Job Discussion Forums

[Tomjonesman]

There was a recent job post for com-com.cn. It gave e-mails of two people at the end. I e-mailed them but it bounced back with an error (these addresses are either incorrect or don't exist).

Does anyone know anything about this outfit?

When you go to the website, you have to click on "English" to read it in English. The same job post is there with the same e-mails.

I begin to wonder when e-mails from a supposedly reputable organization are bounced back.

[mjlpsu]

I sort of dealt with com-com here in Shenzhen. I applied to work full time after my current contract. They repeatedly contacted me, asking if could work part time while still under contract. They never paid attention to my requests or resume. I repeated reminded them that I could not work before 6 pm and they kept sending me requests to work earlier. Then they passed me along to someone else in the office who tried to call me while I was at work and wondered why she couldn't get ahold of me. Then asked if I had a TEFL certificate. They are pretty incompetent.
Supposedly they do have real work to do and they pay well. I've never heard or read any complaints from anyone who actually worked with them. For all I know, they might be a decent company once you work for them.

[yesteacher!]

I know Com Com quite well and they are a mind-numbing center. The illogic knows no bounds. Currently, there is Jude Guo, Yvonne and Steven Beare as your managment contacts.

[email protected] or [email protected]

Jude is Chinese and handles company classes, Yvonee is Chinese and handles the in-house classes and Steven is an uneducated, backwoods Canadian that just throws his malformed, impractical, egotistical opinions around.

Background: Com Com is funded by Cursor-Media Technology Company, a Hong Kong outfit. In the beginning they had a very nice go. Nice office space, downtown, pretty professional atomsphere. They use a CALL program or courseware similiar to Rosetta Stone based/ripped off from New Interchange intro to book 3. Basically, it is just all the Interchange units, workbook, and listening transfered online. After practicing at home the students "book" a class to review the unit. There are English Corners and larger class actitivities.

Very similiar to Wall Street who has come to Shenzhen and is eating thier lunch.

The teaching schedule is basically 2pm to 9:30pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 8pm Saturday and Sunday. Ten minutes break between classes, mostly adult students (some kids in the summer mixed in), business types, mostly intermediate level.

The only real problem with the schedule is that very few teachers have class at 2 or 4, but you most be there anyway and it is mind numbing sitting there especially when Steven Beare decides that the internet is a distraction from his talking and talking about his 15 years as an employee of a Chinese restaurant and pulls the plug on all the computers.

Plus, you never know what in-house classes your teaching, or who your students are until the night before. So if you take things seriously you can't properly plan. Every class has different students so you are constantly having to reintroduce yourself, learn the students names for the two hour class. You will never see them again or you might see them tommorow. So you can forget about doing a needs analysis or preparing something to actually help the student. You always go in blind and underprepared.

The curriculam has all the benefits or limitations of New Interchange and it's inheritted flaws in terms of sequence and scope. There are no resources to photo copy because you are told that teachers steal them.

There is little to no honest, straightforward or meaningful communication between management and teachers. Little to no planning and everything is hurry up, wait, go back, start over, hurry up, wait, forget it, its unnecessary.

I will give you a legendary Com Com story:

Wednesday evening call. "You need to come to a meeting tommorow morning at 9am. Very important. Arrive. No meeting, but photo shoot for Com Com anniversary. Complain. "Oh, we are sorry. We forgot to tell the teachers. But no big deal. Its only 9 am and you have all morning free to prepare your classes!"

All in all, Com Com will pay on time, but if there is any dispute in terms of pay you will never see a red mao of it. They will never admit fault. Jude is ok, but not honest. Yvonne is a retard who knows nothing, absolutely nothing about English, Education or business. Steven Beare is too unbearable to think about.

There is better money in SZ, better schools, and tons of freelance if you're interested. You should take it as a warning that Com Com is working so hard to recruit teachers from outside Shenzhen when they have over 1500 Native English teachers in Shenzhen already. Basically, nobody wants to work with them anymore.

BTW, the basic salary is 6000 base +2500 housing allowance for 20+ hours a week and you pay taxes. You can haggle for a better deal, but it doesn't matter cause even if you do a great job, have a great salary, they will let you loose or reduce you to part time at 150 and taxes once it suits thier needs. Or Steven Beare will take an interest in you that is uncomfortable, unprofessional and uncouth and you will walk.

Happy Hunting.

[NorbertRadd]

com-com's a revoving door, ie, no one stays long. I went to the new year dinner and it was all new teachers [non-chinese] and this was one table in a big restaurant