Job Discussion Forums

[roywebcafe]

There a route you could follow rgds qualifications. in Harbin theres an outfit providing a diploma course targeted specifically at the chinese market and its called Will-Excel TESOL diploma there website is

http://www.willexceltesol.com/main.htm

It look great and you get a transcript of everything you have done. Since I am in the same kind of boat as yourself but without a decent pension to look forward to I would like to try it.

Love to hear if anyone has any criticsims about it

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[roywebcafe]

It was a general comment after hearing about them from other people either retired or still working and on the news. Even the honest ones don't seem to be safe anymore. I have never been with any company long enough to aquire one. There just is no job security anymore.

[Solana]

I'm a 55-year-old woman just finishing a contract in Japan. This is my third time here but I doubt I'll get another position here, due to age (Japan is youth-obsessed) and the economy. Korea's not a good prospect, either. Most schools have a maximum age limit. So I've thought of China.

I have to find something by the second week of December. This gig required a lot of initial expenses so I didn't get to save much, and still have debt.

My position is precarious to say the least. No income after December, little savings, big debt, no home to go back to.

Anyone have any advice on how to find a job in China fast? Definitely needs to be at least 10K so I can continue sending payments to my U.S. bank. No TEFL cert but B.A. and several years experience abroad.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[Solana]

Thanks for the advice. The stress level is quite high. They work me quite hard in this gig so I'm used to it. It's just that now all my mental energy is concentrated on finding the next roof over my head. It's a joke because this is adult-evaluation week and that takes a lot of time. But my survival comes first.

I'd love to find a uni with at least somewhat shorter hours and less stress. I can really use some time to enjoy the experience. This one definitely didn't do it for me. And I'm intrigued by China. I just have to save a bit, too.

[Zero]

I don't think you would find a university in China to pay you 10k. It would be uncommon. Probably you should try a language mill like English First to get started. Then you could look for a university job after a while. It would probably pay 6k max but should be low hours and maybe you could fill in the rest with a part-time job or private students.

[Renegade_o_Funk]

There are many universities that will offer 10k a month, but it takes some in country networking to find those positions, and some negotiation skills. If you want work in beijing, there are dozens of training centers, private tutoring gigs, etc that you can get hired on with almost immediately.

You can just come to Beijing on a tourist visa, live in a youth hostel for a month until you find a university gig that fits your needs. Once you sign the contract, they will let you move into the free apartments asap even though the new semester wont begin until march.

That is one option. The other option is to get a university position secured before you leave so you have the coveted Z visa & people cant dick you around.

Teaching English in China is a completely different world from teaching in Japan or Korea, or anywhere. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, there is an old guy here who is supposed to be teaching logistics & communication, all he does is tell jokes and try to flirt with the girl students. He told me this is the hardest he has ever worked in China.

Before I started my job, the university allowed me to talk to an older lady who taught here as I had requested to speak with a teacher. She told me the female students would come over to her apartment and cook for her, they would go shopping with her, go to the gym with her. Etc. She said it was a very memorable experience & she enjoyed it very much.

You will not make as much money in China, but your life will definitely be much more relaxed, and the hours you put in will be just a fraction of korea or japan. Just make sure you have have money saved up so you can live for a month or two if things do not work out somewhere.

[Solana]

Thanks, Renegade. I'm still researching the sites to go into for job lists. There don't seem to be that many aside from Dave's. And the money thing would be far easier for me if I didn't have a 5-figure c.c. debt to worry about. It's lower now than it was last year but even with all I paid this year, because of high interest rates it didn't make a big dent.

If I were getting the equivalent of US$1,000 per month (and free housing), I could handle the payments and live, too.

I'm not sure where I'm flying to in Dec. if I don't find something before then. I have no place to go in the States, no money's coming from there, and no health insurance there, either. We Americans have really no safety net at all.

I'll probably have enough money from here to last until about Feb. (again because of c.c. payments), if I can stay in a youth hostel somewhere until I find a job.

I must admit, too, it does sound refreshing after 3 tough grinds in Japan. I could go for some relaxation. I'm willing to work, don't get me wrong. But I feel strongly that I've paid some dues already and would heartily welcome some easier hours, older students (or at least no preschoolers), and an apartment nearby.

Thanks to all,
Ana

[Renegade_o_Funk]

http://www.chinajob.com/index.php is where I found my job. As it has been discussed on here, the best way to find a job is the "shotgun approach" send out your resume, scanned copy of your passport, scanned copy of your degree, scanned copy's of any certificates & send them to every job listing that looks interesting. Sometimes you might not hear back from a listing you e-mailed right away, sometimes it will be the same day.

Youth hostels in Beijing are very cheap & lots of fun, you can book a room for up to 30 days in some. If you don't mind sleeping in the dorm room setting, some are really really cheap. Here is a link to hostel world, you can check it out for your self. http://www.hostelworld.com/findabed.php?Search=1&DateStart=2009-11-16&NumNights=14&ChosenCity=Beijing&ChosenCountry=China&

[motown]

[Solana]

Thank you, Renegade and Motown. I'll definitely start looking at the link you provided. Scanned copies of anything are proving challenging as I'm in Japan and don't have access to a scanner. The simplest things can be the biggest barriers when you're under the gun like this.

I'm glad there may be the option of a youth hostel. You are aware of my age, right? I may not be welcome and sleeping in a dorm definitely isn't something I want to be forced to do. Been there done that long ago ... Some hostels have private rooms, even a tiny one would be fine. I've slept in some very tiny, bare places. But anything's better than nothing at all.

Yes, Japan is cleaner than most of its neighbors. I already have noticed, having gone on a weekend trip to Seoul. And I would imagine being in a communist country would be far different. I'll need to have regular 'Net access once I'm employed again so I can do my freelance editing and website.

Thanks again for helping. I'll let you know if something comes up.

[TexasHighway]

Solana wrote:

[mat chen]

Highway man. The truth be told is that teaching anywhere is not a profession that pays enough for the retirement nest egg you refer to. Some people who have parents that are well heeled and can live well on their salaries and leave their inheritance in the bank for rainy days, but in places like China a teacher is not a lucrative job. The thing is that in China in the past the teacher was given a house to live in till they died. Now teachers must purchase their house on their meager salaries. I am like Brian Smith hoping to work till I die but the moment I must quit the profession is when I check into the Hotel California.

[Solana]

"Highway Man," contrary to what you must think, I'm one of a rather large group in the U.S. You make a lot of assumptions without even knowing me. But my fellow Americans tend to do that. Funny, people from around the world don't.

First, my lack of a nest egg doesn't automatically mean I "got myself" into any particular position.

Back home, I started out as a secretary after uni (in my world I was considered privileged for being able to go; in others' eyes I had a lot of nerve asking the govt to help pay for it). That first post-college job was, of course, low paid. I had no choice. I had to pay the rent. I never had mom and dad's to go to. Later I became a copy editor which I was for many years.

Unfortunately, the particular positions I held just never paid enough to provide for a real nest egg, not even over a lot of time. No matter how much I tried over the years, it seemed as if good-paying jobs were always for someone else. When you start out in these survival jobs, if you're not careful, you get typecast. I should have been more careful about that when I was younger.

I did make a lot of mistakes. I make no excuse for them; so did a lot of others. I'm including them in the book I'm currently writing. I don't know what will become of me, but I'm hoping to be able to finish and publish it because I do think it may help someone, especially someone who starts adulthood in positions similar to mine.

I graduated from uni with $15 in my pocket, no credit and the rent overdue. Not an auspicious way to get started and those who start that way many times get left behind unless they can count on some good contacts -- or parental help. It took me 13 hard years to pay off my student loans. But I did pay them off. Ditto 2 other debts I had later that Japan took care of.

My present debt is the result of 4 years of U.S. minimum wage, after breaking a good contract in Japan, in which I'd been offered renewal, and rushing back "home" -- where I actually had no home to return to but was nevertheless expected to return -- when my mother passed away.

When times got tough in other years, I couldn't just move back "home" as some of my friends did and many young people now do. I did the straight-and-narrow for years before I left the country to try to follow a lifelong dream. But that straight-and-narrow just never provided much beyond necessities.

And yes, of course I paid into social security the entire time I worked in the U.S., minus my times in Japan. I can only hope I will at least get that when my time comes in 11 years. I'm no better or worse than anyone else, but I feel I've earned that.

There are many, many other older Americans just like me, many now in worse straits than I am. You just never read about us before. We weren't newsworthy. Except now -- when so many of my friends who were able to build up even a modest nest egg have seen it disappear and now have nothing.

If you think you'll be somehow automatically exempt, I'm not sure what world you're living in. It takes only a catastrophe or two to end up like me. I just had, you might say, a couple more than average for the so-called "First World."

Many of you, no doubt -- especially those who make such assumptions about others -- graduated still living at "home." And many probably were living at "home" before you came to Asia and may still have stuff stored there. Quite a few TEFL teachers will go back "home" for a while after you've lived it up in China or Japan or Korea or if you're really blessed, Europe. Good for you, say I. We should all be so lucky.