Job Discussion Forums

mechanized · Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 30

Do you need any original documents on hand when you're applying for jobs in HK? Like say diploma, transcripts ? What other documents might they be looking for ? Would my passport be enough to secure employment and a work visa?

anninhk · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 284

I suppose it might depend on what type of job you are applying for but if you are going for a NET post you need the originals of every document you have ever been issued with - together with numerous photocopies. You will need proof of everything. At one stage I actually thought they might ask for a copy of the 11+ certificate I received when I left primary school.
I was also asked to prove the number of weeks teaching practice I had done at college as this might affect my pay yet I have been teaching for longer than I care to remember!

Charlesm_888 · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 48 Location: Hong Kong

Passport is not enough to secure employment & work visa. The employer applying for your work visa has to prove to immigration that you have skills that a local doesn't have. Therefore, transcripts etc are required to confirm your education. Also CV/resume and any reference letters you may have will help. http://www.emigra.com.hk/HongKong/page74.php this link has full details.

11:59 · Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:26 am Post subject:

A passport gets you into HK on a tourist visa, and that alone. For a proper, kosher post you'll need a damn sight more than just this particular travel document. In addition to original academic transcripts and certificates � all of which have to be verified and authenticated � you'll need to have at hand a tonne of photocopies (good to see that these Cantonese believe wholeheartedly in saving the Amazon rainforest!), references, and evidence/confirmation of all and any work experience. That's just for a bog-standard EMB NET post, for the higher-end posts you'll need a lot more. I initially had some problems securing my registered teacher status as I had a one year 'gap' on my CV from where I was travelling between my 'A' levels and my bachelor degree, and one secondary school I attended in the UK as a kid no longer exists (it's now a shopping/car park complex). I actually had to produce my old passport to prove I had been 'gallivanting around the globe' (gap years are quite literally unheard of here and openly frowned upon) and I had to get a letter from the district council of the relevant area in the UK to confirm that there had indeed been a school of the name I gave and that I had indeed been a student there, and that I had indeed been awarded 'O' levels from exams I sat whilst a student at the school (the original 'O' level certificates alone were not satisfactory, apparently)! This was all despite the fact that I have three degrees (which presumably you would not be able to get unless you had attended secondary school), a PGCE, a CELTA and a DELTA!

mechanized · Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 30

wow...... quite the sticklers aren't they.

I guess I will get crackin with trying to find all my documents. This is going to be painful searching through the all those old documents.

11:59 So what if you didn't have the documents on you? Did you have to send back to UK or whever you were from to have them mailed to you?

I'll be applying mostly for just regular schools or learning centers and perhaps the PNET.

When you're referring to references do you mean to a contact that they can call or a reference letter?

11:59 · Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:53 am Post subject:

'Sticklers'? Maybe, but maybe not. They are certainly no more pedantic than employers within industry here are and vastly less pedantic than the authorities in Singapore. At the end of the day, as they themselves say, no one is forced to apply, and having daily access to kids of any age is a serious business, regardless of how unseriously some other countries and systems in Asia may seem to take it.

If you don't have your transcripts and so forth you can always pay to have new ones issued from the institution(s) in question .

A contact who can take a call or write a letter simply won't cut the mustard. You could simply get a mate back home to do that for you. All such references have to be from registered institutions and must bear an official (and verifiable) stamp, or, as they prefer to call it, a 'chop'.

mechanized · Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 30

I've been out of university for several years now and I've been working, so I do not have any official school references. That is why I am wondering about professional references.

So if I dont' have any academic references, I would be on my native english speaking ability, my academic record and additional certifications that I may have garnered?

lambada · Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 50

11:59. How did you find the DELTA? Was it tough going? How practical was it?

anninhk · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 284

I'm beginning to wonder if you have any work experience at all. It doesn't matter what sort of job you apply for, they always ask for references and proof of qualifications etc. It would be a very dodgy organisation that didn't ask for either!
I suggest that if you intend working anywhere in education you get your documentation and references in order before you start!

11:59 · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:47 am Post subject:

The DELTA was as hand-on as the CELTA from the word go, but, like the CELTA, wasn't particularly taxing academically or intellectually, but was taxing in terms of sheer workload. I did it part-time so perhaps that's why. I guess if you did it full-time it would be a piece of cake.