Job Discussion Forums

Fike2308 · Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 52 Location: CHINA

This is a cool topic.

1st job: University in Wuhan, China. I signed a contract for one-year, enjoyed myself there, finished the contract and went home. They asked me if I would stay on for a second year and I thought about it BUT I got an e-mail from my brother telling me he was going to get married and I kind of wanted to catch up with friends and family so I went back.

2nd job: After about 5 months of living with my parents and not having much luck finding any "cool" jobs in my area I accepted a job in South Korea....working for a "Hogwon". More hours but also more pay which lured me in. Plus, I thought I'd have more fun in a more developed country but after about a month or two I grew to HATE that job and my boss and everything so after 4 or 5 months I resigned and accepted a job in Tangshan, China because the salary was decent and the location was good (close to Beijing).

3rd job: English First in Tangshan, China. It was a lot of work but it was a pretty good gig. I liked the staff, students were pretty cool, food was better than anything I ate in Korea and just the fact that it wasn't South Korea made it that much better. I signed on for a year but after 7 months I received an offer from a different University in Wuhan so I took that. I was pretty happy at this place but all the staff I had been working with for the past 7 months had finished their contracts and were leaving and the school was having money problems so I just didn't feel secure there.

4th job: Another University in Wuhan, the city I taught in for my first year. I signed a contract for the winter semester of 2006, completed it and went home over the summer to catch up with friends and family again.

Current Job: High School in Thailand. I've been here 2 months and am loving is so far!

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

Three years at two universities, both in Guangdong. After two years at the first was offered a position teaching graduate students at another, and figured graduate students would be better motivated and better behaved, which turned out to be true. My contract was renewed but when I got back to China after a holiday at home I found the university didn't have promised new accommodation ready, so I left.

HunanForeignGuy · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 989 Location: Shanghai, PRC

diana83709 · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:37 am Post subject:

2 years at Nanchong High School, Nanchong, Sichuan.
Great job, great students, great neighbors and friends.
Why did we leave? Teenage daughter who was missing family, dog, friends and her education. Home schooling was not enough. She did make friends and got into the culture. Of course, there were some other factors (health, 5 kids and 5 grandkids in the USA....)
We had renewed our contract there for a 3rd year, but James had been having severe blood pressure problems and since we have been home, his doctor wants to see him every 2 months till things are looking good.
No regrets about the China experience. Enjoying life back in the USA now.
Here or there, things are/were really good. Life is what you make it Smile

Mister Al · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 840 Location: In there

Guangzhou 1 year-left for higher position
Xiamen 20 months-left to go back to UK.
Bournemouth-3 month summer gig. Back to China
Chongqing 6 months-School went belly up
Malaysia-a year and a half -School Director-had enough. Back to China
Suzhou-teaching Law and Business at uni. Just starting second year. (Enjoying the summer hols actually)
Signed until 2009. Maybe stay longer if all is well

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

Qingdao: 2.5 months at a college, left without signing a contract to teach at a new language training centre for 6.2 months. The ship jumping was a very, very big mistake.

Dalian: 1 year, well, 11 months then went home for 6 months.

Huhehaote: another 11 months before moving to Changchun.

Changchun: one full year before coming back to Dalian.

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

Not that it's any of your business, HFG, but I gave notice, handed in my FEC and so forth, before the start of the semester. The university was in breach of the contract and knew that.

HunanForeignGuy · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 989 Location: Shanghai, PRC

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

The deal on the housing was that the existing apartments were to be renovated, so the FTs would have to be out of the building from early July until "mid-August", at which time they would be able to move back into the building. That's in writing. China being China, the building wasn't ready in mid-August and the university wanted to put us up in a hotel until whenever. I told them this was unacceptable -- how can one work out of a hotel room -- and they were in breach of the contract, and of course they didn't admit it, but they didn't deny it either.
As I said, I put them on notice, and turned in my FEC, and there were no repercussions. They found someone else to replace me -- wouldn't it be funny if it was YOU, HFG? -- and that was the end of it.
Actually, I'd figured that three years in China was just about enough (to mention the original topic of this thread), so wasn't all that unhappy that things didn't work out. I won't be coming back.
PS - Yes, I DID get a letter of recommendation.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

interesting topic indeed.

school 1. 2003-04. one term. asked to stay but invitation revoked as the school claimed they could no longer legally hire foreigners. in fact, the school decided to hire FTs (foreign teenagers) at lower salaries.

school 2. 2004-05. left after 7 months after catching people (students) snooping on my personal laptop and going through my mail. gave one week's notice. no release letter, no recommendation letter, nothing, was just happy to be on my way. a funny side story here, the one chinese teacher i approached about the students snooping on my laptop... i invited him over to my place for tea to discuss this sensitive topic. after making tea for the two of us, i returned to the living area of my flat (apartment for those using other variants of english), only to find this guy going through my mail that had recently arrived from home. the planned discussion never really took place after that and we just drank the tea.

school 3. 2005-06. one year. left this school at contracts end for a better school.

school 4. 2006-07. staying for second year in 2007-08. good school and good FAO.

HunanForeignGuy · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 989 Location: Shanghai, PRC

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA

It would indeed be interesting to know how HFG comes by all the experience and knowledge that he claims.

Just Chillin Too · Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 252

October 2003 - October 2004: I worked for an elementary school hagwon in Korea. I completed my contract as signed and neither side once breached any clause. It wasn't the best job, but it wasn't bad either.

March 2005 - June 2005: I came to China on a 3 month "probationary" contract. After dealing with some nonsense (which included changing my hours from Monday - Friday to random days of the week, including weekends, which was not in my contract), I informed them with a month remaining that I would not resign for a full-term contract.

June 2005 - September 2005: I survived by teaching private lessons... but getting up at 6:30am to teach from 7:30am - 9:00am simply isn't for me.

September 2005 - May 2006: I worked for possibly the worst company in Guangzhou. Things went sour almost right away when I signed an "exclusive" contract with them, then they reneged on the number of hours promised (I was paid by the teaching hour). Once the hours did pick up (after 3,600rmb in salary for two months combined), they began demanding I do unpaid work (class evaluations outside of my teaching time) which was outside the bounds of my contract. I offered to take a reduced hourly rate for the office work, but when they began threatening me, I resigned with one month's notice. The issue became nasty enough that I was forced to go to the Labor Board and the Education Bureau, who eventually mediated a termination agreement after 3 months of negotiations.

June 2006 - August 2006: I worked for a large training center. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. When I left (due to the issues the previous company was causing), I was given (without asking) a letter of recommendation.

October 2006 - March 2007: I worked for another large training center. I was very optimistic at first, but that quickly dissipated when the education side of the company was completely annihilated by business concerns... combined with having to work for two twits as managers. I resigned with a month and a half's notice, but was told a week later to not come back, though they would pay my salary for the next month anyway. The teachers I worked with respected my abilities and offered support and understanding when I left.

April 2007 - Present: I am back at the company I worked for last summer and while it still remains one of the better jobs, it has unfortunately take a few steps backwards. It's a company with great potential and sometimes takes advantage of that, but also has many of the annoying aspects of the ESL industry. This will be my last job in China as my wife and I are returning to the States in November.

Total time in China so far: 28 months
Average time per job: 4.8 months
Contracts finished: 20%
Runners pulled: 0
Average resignation warning: 5 weeks
Reasons for leaving: Low salary (1), Poor managers (2), Unable to get release from previous company (1)

HunanForeignGuy · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 989 Location: Shanghai, PRC