Job Discussion Forums

[fat_chris]

I'm curious to hear people's opinions on DOS positions in the PRC.

--Generally speaking, what are the pros and cons of such a position?

--What are the usual qualifications required to land such a position?

--What does an average work week look like? Hours/week? Schedule? Duties?

--What do DOS's generally earn? What is the salary range for DOS's in various cities? What are the usual conditions of a contract for a DOS?

I would also be interested in hearing about experiences from some of the current and former DOS's out there. Many thanks.

[been_there]

Well, I was a DOS in China, so I'll do my best:

Pros: Got to schedule the classes, so I could make my own free time. I got paid about 2x what I would have made as a newbie teacher. I enjoyed talking to the students and parents and explaining the "foriegn learning techniques" in Chinese (really improved my Putonghua). Hell, it was a challenge, and I liked that.

Cons: I was expected to be the solution to all problems. Enrollment low? I had to go recruit. "Little Emperor" getting pissy? I had to talk to him. Teachers/management unhappy for any reason? I was the go-between.
I had to teach, as well.

The qualifications were some sort of EFL degree and expierence. The hours were 40 a week (only got Monday off). I would usually go in 7 hours a day, from noon, when the locals would come in on their lunch break and wanted to see a foriegner before they would sign up untill about 7 pm, when the last classes started. The busiest time was from 5-7 when everyone was off work/out of school.

Weekends were shot. I saved up my time off and took one vacation of two weeks (I got ten days, but strategic placement with national holidays got me some more time) to go travel.

Salary: 9500 RMB monthly. Plus I did some tutoring on the side...

[arioch36]

i turned down my only legitamite offer. I am not sure you make more. This has been discussd before. If I make 4,000 for 14 hours at a college. Then I teach 20 more hours a week, 100 per hour, 4 1/2 weeks per month... well excuse my math, but that's 13,000..no extra responsibilities.


Most "DOS" jobs I know of...you are expected, or pressured to cover for sick missing teachers, or weekend shifts. You are expected to help start up neighboring schools (which can be fun if you like trevelling and drinking bai jiu at the dinner party after). you are expected to say the other foreign teachers are happy, even when they are seething with discontent you are expected to make big promises to entice foreign teachers even when you know that the foreigner is being lied to...after all, now you are management, and your job is to make sure that the foreigners always show up, always teach great and smile, and that they never complain even when they are being cheated

Working weekends, evenings...little time off, fewer vacations for 9500, or working at a college, doing a little extra when you want to... even at just 12 extra hours at a wage of 100 per hour, I would be making just as much, working good hours, weekends off, and vacations (too long, if truth be told)

[Minhang Oz]

Re: Been_There's post...Let's see, for half those hours, or double the pay, and with housing supplied, it would be reasonable for China. As it stands, it stinks.
Been_There, did you ever work out how much you were making for this company, and the percentage of this that was finding its way back to you?
DOS sounds like a nice title, but with no meetings, office hours, or covering for co-workers [I use that term loosely], I'm happy being a foot soldier.
The worst I can expect is REALLY dumb questions at English Cornered.

[been_there]

Minhang Oz,

Yes, money money money, eh? Well, one other thing I forgot to put in my post above as a Pro:

I was DOS for 9 months, yes it sucked, I put it on my CV, and moved on. Now I've got a cushy job at a University.

It's called "delayed gratification." I'm in this line of work for life, and I'm

moving on up (mooooooving on up) to the sky (toooo the skyyyy) I finally got a piece of the piiiiiiiie

[Minhang Oz]

Fair enough. And I guess if we don't experience things that suck in life, we don't truly appreciate the good bits when they come along.

[Freaky Deaky]

Been-There's post really sums up why no-one in there right mind would want to be a DoS. All the people I know that have tried it have given up in exasperation. It's not only the really long hours, but the fact that the school owner will blame you for anything that's gone wrong.

I was offered a DoS position recently and pointed out the reasons why I shouldn't do it. Long hours, being underpaid, being the scapegoat, etc etc. This, of course, fell on deaf ears, so in the end I just give a resounding 'NO!!!!' and walked out...

The Chinese, eh? Make you laugh though, right?

[Gray000]

Well, at my to remain unnamed school in Suzhou, the Dos works about 25 hours a week all told (abt 12 teaching and the balance spent on paperwork, drinking coffee, listening to the radio, and scouring the stats to keep his fantasy hockey team in 2d place in our league), has one underling, and attends chinese classes at the University during the morning. All this for abt. 1150 a month. It depends on the specs.

[Egas]

Gray, did you say 1150??? Is that volunteer work or something?

I was DOS for nine months. On top of all the management stuff, I had to re-design the whole curriculum and all resource materials from stratch, as they all sucked big time. Then on top of that I had my regular 21 hours of teaching a week for the foundation classes, where I had 80 papers to mark EVERY week. By the third semester I was jack of it. I worked from around 7.30am till 7pm every day, but didn't do too much work on the weekend. The I studied for my PhD at the local restaurant, WHILE eating, (no time to have a break), followed by the evening study session. Then it was up at 6.00 the next morning to start again.

The worst thing was that the students were mostly VERY lazy and unmotivated, repeatedly handing in crap work and waiting for me to correct it so that they could do an "easy" second copy and get a decent grade. I was a bit slow to catch on, and it took me about 6 months before I worked out that I was the only one doing any work in the course. So I cut back the work for myself, and let the students do more of the work, refusing to correct any crap papers anymore.

After the graduation the students left, virtually none of them thanking me for the huge amount of work I put in, and only one has ever bothered to email me since (she was a great student, and is now at Monash Uni in Australia.)

All that for 8500 a month, (and a crap apartment thrown in too). But I put it all down to experience and won't let myself be exploited like that again.

[Gray000]

whoops - that should be 11500.