Job Discussion Forums

[megane]

Hi all,

I am a regular visitor but a new poster. I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about Guangzhou City Construction College? Myself and my boyfriend have received what seems like a reasonable job offer from there and I want to know if anyone has had any experience, whether negative or positive.

We have been offered 7000/mo with all the usual benefits - housing, bills paid, airfare, etc etc, for 16 hours a week. I know that this college is located in Conghua, which is outside of Guangzhou City, but I don't know much about Conghua beyond that.

I'm not new to teaching in China, so I'm fairly well aware of how to haggle and pursue a deal where I'm not getting screwed over (although that's always sort of an option, isn't it?!). But I'm just looking for any tidbits of info about this college or the area before we commit.

(I already did a forum search but didn't come up with much on this particular college).

Cheers!

Megan

[Orrin]

First, I have to say that I don�t know anything about the particular institution you mentioned. That being said, I firmly believe that 7K/mo. is pretty close to the bottom of the scale for uni jobs in Guangzhou. You can do much better than that for similar jobs in Zhuhai (200km to the south, and a much more pleasant place to live and work) where the living costs are about 2/3 of those in Guangzhou.

[megane]

hey -

thanks very much for the feedback. i have some friends in zhuhai and have visited before. it was on our list of places to consider going, but there were just simply no openings to be found there (that i could find, anyway).

i hear what you're saying about 7k a month, but i actually just think you're wrong. at least from what i'm seeing... 7k was actually the max amount we were offered from any uni in the greater guangzhou area. many of them were as low as 5800 a month and most of them seemed to average 6k. this was through the schools themselves, not recruiters.

as well, i think the cost of living should be ok, because we're going to be in conghua, which is a smaller city about 60 km to the northeast of guangzhou. so i presume the cost of living is much cheaper there, which was one of our considerations, as well.

that said, if you can recommend any particular institutions in zhuhai that are paying more than that and are currently hiring, i would be very happy to pursue those!

[Orrin]

@megane,

Right now (early Dec.) is not the best time to be exploring the university job market in China. Most unis are in the 2nd. half of the 1st. semester, and they are not especially interested in recruiting at this point. In another 3 to 5 weeks, however, that situation will radically change as schools begin gearing up for the spring semester which begins around the 1st. of March. I know of at least 1 uni in Zhuhai that offers up to 18K/mo for qualified teachers who are already in China.

I don�t know if you are already �boots on the ground� in China, or still in your home country; but in either case, I think you may be a bit premature in accepting any offers. Believe me there are, or soon will be, much better offers than the one you have available soon. PM me, and I�ll provide more detail.

Cheers

[eddy-cool]

Zhuhai is just over 100 km from Guangzhou, Conghua is less tyhan 50 kms, due north.

A bus takes you there in under one hour and costs 16 kuai.

As for Conghua, it is a fairly spaced-out community comprising a town and a number of outlying districts that look somewhat rural. Conghua is noted for its lytchees, if you care to know, and it is home to at least one famous spa.

Actually it is a nice setting though not very well developed. If you don't wish to enjoy the polluted air of a city such as Guangzhou or Zhuhai then go for it. People are a lot nicer there too.

But it has some serious drawbacks too. I happen to know a British teacher working at Heroes College in a rural part of Conghua (I think it is 8 kms from the town). Logistics is his main peeve - think not of the complicated way of reaching Guangzhou but of the bus-free time after 10 p.m..

I would say the institution you mentioned is in a similar location - in the green boonies: Beautiful but a tad isolated.

My college also happens to be literally 'off the beaten path' of a highway; one serious disadvantage is that we often see power or water supply cut off for protracted periods of time. Electricity up to a whole day...

Imagine that in icy January or in scalding July...

[megane]

eddy-cool,


thanks very much for the info. it sounds about like what i was expecting. google maps shows the location of our school as being about 2 km from the centre of town - definitely not 8 km out in the boonies. i'm not so concerned about that stuff, as there is always the option of a taxi (or bike if it's 2km).

and as far as the electricity goes - i'm sorry to hear that! i'm well aware that the freezing cold or dying heat are no picnic. ah, life in china!

[roadwalker]

[ymmv]

What roadwalker said. My university's calendar has students back to school by Febraury 13 and classes beginning February 16.

[megane]

thanks guys! that's what i thought, which is why i've started looking for jobs now, rather than waiting until january. we are not on the ground in china, so there is obviously a lot of paperwork to process back and forth and i feel like you can never start early enough.