to talk turkey I'd highly suggest it.

Not sure I would suggest paying for a professional translator but you may not have an alternative if you're in a hurry or bouncing from one city to another.

I have seen too many schools say one thing and do another then blame it on their poor English when they get called on it. Even if I don't understand most of it...usually any interactions with schools are in Chinese with very few exceptions. I do have somebody who negotiates in Chinese on my behalf though. Wife. Makes so many things smoother.

Not part of your initial questions but I'd suggest a 4-6 month contract initially. As we discussed here recently...if you plan on staying for more than one year you don't want to always be in a position where your contract ends in the winter. It's just not to your advantage.

[choudoufu]

you have the qualifications, although you didn't mention nationality.
most provinces require one of five.

schools are everywhere. just decide what you want in terms of city
size, western amenities, culture, history, sights, easy transport,
scenery, food, pollution and climate. lookit, wherever you wanna go,
there will be schools there.

fewer choices for a february start, but still possible.

summer may be paid, depends on the school.

contracts are 100% negotiable. get it in writing.

if you're happy with southern thailand, guangxi would be somewhat
similar. look to nanning. many universities.

kunming is nice (getting too big for me tho), but pay there is very
low.....in the 3500/month range.

should be easy enough for you to get a tourist visa in bangkok, come
on over, look around. best to have some schools lined up, rather than
just showing up. china is a big place, wandering from city to city
eats up time. heck, even trying to negotiate the larger 'towns' can
be a headache.

[ben.detw]

Thanks for the detailed replies! I have a few more questions. I am American BTW.

-What kind of salary could I negotiate in Nanning?

-Should I just contact the universities by phone and try to get in contact with the HR department, or are you saying just map out the uni's I am interested in when going to each city?

-From your experience, how common is the HK visa run executed? Is it dependent on the school or the province? If I have to go back to America, how long will it take to execute a Z-visa?

-As far as contract negotations go, should I sign a formal contracton the spot if I am happy with the terms?

As far as the translator goes, I will just surf a chinese dating site and find somebody who is willing to travel with me from whatever city I fly into:)

[BlueBlood]

[vikeologist]

Most Unis don't advertise for particular vacancies, or rather don't take down vacancies.

You should apply to the Unis you're interested in speculatively.

I'd say now (the start of October) is the time to start. Maybe in about 8 days time once people have got back from holidays in case your email gets lost in a 'crowd'.

Send everything

-Copy of passport, TEFL qualifications* and degree
-CV
-Release letter if you're coming from another place in China
-Photo of yourself, (please, God a professional looking photo).


Otherwise employers may assume that you're not 'eligible' for a foreign experts certificate / residence permit.

*Some people say that TEFL qualification isn't a must, so if you don't have one then maybe, maybe you can still get a job, (though my Uni wouldn't consider you for a millionth of a second without one, and we're about as far down the pecking order for teachers as it's possible to get).

[teenoso]

In Nanning , head to the University of Guangxi - pay should be about 6000+, at other unis in the city it could as low as 4500 RMB per month, but with fewer hours.
University of Guangxi has three possible employers - the foreign language school, the Sino -Canadian college (US teachers welcome!) and Xingjian college , all on the same huge campus , but with distinct management and working conditions.
I would email them before you go, to check visa issues (can you go to HK etc). , and check they have any vacancies (although in October they may not know).

You could also consider the private unis in Zhuhai . Beijing Normal Uni has a campus there , and advertises on dave's regularly , other unis are there too . Pay is very good there . Again , the visa could be an issue - people on this forum say Guangdong Province requires the z visa process be done in the home country (why ? this does not make sense to me , when HK is a walk /boat ride away)

If you find an employer in October , they may ask to sign a contract , as a indication of your intent, but it is not the formal one , which only gets signed when the Uni has your foreign expert certificate, and usually when you are there and about to start work.

Informal contracts signed over the net , or in person just by you (I mean without both parties signing), are binding on neither you nor the employer , so don't worry if you have to change your plans . But be very careful that the contract terms don't change against your interests when it comes to the final contract.

[BlueBlood]

Thanks, Vike.

Your uni would seem unusual, as I've met uni teachers who confided in my that they didn't have a degree (didn't ask them about a certificate, though).

That's been addressed on other threads, but I've not seen official standards for the TEFL. The one advertised at the top of this very page costs $149--possibly a decent investment?

[teenoso]

[BlueBlood]

[vikeologist]

Basically the degree is an absolute must. Anybody who has a job as a foreign expert without a degree has made use of a fake degree or some kind of bribe / corruption etc. The degree is a legal requirement.

The TEFL certificate is a lot more subjective. You need to be an 'expert' in your field, and locally they seem to hold the opinion that without some kind of TEFl cert and 2 years experience (and that two years is applied really loosely) then you're not really eligible. But this is a local interpretation, similar to criminal checks and other similar criteria.

I'm not disputing that some people without degrees have jobs, but the rules / law has/have been bent. Perhaps otherwise some places in China wouldn't have enough foreign teachers.