Job Discussion Forums

[mep3]

I'm teaching at a university on the Mainland. The big holiday here is Spring Festival. Universities are closed from about January 20 thru the end of February. Is it the same in Taiwan?

When I finish here in July, it will probably be too late for me to come over to Taiwan and interview and get a uni job starting in September. One thing I am considering is: teaching another year on the mainland (2007-2008), and coming over to Taiwan during the Spring Festival (2008) to interview for September 2008 jobs. A) Will universities in Taiwan also be closed at that time? B) If not, is it an okay time to interview for September, albeit a little bit early?

Thanks a lot .... Mep

[mep3]

Anyone? Know if Taiwan uni's are closed then?

Thx ... Mep

[Pow3hatan]

Sounds like same as the overlapping Winter Break/Chinese New Year holiday here in Taiwan. The starting and ending dates depend on the Lunar calendar, so not the same every year but the total break length is about 5 weeks. Schools are usually totally closed only during the Chinese New Year part of the break, about 7 to 10 days.

You can find some Taiwan university & college email addresses here: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/tw.html, http://www.findaschool.org/index.php?Country=Taiwan Now isn't the best time of year for getting something for September, but there are a few unis & colleges advertising for teachers that soon. You might get lucky and find something this year.

Use caution and Good luck!

[mep3]

Thanks. So the time I'm talking about -- Jan 20 thru the end of Feb -- you're saying that Taiwan universities would be partly shut down for most of that time and wholly shut down for 7 to 10 days of it?

Any idea whether there'd be people around to interview me during the time that it was partly shut down? Or they would be on holiday? I mean, I would arrange it ahead of time, not just show up.

Thanks for the link by the way -- appreciate that!

Mep

[BigWally]

Chinese New Year begins Feb. 7th 2008, and we enter the year of the Rat.

I would say you can pretty much write off the remainder of that week and the following week for meeting/interviewing with anyone.

[mep3]

So roughly anywhere before or after about Feb. 7 - Feb 18 people would probably still be around as normal?

Mep

[Miyazaki]

Some universities will be hiring over the next month and a bit - July / August.

I know someone who was hired in August for a September start.

If your paper work - degrees, transcripts, - are in order, you can come over and get a job.

It's not too late.

mep3, coming over in January / February is an absolutely terrible time to come and speak to universities about a job. Directors, staff, teachers and students are all off until about March 1st.

Best time to come would be between March and June (July / August the very latest).

On the other hand, who knows, you might get lucky

But generally speaking, January to the latter part of February is a terrible time to come looking for university jobs in Taiwan.

[forest1979]

I completely disagree with the last post. From my experience of universities, and I would go for private universities as a starting point unless you have a PhD, a list of high level publications, etc., that the directors do not disappear for an entire month at Chinese New Year but are in fact around having meetings. In fact the university in administrative terms still runs as admin staff just get one week off. I certainly disagree too with the March-June recruitment comment as the best time to get a job. Yes, it is true that some organised places will be interviewing but again from past experience I know of people being interviewed as late as mid-August. It's all about supply and demand but there's a number of things you should consider now:

- sending literally dozens of cvs and covering letters off - it just takes one break to get you here
- Being mentally prepared to fly off to Taiwan for an interview at a moments notice. However, I and others I knew were interviewed via telephone for uni work

I have to say, unless you're organised and get a lucky break I doubt you'll get a job this summer and even less chance at the Chinese New Year as (i) few staff leave at that time due to the awarding of the New Year bonus, and (ii) you're way too early for departments to know of their requirements for the upcoming year (which gets finalised during the summer months - hence the March-June period also being too early for scouting work.

Get cvs posted now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!