Job Discussion Forums

[Hermosillo]

big hassle(s) and paying to work. I went to a travel medical clinic in Washington DC, and got the physical exam requirement done for Thailand for 55 usd. YMMV.

Late with pay? 100% unprofessional.

[Guerciotti]

OK I will play. This was four years ago.
47 years old or thereabouts. BS accounting, JD law.
TESOL certification. Some volunteer and paid teaching experience, not EFL.
Tall, average shape, green eyes. Or blue, or hazel. Not real sure. LOL

Applied in various countries. Tried China.
Sorry! I used a recruiter!

Applied to unis. Knew nothing about China. Tired of applying in S Kor. I was too old, too male for S Kor. Still am! Just wanted to go somewhere, do something different. [Be careful, you might get what you wish for.]

Contract signed after about 3 weeks of emails. They said they wanted me fast. Sent by Fed Ex.

My medical cost $550, visa matters around $400 including gas and road food and a hotel. Dang I miss Denny's. Seriously.

Drove to the Consulate for a Z visa, drove back. Flew to China 2 days later. They were in a hurry. Forgot the airfare, don't care.

Landed in China about one month after first applying. Basic uni job; nothing special. 10 month deal.

Arrived and ... TIC ... they made me do the medical exams all over again. Oh and I taught my first classes the day after I landed. Thanks guys!
Woohooo!

[piglet44]

You have to do the medical in your home country to get the visa processed and then you have to do it again in China to get your Res.Permit.Just the way it works no biggie.If the school is nice to you,doesn't hassle you,pays you and gives you air fare and anice apartment,so be it.
It's more than can be said for Europe-no air fare,no accommodation and crappy pay for too many hours.
Would love to go to South Korea,Taiwan or Japan but hey kiddies,no thanks, 40 hours a week with office work ? No thanks.Looks like back to China for me.
( 57,female,brown ,Hazel eyes (I think) ,MA,TEFL and 30+ years experience)

[Non Sequitur]

If you take your home x-ray films with you, it can help avoid being nuked a 2nd time.
The form your home Dr fills out and the other parts of the medical process are a good intro to China. Indefinite, repetitive.. you get the picture

[Omniscientfool]

After failing out of the Ph.D. program, I'm back in China, at least using the MA degrees this time. The vital stats have gotten better:

TOTAL STATS:
From acceptance of offer to signed contract: 19 days
From signed contract to Z-visa in hand: 43 days
From arrival in China to residence permit (fully legal status as FT in PRC): 48 days
From initial job search to actually teaching classes: about 3.5 months
From initial job search to actually teaching with residence permit: about 4.5 months
From arrival at school to teaching classes: 2 days (semester was already in 4th week)
From arrival at school to first paycheck in hand: 10 days
Application costs: Approx. $200 (medical exams w/ insurance & visa application)
#Interviews (incl. Non-EFL positions): 4
#Job offers: 3
#Job offers paying over 3x the accepted offer: 1
#of messages from school agents from accepted offer's uni: 32


Rather than a fully exhaustive “wall of text” timeline of the process, I should say that it was a lot faster and more straightforward signing a yearlong contract, but there were still plenty of hiccups.

For teaching: It was a late hire, and I didn't arrive until week 5 of the semester. The department (non-EFL), not expecting a foreign hire, only had two classes for me and said I'd have to fill out the rest of the fall semester schedule with general EFL classes. This turned out to mean unexpectedly teaching two writing classes five days a week, bringing total teaching hours to 22/week, well above my contract. I insisted on a 5/8 increase in salary, which the uni agreed to, then retracted, then agreed to again when under pressure from the dept. hiring me for the writing classes. Luckily, the writing classes were for a new, high-profile joint program with a U.S. university, or they probably would've successfully weaseled out of paying more.

For getting legal: Had to get another medical check-up, which was very annoying for the extra X-ray radiation and general hassle. The Foreign Experts' Bureau also asked for an ORIGINAL diploma, which was apparently such a new policy that I wasn't told to pack it in my suitcase. Several FTs in a similar situation had to promise (w/ a signed letter) that the diploma would arrive in the mail by a certain date before the bureau would give a residence permit. My family wasn't able to find one in storage until very recently, months after the date I'd promised, but they haven't bothered me or the FAO for it, luckily.

Money & housing matters: Was initially placed on the “old campus” downtown in a fairly large apartment with no cooking allowed, whose ceiling rained when the upstairs neighbors showered. One-way commute to teaching campus was 35-45 min. Moved to a private apartment near the new campus where all my classes are (bike commute now 10-15 min.). As housing subsidy is a flat rate, which my actual rent is lower, my salary is effectively nearly 1000 yuan higher/month. Contractual salary, which I'll return to in spring is 8k/month, but for the fall semester it's been 13k/month.

Hoping the good fortune continues, 'cause the job has been really interesting! If anyone's curious about using a non-EFL MA and teaching international relations (politics!) mixed with EFL in China, feel free to ask! I'm personally a little worried about this new spy hotline, which I've offered to my students as an alternative (deportation) to a negative course evaluation: http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/seen-a-spy-with-new-hotline-china-invites-you-to-call-it-in/?_r=2

[Omniscientfool]

Also should mention it's nice to be in a provincial capital in terms of dining/shopping options and long-distance/int'l travel convenience, but the new campus is pretty isolated, the air is considerably worse than I'm accustomed to. I also miss the celebrity treatment of my past sub-third-tier cities—now I have to get recognition by –ugh—actually teaching well (and trying to minimize my own Chinese spoken in class)! Even with cost-of-living increases, I should still be able to save more than my whole previous monthly salary (and total semesterly savings last time) every month. Just goes to show that isolation, like amount of savings, is largely a personal choice.