Job Discussion Forums

[purduegrad]

4 years ago, I was an ELTA in a local Hong Kong School. My responsibilities were identical to the NET the school had, but obviously the money was different. Well, I have kept in touch with my old school and they are looking to expand their English department. They have unofficially offered me a position. I was wondering if anyone had any advice regarding pay and benefits that I could negotiate for. I have looked on EMB's website and see all the benefits for NETs and was wondering if that could be something I could ask for as well, or do you think that is just a special thing because they are working through the EMB. I'm most interested in the gratuity at the end, reimbursment of flight and health insurance.

[anninhk]

Go on the hkpnets.org site and you will find all the details there. You should find a copy of a standard contract with all the benefits then make sure you negotiate based on those.

[Pieface]

It really depends on the school. I have a friend here, working at a local school (with the job title of 'English Language Tutor') and employed independently of the official NET. Although he is doing the essentially the same job as the NET in the school, the benefits are far less. Medical insurance is covered (although I think that this is only about $1000 a year anyway!) but he has no flight reimbursement, housing allowance or gratuity. On the other hand, some of the advantages are: working hours (8.45pm-4pm), salary (28000 per month [actually higher than your average NET if you don't include the housing!]) and also the fact that he is on a one year rolling contract, rather than being tied to the school for two years.
If you are looking for all the benefits of the NET scheme, then I think the only way would be to convince the school to employ you as an EMB NET!
Anyway, good luck

[hkteach]

Many schools employ NETs independently of the EMB.
The reasons for this are:
1. They believe they have a better chance of finding a NET themselves than rely on the EMB (seeing there are usually more vacancies than candidates) so they advertise in the local press and use word of mouth to get the word out. This way they attract people already here - 'local hire' and therefore don't have to pay all the benefits normally payable to overseas hires (flights, accommodation allowance).

2. They already have a NET funded by the EMB but want another one to teach the classes not covered by the existing NET or teach other aspects of English (e.g. drama).
In this case, the school funds the salary of the NET and while they may be willing and able to pay the salary of another teacher, they may not be willing or able to pay the extras.

Many schools employ part-timers or fulltime on low salary. My previous school employed a full-time ELTA for 20000 HKD a month (including all paid holidays).