Job Discussion Forums

[jeffinflorida]

I got an email from a person who had agreed to work for this women, went to China (from abroad) at her own expense, showed up to work, only to find out that "Sandy" changed her mind.

here's the ad:

[Steppenwolf]

Fully agree with you, Jeff, but in all fairness you have to admit that it i8sn a total moron who folies into China in the hope of loanding a job like that with a PRIVATE employer. China doesn't even have au pair jobs so how on Earth can westerners be so naive as to assume that any presumably "rich" Chinese FAMILY has the means and legal options to hire a laowai?

A little familiarity with contemporary history would hopen anyone's eyes to the facts and avert such disasters!
You don't pity all those folks who, upon being contacted by Nigerian/Filippino?Indonesian family members whose "rich and influential father passed away, leaving U.S. $ 2 million unclaimed" ask you a total stranger to "help me get my father's money out of this country/I will give you a ten percent cut from the loot!", actually send "bank fees" to that foreign correspondent and never hear from him or her again?

[jeffinflorida]

I agree with you Steppen, but even the wise can be a fool sometimes...

Plus my friend worked for this lady and didn't speak highly of her or her business methods. he is the canadian mentioned in the post on another site.

[TravellingAround]

[clark.w.griswald]

That sounds like a pretty attractive position. I can certainly understand people being interested in that one.

The ad seems to have been written by a native English speaker and as such is pretty clear in respects to the requirements and the fact that the applicant must meet the conditions to be considered. I am curious as to whether the applicant met all of the criteria stated in the ad, and whether the applicant was �given the job� and then asked to come to China only to not get the job.

As others have stated we need to accept that there is an element of risk of traveling across the world to accept a job � whether it is as a private tutor or with a reputable school. Research and a back up plan are obviously a good idea. This job would not have been a legal position which research about visas would have revealed, so people should be extra wary when applying for work that is not legal as these lack the protection that other jobs may offer.

It sucks if the applicant was indeed promised the job only to have it taken away at the last minute, but was that the case or was that the understanding that the applicant had? I would want to meet the teacher in person before I gave them the job and if this was outlined clearly upfront then it should have been understood.

[jeffinflorida]

Here's the FTs quote... for your reading pleasure and continuious debate...

[Sinko]

You may be interested to know that Sandy has advertised again, today, on Dave's Job Board!! Same job, same ad.

http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/index.cgi?read=13655

I think that perhaps some further investigation is warranted.

[Steppenwolf]

It beggars a lot if I am to accept that my previous post was inappropriate because it is viewed by some as cynical. Let me say that Sandy's victim
(s) could have avoided this pitfall by posting questions in this forum before accepting their job.

In any event, the outcome related to us by Jeff would not have occurred ten years earlier - when there was no Internet in China you wouldn't jump on such opportunities. You would have had to communicate by snail mail, and perhaps cooler passions would have prevailed, and more reason too.

If anything, this case proves that you simply mustn't expect China to be an Eldorado! Prepare at your own discretion, but prepare for any eventuality!

[clark.w.griswald]

Anyone in the complainant�s situation would be rightly peeved, regardless of whether they were at fault for coming here without making adequate preparations, or whether the employer made and then broke a promise.

This would have been a difficult job to research given that it is a private person offering the job and not a company. Assuming that everything was agreed to before she left for China and that a job had indeed been promised, it is certainly understandable why she relied upon this job to come through, but in hindsight it seems that having a back up plan could have proven useful.

I guess that the most valuable thing to take away from this experience is for everyone to watch out for number one � yourself. Do your research before you come. Line up some possible positions for when you arrive. Ensure that you have access to enough money to tide you over until your first pay packet comes through. If you come with anything less than this then you are leaving yourself very vulnerable, not so much to being ripped off, but more so to being disappointed.

I note that the complaint was made around this time last year and that the job is being advertised again now a year later. So it seems possible that someone took the job last year and is leaving after a one year period of work. It would be interesting to hear from that person.

Off Topic:

It seems that the mother in question has a mid sized LED factory in the Quanzhou area that has been in operation since 2002.

[AussieGuyInChina]

[jeffinflorida]

I doubt they have 101,000 employees....

Even the biggest shoe factory in the area only has about 6000...

[clark.w.griswald]

Yes I saw that but it is just a translation error. A factory with over 100,000 workers would certainly be a big factory, but that number does not match the investment of RMB5,000,000.

If you go to the original Chinese language site you will see that actual number of workers is 300-500 from memory.

[prof]

[jeffinflorida]

[jeffinflorida]

Came across a website that had this ad on it:

http://www.spokenskills.com/index.cfm?type=5&content=jobdetails&jobID=1103&CurrentPage=1