Job Discussion Forums

[candy_girl]

Many of the contracts advertised now on Dave's ESL Cafe seem to start in September. I'm thinking September may be a little bit too early a leave date for me, I'm leaning more towards November/December. Just wondering from the people who are already out there, do contracts start year round or just September for the most part?


candy_girl

[tw]

[amandabarrick]

Contracts follow the semester start dates in China. The Fall semester starts in late August early September, the Spring semester starts after Spring Festival, late February/early March. Most contracts start at these 2 times. There are a few contracts that may start year round, but very few that I have seen that are good schools.

AB

[Delicious]

My husband and I started our job in November (at a government school) because the previous FT's had to leave for personal reasons. (They told us themselves) There are people who also simply don't show up in September and therefore the school is looking for teachers after the semester has begun. Also some FT"s show up and experience such severe culture shock they leave before the end of the first month. I didn't start looking for work until the end of September last year myself and even though there is not quite as many jobs being advertised as there are at this time of year, there still was a reasonable amount to pick from.

[nolefan]

As the others have said, there are mainly private school gigs available in november/december. It's not the worst time to be looking for a job but you could do a lot better.

that said, the demand outweights the supply 4:1 so there are always some open university positions in the middle of the term. I would say that early november still gives you a decent Chance at a good position. Once december is here, very few schools would consider hiring someone because they'd have to pay up for 2 months of salary and rent before they can get their money's worth.

[tw]