Job Discussion Forums

[M3tt]

Excuse me, I'm going to rant a minute.

This morning I received two emails and a fax from recruiters offering us foreign teachers. These are usually Chinese recruiters promising us experienced teachers who have been carefully screened with the company's guarantee of complete satisfaction.
I'll admit that a while back we considered using outside recruiters but the idea was quickly abandoned. Here are just some of the reasons why we never work with outside recruiters:

An outside recruiter:
1. ...will usually get paid from the teacher's paychecks. Aside from the accounting hassles, this puts teachers at the same school in an awkward situation as some of them are making much more than others. On the other hand if the school is expected to pay the recruiting fee then all teachers� salaries are going to be affected as this becomes a regular expense.

2. ...can never know exactly how our schools are run or be able to fully explain our specific policies regarding employment. (Curriculum, vacations, overtime, preferred teaching method, dress code, ... well, pretty much everything) An in-house recruiter employed by the school or company should be able to answer any question.

3. ...may promise things to a teacher that the school knows nothing about. So we get a teacher who says, "YOUR recruiter promised me I would get a free facial every week."

4. ...will accept applicants with little regard for their experience or ability to function in a foreign country. During the hiring process I want to make sure that the teachers know what they�re getting into. China is not for people who have trouble living on their own or cannot handle a certain level of personal responsibility.

And probably most important -
Once a teacher is in the country the majority of recruiters wash their hands of them. The recruiter gets their money and their job is done. So if I accept a teacher from a recruiter and then find out that the teacher hates China, never taught kids, was promised something that is impossible to provide, or just can't handle the everyday problems of living here then adult students are angry about the teacher leaving early, parents are angry when we switch teachers, the teacher is angry because they feel they may have been misled, I have to find emergency coverage for classes, and.............the recruiter has just made 500 bucks.
Hmmm, who�s the only person who can possibly come out ahead in this mess?

It's been said so many times here but please post a note on your monitor.....

THERE IS NO NEED TO GO THROUGH A PAID RECRUITER TO TEACH IN CHINA

[Seth]

Once a recruiter in Guangdong offered me a car. 'It won't be a very nice car, but you can drive it every day to the beach!...by the way, do you like beer? I do, I'm an alcoholic.' I swear that's what he said, verbatim. Some guy from Maoming, I think Roger knows him as well.