Job Discussion Forums

[roadwalker]

I like the playing cards idea, since I like to call on students randomly. Great idea!

[Wo Dong]

My four years teaching experience in China has taught me the following which I would pass on as "advice" I suppose:

1.) Avoid recruiters - most lie and some steal your identity

2.) Believe only your embassy and SAFEA about teacher requirements (everyone else has some hidden agenda)

3.) Don't buy an airplane ticket without a Z visa in your passport

4.) Sign no contract in Chinese or even one in English if it is not very specific about your wages, pay day, housing, deposits, fines, overtime hours, release letters, resignations, a specific school name and address, etc.

5.) When you are promised something verbally get an email confirmation or it will be denied later that you ever discussed the topic, or that you simply "misundertstood".

6.) Check all the blacklists before you send anyone your resume or passport scan. Here are some places to check:

http://eslwatch.info
http://chinateflnews.wordpress.com
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=617489
http://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com
http://www.globalblacklist.org

7.) Don't let anyone "hold" your passport especially an employer or agent.

8.) Never pay any fee to anyone to find you a teaching job in China

9.) Find your own private tutoring gigs asap so you don't have to live on slave wages and have two flatmates that fart and snore.

10.) Learn to adapt quickly to a VERY different way of life or you will become VERY frustrated quickly. You should learn to speak at least basic survival Chinese when you get here.

11.) Drink only bottled water and wear a air filter mask from November 15th to April 15th if you want to avoid ingesting toxins.

12.) Don't even respond to blind job ads, most of which are fake anyway and they are just fishing for resumes.

13.) Find work with an international school based abroad or a Chinese university for the least amount of scams and other BS problems.

14.) Be aware and cautious of letting your school taking photos of you because they may end up online with some glorious testimonial you don't even know about - from you!

15.) Honor your contract and make the employer do the same. The first time you cave you will be labeled as "weak" and then taken advantage of for unpaid overtime, marketing activities, etc.

Good luck and with a little luck you will have a fun adventure like I now have.

[conwaypk]

Even just a bit of this information is more useful than an entire TEFL course.

[Wo Dong]

[The_Kong]

[Non Sequitur]

[drjtrekker]

I think WO DONG has some very good advice that the veterans all know.
Pay heed NEWBIES.

[Bud Powell]

1.) Avoid recruiters - most lie and some steal your identity

2.) Believe only your embassy and SAFEA about teacher requirements (everyone else has some hidden agenda)

Any empirical data on this?

[Wo Dong]

[Bud Powell]

Do you think I gave inaccurate advice above and if so - why?

Are your comments about recruiters inaccurate? Inaccurate is not the word. They are broad generalizations which, when one thinks about it, are a bit stupid. Not all recruiters are slime. If one puts his resume on a public forum with his real name and the name of every one of his employers, that's a sign that the job seeker is shark bait. If one takes the passive approach to the job search, he'll be picked off by sharks and lone wolves in a minute.

When one applies to a school "directly", there's a good chance that the person who handles his application is a recruiter. Every time that I've applied "directly", I've been handed off to someone else who does the actual hiring. The initial contact is a recruiter who is given a school email address and who knows almost nothing about the school. I've made several inquiries to several different schools and have been met by the same agent with the same name. Two acquaintances who are recruiters engage in such practices.

The advice to avoid recruiters isn't practical unless one is in country and can walk into the school and meet someone who works for the FAO.

But you already know that, right?

[Wo Dong]

Actually Bud when I said "directly" it was implied that teachers would contact either the principal or the FAO of white-listed schools, or perhaps that should be rephrased to say "schools that are not blacklisted" here at these websites:

hhtp://eslwatch.info
http://www.chinascambusters.com
http://worldwolfwatch.wordpress.com
http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.org
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=617489
http://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com

I recall seeing a post or two from you where you also recommended that FAO's be contacted directly, so I am glad we agree on something.

[Bud Powell]

Sticky: "...This forum is not any one member's personal playground..."

[Wo Dong]

[Bud Powell]

Sticky: "...This forum is not any one member's personal playground..."

[Wo Dong]