Job Discussion Forums

[mirabelle]

Hi there,

Well I posted a couple of times earlier about this and didn't really know where else to ask (since I don't know anything about jobs in China outside ESL). I got an offer for a non-teaching job in Hangzhou, health insurance + 7500RMB/month (6000+1500 housing subsidy). It doesn't come with the fantastic vacation time I've had while teaching, sounds like a 9-5 kind of gig, but it could be pretty interesting (a little marketing, english editing, etc.) and I'm kind of burnt out on teaching. Is 7500/month reasonable? People seemed nice, Taiwanese, probably just also want the native speaker/foreign face (no translation involved on my part, they know my level of Chinese isn't fluent).

So what are costs of living in Hangzhou? For an apt.? Is there a big expat community there? They mentioned a 3-month probation period with possibility for raise based on performance, but I have to let them know soon. I'm sure I could make more $ living in Shanghai, but it's not my biggest concern. So is that a decent offer for Hangzhou? Would I be able to save?

Thanks...any input would be great, even just from Hangzhou residents (living there etc), since I don't know much about the non-teaching field here

[kev7161]

[Babala]

For the hours and the limited vacation time, the pay is low. My school chain has a center in Hangzhou and they pay as much as the centers in Shanghai. I would say Hangzhou is quite expensive compared to many cities around. I work a forty hour week and make much higher than the pay you are being offered. I think the offer isn't that good.

[nolefan]

one main consideration is that your are burned out on teaching so this gig might be a welcome change to either take a break before you go back in for another teaching job or a nice transition back into the corporate world.