Job Discussion Forums

[jasonslfl]

I've been having quite a few interviews this past week for jobs throughout China and Korea, and have received a number of offers, but have been torn between the prospect of slightly higher pay and more teaching hours, or what seems to be a smaller net pay, but lower hours required.

The most appealing offer I've received so far is for ~8000 per month (I hope to negotiate this up at least an extra 1000), but for only 14 teaching hours per week, no office hours required at a public in Guangzhou. On top of that, I would only need to create three lesson plans to cover all of the classes each week. Housing and utilities are covered, and canteen meals are available.

While this isn't the highest salary, I'm optimistic that I could find extra private work with my ample free time to bump the salary up at least an extra 1k-2k a month. I've perused many other threads, but would just like an extra bit of assurance as to whether or not this would be a wise decision. It's my first job, and I'm not expecting the best job in China, but am mostly wondering whether there's any chance of a newbie picking up a bit of private work in his first year.

Thank you so much for reading!

[Non Sequitur]

If you haven't lived/worked/taught in Asia before, you'll find a few challenges just attending to day to day living and of course taking care of your regular job.
What hours you can devote to privates depends on your timetable and you likely won't know that detail until just before lessons start.
Location of the private work is also a factor and a long commute can whittle away the effective return.
If you're budgeting on $$ from privates be cautious and don't put anything in that column for the first 3-4 months

[guobaoyobro]

Really, it all depends on your tenacity, drive, ability to shrug things off, embrace things.

Having been to China before, I all but rolled into this current job and hit the ground running. Granted I'm at a private company with no time to teach added privates, but :

Almost every one of my few dozen friends in the industry here, their mileage varies. Some don't want privates. Some moved to Beijing and got a couple within weeks and have kept them for years. Some built up a base after anywhere from 6 months to a few years, and either stayed at their jobs, or quit and ran the privates.

It's all what you make it, for the most part. I will say this is ten-fold in a city like Guangzhou, as there are so many possibilities.

Sounds like your contract is good. Just go for it!

[jasonslfl]

[Non Sequitur]

GZ is a powerhouse and the privates market is probably unlike anywhere else in China save Shanghai.
I've visited but not taught there.

[jasonslfl]

[Non Sequitur]

Yes.
There will be niches that smaller places won't have.
In the Spring semester there will be students getting ready to start a English speaking unis in Sept and in need of preparation.

[Blue Skies]

I suggest you get your foot in the door at a high volume school and then start recruiting your own tutoring students where you can charge 250 - 300 yuan per hour, and once you have a dozen students, find yourself a low hour gig just to maintain your visa.

[ghost]

You can easily bump up your salary to 10,000 or more per month. I am at a public institution in a far less lucrative setting compared to Guangzhou, and am able to do that, so you will have no trouble.

8000 is a decent salary for an entry level job in China. It is difficult to do better than that. Places which pay more may have more hours or stress added. Public university jobs in China usually have much lower stress levels.

Ghost in China

[jasonslfl]

Thanks for the encouragement! Just waiting to review the contract to make sure there's no funny business afoot - assuming there isn't, this will be the position I take. Also comes with 10 weeks fully paid vacation, so ample opportunity to earn some extra cash during that time.

Hopefully will have some positive news in the next week and be abroad in two months' time!

[weigookin74]