Job Discussion Forums

alexmoves03 · Joined: 14 May 2008 Posts: 9

How does the contract-signing work? I've been sent a few contracts, but they only seem to be for review. Are the contracts only valid when both parties are present? How do I assure myself a job before buying a ticket and flying to China?

GeminiTiger · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:25 am Post subject:

At the point you receive your invitation letter needed for a z-visa the school has some responsibility for you. If you do come here with your z-visa you have entered into a 3-way with the PRC, the school and yourself. The school isn't likely to 'directly' screw you after that point. It's hard for them because at that point they have invested money in you and registered you with the PSB.

Be careful with the wording of the contract, if it seems fishy, it probably is.

roadwalker · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 1750 Location: Ch

To some extent you have to take a chance. You shouldn't sign the contract until you've read it and agreed to it and then check the version presented to you at the school to see if it is the same. They will probably give you a contract with the usual SEAFA provisions such as respect the morals of China, etc and an Attachment which has the main terms of your work. It will be in English and Chinese in two copies you end up signing at least four times since the contract is in two parts. Any part of the contract is negotiable or at least can be clarified. If its confusing, reword it, don't accept oral assurances ("hours and class hours are the same thing...").

So you end up flying into China with the promise of a contract, not a iron-clad job. That is just as well. Don't sign until, among other conditions, you see and agree to your living quarters. This year is a bit trickier apparently, but normally if you arrive and the school isn't what you expected at all and in fact all of your BS detectors are redlining, don't sign. You can find a job somewhere else, but need to start over again on the paperwork. On the other hand, if they were able to send you a z-visa invitation letter from the province, they are probably legit.

Bottom line: don't arrive having spent your last dollar to get here. Have some cash or credit to get you through a contingency or two. Even in a good situation, it will be a month before your first pay.

alexmoves03 · Joined: 14 May 2008 Posts: 9

Thanks for the help.

Ger · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 334

I was offered a job for RMB4,000 ish per month. I said I would take RMB11000 per month. In the end I accepted RMB10,300 per month. The school paid my tax, but released me (all of us) two weeks early at the end of the contract because the students were undergoing exams and we didn't need to teach (the boss pocketed our money). The other FTs were on RMB3000 to RMB5000. That's what they were offered and that's what they accepted!

If every FT requested about x 3 the offer, then, their FT salaries would surely rise.

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Tiger

Orrin · Joined: 02 Apr 2005 Posts: 206 Location: Zhuhai, China

Anyone who accepts a full-time teaching job for RMB4000/mo. is an idiot!

jeffinflorida · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:32 pm Post subject:

North China Laowei · Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 419

Jeff,

There seems to be a bit of trolling going on around here.

It is claimed that one was able to increase a salary by 300% through hard bargaining, in and of itself, hardly credible,

but on another thread in the same vein the same "one" claimed that a school where I worked, to the best of "one's" knowledge paid RMB 11,000 per month, which was generally about twice what the school really paid. When pressed for details, the "one" ran for cover and could provide no basis for "one's" assertion of fact. This brings to mind a scene from the old Perry Mason TV show (if you remember it) when he says to one witness "Are you telling a lie now or were you telling a lie then"?

Not that I am casting aspersions, I am not, I am just comparing the goose to the gander, so to speak.

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

I guess jeff may be too young.

It should be

NAME THAT SCHOOL!!!

Bargaining can get you an extra 500 or so

jeffinflorida · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:32 am Post subject:

Biggest and best safeguard:

DON'T COME TO CHINA....

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

No, biggest safeguard is to stay in your house 24 hours a day.

I liked a line from The Rose

"it's the one who can't be taken, that never learns to live" or somethiong like that
Getting cheated and learning to deal with it the right way is a part of living an involved life