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Agent007
Joined: 27 May 2006
Posts: 17
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 Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:59 am Post subject: Any recommendations for a good company in Taiwan? |
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Hi. Thanks for any input you can offer.
I have a B.A. in English, some work completed to toward an M.A. in English, and I have just completed a TESL certificate at International House in Toronto. I am interested in working in Taiwan ASAP, and would love any recommendations from happy employees who could recommend their (or someone else's) company or recruiter. One hears so many negative things about so many companies that it's hard to figure out a safe bet. My major criteria are that the company is not deceptive, that they treat their employees relatively well, that there are no more than 25-30 teaching hours per week, that it is located relatively near a major metropolitan area, so that I don't feel completely isolated, and that it is theoretically possible to save close to $1,000 U.S. per month. From what I've read, at least 4 out of five of these should be possible.
Thanks again. I'm sure any recommendations would also be helpful for other new teachers looking for work in Taiwan. |
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BigWally
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 765
Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:10 am Post subject: Re: Any recommendations for a good company in Taiwan? |
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| Agent007 wrote: |
One hears so many negative things about so many companies that it's hard to figure out a safe bet.
Good also comes with the bad with many of these companies, and it seems that it depends more on the person working for them how they end up feeling about the company in the end.
My major criteria are that the company is not deceptive
Most larger chain schools are very upfront about what is entailed with the job, and will probably not try to decieve you in any way
that they treat their employees relatively well
Whatever school you go to, I'm sure you will find many of the employees are treated in the same way. A good way to find out about this is to ask the contact at a school you're interested for the email addresses of some of the teachers who work there and ask the employees what they think of the place. If the employer doesnt want to do this, do you think there might be a reason?
That there are no more than 25-30 teaching hours per week
On your ARC you can have no more than 32 working hours per week as a foreign teacher. That being said, with some schools there will be several extra hours of unpaid work that will be expected every week as well.
That it is located relatively near a major metropolitan area, so that I don't feel completely isolated
Look into school located near Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan or Taichung then.
that it is theoretically possible to save close to $1,000 U.S. per month.
You wont start saving money until about your 3rd or 4th month here. I brought along over $2500 CDN with me, and i'm still finding it hard to get savings put aside to send back home after almost 2 months. There are so many upfront costs that you dont account for, and the lack of frequency in your pay (typically once a month) makes it difficult to have a solid base of money here, and have enough to send back home for the 1st few months. After month 3-4, thru my calculations, I should be able to save between $1000-1500 CDN/mth, so if you budget your stuff right then yes, you will be able to bank some decent coin.
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Toe Save
Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 202
Location: 'tween the pipes.........
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:51 am Post subject: |
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Good boy. Now, instead of hitting the bold button on your words, hit the quote button on ours. You too can make your posts look super-professional.  |
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BigWally
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 765
Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Toe Save wrote: |
Good boy. Now, instead of hitting the bold button on your words, hit the quote button on ours. You too can make your posts look super-professional.
i'm just too damn lazy to close the quote after each and every response...i'm one of those classic "content is more important than packaging" kind of guys...much easier to just highlite and click the B |
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SanChong
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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Wally gives excellent advice all around. Particularly the advice of emailing with a teacher at the potential school first.
I can't really add more than what he said!
As for good companies, you can see Reach To Teach at http://ReachToTeachRecruiting.com
Buxiban.com is also an excellent site to review a number of schools. |
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Agent007
Joined: 27 May 2006
Posts: 17
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks, Wally and SanChong--I appreciate your advise. I'll check out Reach to Teach and Buxiban.com. I also found a recruiting company called "Footprints," which seemed promising. I hope to be joining you in Taiwan shortly. |
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Toe Save
Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 202
Location: 'tween the pipes.........
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:43 am Post subject: |
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| Agent007 wrote: |
| Thanks, Wally and SanChong--I appreciate your advise. I'll check out Reach to Teach and Buxiban.com. I also found a recruiting company called "Footprints," which seemed promising. I hope to be joining you in Taiwan shortly. |
There are plenty of threads dedicated to these and other agents as well as a veritable cornucopeia of conversations on the wisdom of using agents at all.
As for Footprints, sure...you can use them. I did. But I was stuck with KoJen for a year. If I had to do it all again, would I....could I?
Nope.
I'd come here and look around. Ben (Glickman of Footprints) is a great guy as are the guys that run Reach to Teach, even though they didn't buy me a beer last Saturday. I think Mitch was trying to keep his game face on for yesterday's match up against The Mighty Cream.
But I digress....as did Manning and Shockey....
I think feet on the ground before agreeing to a year of your life is the wisest plan of action. Others may disagree. But then agaiin, others have 3 losses to their record.  |
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SanChong
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:06 am Post subject: |
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If it's possible to break everyone into two categories, then I think people coming to Taiwan would break down as follows:
1) People who may have had experience living in other countries before, and who feel comfortable just landing in Asia, in a new country and looking for a job. For those people, just stepping off a plane and beginning a job search could be fine.
2) People who want a guaranteed job before they arrive, to be 100% certain they are working in an honest job, that pays them fairly and will take care of them from the beginning. For people like this, using a good Company can be a very good option. It will guarantee they are placed in a good position.
Toe Save, your goals are probably very different than the average 22-30 year old who wants to come to Taiwan. You plan on being here for awhile. Most people want to come for a year or two (or 3!), save some money and live in another country. For them, using a Company to make that transition easier is a good, safe choice.
Different things work for different people. Also, it's important to remember that the market has changed quite a bit. Particularly in Taipei, it's not that easy to just arrive and look for a job.
As for the other stuff, I'm not sure what you are talking about |
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Toe Save
Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 202
Location: 'tween the pipes.........
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:23 am Post subject: |
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| SanChong wrote: |
If it's possible to break everyone into two categories, then I think people coming to Taiwan would break down as follows:
1) People who may have had experience living in other countries before, and who feel comfortable just landing in Asia, in a new country and looking for a job. For those people, just stepping off a plane and beginning a job search could be fine.
2) People who want a guaranteed job before they arrive, to be 100% certain they are working in an honest job, that pays them fairly and will take care of them from the beginning. For people like this, using a good Company can be a very good option. It will guarantee they are placed in a good position.
Toe Save, your goals are probably very different than the average 22-30 year old who wants to come to Taiwan. You plan on being here for awhile. Most people want to come for a year or two (or 3!), save some money and live in another country. For them, using a Company to make that transition easier is a good, safe choice.
Different things work for different people. Also, it's important to remember that the market has changed quite a bit. Particularly in Taipei, it's not that easy to just arrive and look for a job. |
Again, I agree with you on this. As I said, I myself took the soft landing from KoJen via Footprints . It worked out fine (for the most part) and I would highly recommend them or Reach to Teach for more than just young recent grads unsure of their footing. For those who are limited in their funds, I'd also recommend using a reputable agent.
But if one can afford the luxury of a couple of weeks walking around, checking things out, wouldn't you, San Chong, also recommend this to such well-to-do folks? They could always contact Reach to Teach if they need to once they are in country, right?
If that 80-20 rule applies here, I'd say that 20 percent of the agents are reputable and 80 percent of the wannabes should find work on their own.
How's that?
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| As for the other stuff, I'm not sure what you are talking about |
Okay Cleo, Denial just ain't a river in Egypt, doncha know....??? |
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SanChong
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:53 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
But if one can afford the luxury of a couple of weeks walking around, checking things out, wouldn't you, San Chong, also recommend this to such well-to-do folks? They could always contact Reach to Teach if they need to once they are in country, right?
If that 80-20 rule applies here, I'd say that 20 percent of the agents are reputable and 80 percent of the wannabes should find work on their own.
How's that? |
Agreed on all fronts!
The only thing I'd say is that larger Companies like Reach To Teach, Hess, Kojen, etc. place a lot of teachers in guaranteed jobs months ahead of time. Planning ahead is a good thing. So, a lot of jobs may no longer be available to people who come and THEN look for a job. They may have less choices in certain areas. |
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BigWally
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 765
Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| Toe Save wrote: |
But I digress....as did Manning and Shockey....
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Not to mention the Giants defense! 
As for the OP, I took the easy way, talked to a friend who was here already. He let my gf & I know of the school he & his gf were working for, and that they were hiring. Seemed like a simple transition to be honest. I'm not going to say that everything about the job smells like roses (read my other posts), but I can say that going with a chain sure made the unqualified "teacher" that I am feel relaxed about moving to the other side of the world to a country where I didnt speak the language. |
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AQUA MARINA
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Posts: 104
Location: Canada *In TAIWAN AUGUST 8TH!**
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| Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:53 am Post subject: |
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Anyone ever heard of anything on this recruitment agency 'English Universal Growth Education Cente' at website http://www.eugrowth.com/ ?
Are they decent?
It's another agency that was passed on to me by a fellow grad. |
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BigWally
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 765
Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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| Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| AQUA MARINA wrote: |
Anyone ever heard of anything on this recruitment agency 'English Universal Growth Education Cente' at website http://www.eugrowth.com/ ?
Are they decent?
It's another agency that was passed on to me by a fellow grad. |
Thats the same question in 3 different posts. I'm sure if someone sees one of them they will answer but no need to post the exact same question in 3 different threads.  |
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AQUA MARINA
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Posts: 104
Location: Canada *In TAIWAN AUGUST 8TH!**
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| Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:03 am Post subject: |
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| hehehe sorry, didn't know if ppl check out thread selectively |
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