Job Discussion Forums

[WorldViewer]

This school has been advertising in eslcafe.com international positions for several months now, and please be advised regarding their application process and procedures.

Once you inquire regarding their positions, you receive an email from their
"Hiring Committee" which is all that you will receive from them. There will be no identification of who you are dealing with so you could make some judgments regarding the application process.

The application process itself is extensive with a huge download application form which they require for you to fill out, and send to them. Also a requirement is for you to take your documents and have them winzipped. The "committee" requires a 30 minute classroom teaching video and a webcam interview.


I inquired regarding the teaching video and webcam, and they decided to have a webcam interview only. It was led by three Americans in their late twenties to early thirties. They didn't seem to want to reveal who they were(regarding names), titles, and what have you. Question after question was asked, and then finally I was asked if I had any questions.

As I began to ask the first question, they immediately signalled me that they would have to discontinue the discussion. As I knew NOTHING of the school, who this "committee was, and general questions that needed to be answered, I was cut OFF!

They mentioned that they would get back with me. That was almost TWO MONTHS ago. I have sent them two emails, and the first email was "we will get back with you." They haven't!

I would consider this school and this "committee" highly SUSPECT, and would ask any teacher to consider the very unprofessional and unethical conduct of this school to be a warning if they are offered a position there.
It also says it is a "Christian" school, but is obviously in name only, and is
typical for Chinese schools in Asia to be "Christian." MOD EDIT

Just a friendly WARNING ABOUT THIS SCHOOL.

[formosan80]

Worldviewer, I think you are reading too much into the situation. I am a former teacher at Kuei Shan and it is indeed a Christian school. Christianity is the main philosophy that governs the school. All teachers use Wednesday afternoons to share fellowship. I lived in Taiwan for eleven years and I worked at many schools in that time. My best two years where at Kuei Shan. The administration was very fair and they even were willing to negotiate when disagreements arose and, most importantly, they always stood lovingly behind their teachers when parents had complaints (when you teach children of the uberly wealthy complaints are common).

I am sorry about your application experience. I was partly responsible for helping to hire new teachers, however I was not there the years you applied. Hiring is a duty shared by all of the teachers, since any new colleague is going to be directly influencing everyone. It is a not an easy task. Depending on the year, we would get anywhere from 250-450 applicants for 2-3 open positions. It is a major task to go through everyone's application and give them a fair chance. We worked hard as a group to communicate efficiently and quickly with applications. We also strived to find the best candidates that would match the needs of the school and the applicant. It was a lot of work for a small group and some years the number of applicants was overwhelming.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in your future and I hope that you will understand that not everything in Taiwan is negative or bad.

[zipper]

It only takes a couple seconds to say, �Sorry, we hired another candidate that exceeds your qualifications.� Story would have ended a long time ago, but instead the candidate is led around with �we will get back with you.� You see both sentences take about the same time to write. It�s called business courtesy.

I think when management only allows teachers to interview, then the process become highly subjective and less objective.

[Dr_Zoidberg]

Some of the worst people I've met in Taiwan were "Christians". 'nuff said.

[taiwan teacher]

I will second on Worldviewer's post and disagree with Formosan80. I worked with a teacher a few years ago that used to work at Kuei Shan. Our after work conversations allowed me to meet the rest of the crew and I was glad I didn't make a decision to apply. After hanging out a few times, I feel I know all the things I need to know to stay away and not waste my time there. As far as the hiring committee goes, there's only one person who makes the final decision and that's the owner of the school. The rest are there to be puppets and look like they run the show. The school may have made some improvements but it lacks a director (owner) who has knowledge of how to manage a positive environment and actual teaching experience. This school has constant postings on Tealit and a high turnover rate. I have heard some really negative situations and threats from that school and even heard the news crew approaching that school in the past. Also, some teacher was sleeping with a girl in the kindergarten building. They may be rumors, but I don't think foreigners would lie to each other about that kind of stuff. So with that being said, I'm not sure it follows my Christian morals. It's one thing to force students to memorize Bible verses and it's another thing to follow the word of God.