Job Discussion Forums

[Napkat]

Hi there!

I've just been offered an English teaching job in Beijing with a company called EF English First, and I'd like to ask if I'm getting a slightly raw deal or not.

For reference, I have a BA in Philosophy from a good UK university (UEA), can speak Mandarin to HSK 4 level (spent six months studying Mandarin at Fuzhou University) and have four months' prior English teaching experience in China. I also have about two years' experience of working with international students/in international schools during and immediately following my undergrad degree, although this experience doesn't involve teaching.

With all that out of the way, the deal is as follows!

Salary: 13000 RMB
Housing: None (no apartment, no accommodation allowance)
Hours: 40 per week, Thurs-Mon. Potentially more during peak periods. Consists of 25 hrs/week teaching, the rest being office hours.

Bonus: 10,000 sign-up bonus (2000 paid at the end of month 2, 8000 paid at the end of month 12)
Bonus: Free outbound flight
Bonus: Cost of visa and medical check covered
Bonus: Two weeks in a hotel upon arrival, paid for
Bonus: EF will cover $300 worth of domestic trips during time away for recreation.
Bonus: $67 flight allowance per month

The main sticking point here is the lack of accommodation given the cost of it in Beijing. Although I reckon this might explain a figure of 13000 RMB/month, I'm not sure how well this makes up for it practically. Worth noting also is that I've been given five days to accept or reject this offer from the date of being offered it - does that seem a bit quick to anyone?

Any opinions/ideas? Also, any thoughts on English First in general?

Thanks a bunch in advance.

C x

[LarssonCrew]

Alright, here we go.

Firtly, Chinese is irrelevant, I din't pass a HSK or anything but I speak it well, the only time it helps is for private student's parents. Except that time in the classroom is irrelevant.

That offer is absolutely shocking, I mean horrendous.

A GOOD place in BJ that someone from the UK will find acceptable is probably 6000 a month, unless you want to live with 3-4 other people in a house [are you still in uni?No. Then most want to live on their own.] Add on bills, electricity, phone, gas, internet, etc. you're looking at maybe 7500 for housing, bills and phone. Next, they might take tax and therefore knock another -1500 off.

You therefore have 4000 for everything else. Saving? Not a chance.

133 RMB a day to live. A beer in a nice place might cost you 50.

And 40 hours a week of your time, DAMN. That office hour at the end of the day when you could be doing the same thing at home grates hard. Or when your first class is 6:30 but you have to trot in at 2pm and sit there doing nothing.

For reference, I was offered a university job in BJ for 13000 a month AFTER tax, for 16 40 minute classes WITH housing, and all paid winter and summer holidays. That means realistically I will teach for one whole day [10 40 minute classes] and then one or two more other days. I then make bank doing 10-15 hours of privates at 250 an hour in Beijing.

And they pay $800 for your airfare? 500 quid. Can you get a RETURN ticket for that?Maybe on China Eastern = DIRE.

The outbound flight paid for?Does that mean prepaid and sent to you, or you pay and they reimburse. Are medical fees in the UK paid for, getting your degree done, etc?

[Napkat]

[SH_Panda]

[kungfu]

Wall Street offer 17000 for Beijing and Shanghai but no airfare or housing. That's 4000 a month more than what EF offer.

[doogsville]

Bottom line? Terrible deal. There are much better deals available. Spend a bit of time and effort and you will find them. A lot of employers in China take advantage of newcomers lack of knowledge and, let's just say keenness to come to China, to offer these really crap deals. The debates about wages and conditions and what constitutes a good offer go on and on on this board and others. The truth is though that as long as there are people who accept these shitty deals, for whatever reasons, they will continue to offer them.

Take your time. You're talking about moving thousands of miles/kilometres to a foreign country to live and work. There are good jobs to be had. What we do here has value. Value yourself and your skills and find an employer that values you too. They are out there, but like diamonds, they often get obscured by all the dirt.

[Shanghai Noon]

I vote no, but I don't think it's that terrible if we're talking about a first year offer. The real kicker isn't so much the salary but the schedule. It won't leave much time for private lessons or a social life.

If you want to, you can PM me and I can give you some contacts here in Shanghai.

[Mr. Leafy]

[bograt]

You might want to consider that the average salary in the UK for a graduate is 20,000 a year which works out to around 1330 quid a month after tax, which works out to slightly less RMB than EF are offering. However you don't mention how much that RMB salary will be after tax. Even so for someone newly graduated it doesn't look like a bad offer.

[Shanghai Noon]

I think 13,000 is in the untaxable bracket.

[GreatApe]

I voted "No!" ... not a good deal, though I know expats who have accepted worse for their first gig.

1) Salary is too low for the C.O.L. in BJ.
2) Housing in BJ is expensive.
3) Working hours are TOO high versus salary.
4) Poor air quality in BJ will bring down your "Quality of Life"
5) You can do better in a smaller tier city. Make the same (or better money) and save more on C.O.L. and rent (paid housing), transportation, etc.

Keep looking and be patient. It will pay off in the end.

Good Luck and KEEP GOING!

--GA

[weigookin74]

Tell EF to give you 17,000 rmb or more if you have experience instead of 13,000 to compensate for no housing. But, make sure you still get the flight allowance and signing bonus. If they balk, tell them to flake off and get another job. There's lot of hiring going on in China.

[LarssonCrew]

17000 after tax, housing and bills will leave less than 10000.

I can get 13000 for 15 hours plus housing in a decent school.

That's for less than 1/3 of the hours EF would squeeze.

[creeper1]

The guy doesn't have any real experience and this is an awkward hiring time (term just started)

[Jmbf]