Job Discussion Forums

[Kynan]

Hi,

I'm 23 yrs-old, applying for teaching jobs in China. I graduated with my BA one year ago, and have plenty of work experience before, during, and after university, but have never worked for two years straight. The only work I've done in the year since university was at a summer camp, and then in some restaurants, but I've got a lot more work experience overall than someone who only worked for two years after receiving their Bachelors Degree. My resume is very diverse and interesting, and I've done a lot of work with young people in teaching or leadership positions.

I just received a polite reply from a great international school in Chengdu, that "unfortunately,because you just graduated last year,your working experience after graduation is not enough to reach the lowest official rule for 2 years experience.In other words,even we would like to sign contract with you, our visa application for you will not be approved by the government."

I wrote back to them that I think with the experience I have I should still be able to pass the visa application.

Questions:

1) How does this school differ from places that WILL hire me?
2) How much truth is there that 2 years' experience is required after graduating?
3) Then what's the best chance for someone like me in China?

Best,
Kynan

PS: I apologize if this has been dealt with in recent threads. I did a search on "2 years experience required" (searching "All terms") and found nothing very helpful.

[tw]

[Kynan]

Thanks tw

[eslstudies]

Genuine international schools have their own requirements. Local provincial rules don't apply. Two years within your own country's system is pretty standard. Do it if interested in making money and travelling. However, ESL jobs rarely come up.
Local jobs are a different matter, as tw has outlined. Unless Shanghai has upped its requirements lately, I doubt if it as tough as he portrays though. There is a fair bit of competition for positions, however.

[Kynan]

Hi,

Since I wrote a letter back to the school explaining my experience, I got the following reply: "I can understand your feeling.So let's have a meeting tomorrow or next week to see whether we will fit each other.And then, we could try to make our application to see whether it would be accepted by the government.If the application was accepted,we can sign the contract."

So I'll see where it goes and I'll post an update here afterward.
But meanwhile, continue the discussion.

Thanks again.

[Kynan]

I forgot to mention, I'm in Chengdu already. So I can just get a bus over and meet them.

[eslstudies]

There's a class of Chinese private schools licensed to enrol foreign students that are able to call themselves "international". The correspondence you cite sounds very Chinglish, so is probably one of these. Not necessarily bad: see what they offer. Not to be confused with genuine foreign owned, run, populated, and with a non-Chinese curriculum, International Schools though.
Salary is usually an early indicator: 30,000 rmb up for the genuine article, 4,000 up for the local version!

[Kynan]

The school is definetely of the 4000 RMB and up type. Although I'm not sure what that implies.

It has a China section and a Foreign section. From what I can tell, I'm applying for a job in the China section, with a possible 1,000 or 2,000 RMB extra per month if I do some teaching in the Foreign section.

I checked the tuitions. The cost for a senior student in the China section adds up to 23,300 RMB. The cost for the Foreign senior student is 100,000 RMB. Wow. Maybe that explains the salary difference.

[tofit]

I'm sure they are going to throw the "lack of experience" in your face to lower your salary and make you feel insecure about your job. Its happened to me before.

[HunanForeignGuy]