Job Discussion Forums

[Xanthos]

Is the recommendation letter obtained from a previous employer mainly to verify the teacher's ability is good? Or is it mainly to verify to the chinese authorities that the teacher definitely worked for the SAFEA licensed school he has on his CV?

Basically is it more about validating ability or validating time spent teaching at a specific school?

Many thanks.

[jibbs]

I have no idea. I believe it is mainly about Chinese trusting Chinese more than foreigners; kind of like many of us trust our own "type" too.

[flyingscotsman]

I had one translated once.

Shows you fulfilled your contract mainly. Comments about your working there and the time period. Maybe also shows your salary. And contact info of the school in case they want to call them.

[rogerwilco]

I had one of mine translated also.
It just had the schools info, time period, whether or not you completed the contract, and a place for the school to tick to grade their satisfaction with your teaching (good, ok, or so-so).

[TexasHighway]

I believe you are referring to a release letter, which is usually done by the international affairs office and is in Chinese. As was stated, it shows that the terms of the contract were fulfilled satisfactorily and includes your dates of employment. In addition, I also always ask for a recommendation letter written in English, which tells glorious things about myself and my teaching ability. I usually write it myself and have the Dean of the Foreign Languages Department sign it. I have been asked for both when job hunting.

[Happy Everyday]

Reference letters have become a recent request, possibly a requirement, for ESL employment in China.

[Non Sequitur]

In my home country the content of the letter would mean it would be seen as a 'Certificate of Employment' rather than a letter of recommendation which commented on achievements, ability and suitability for employment - which we would call a 'Reference'.
From memory, the only one of mine that I've seen, mentioned the start and finish dates and the fact that I didn't owe anything to the school ie unpaid utilities.

[igorG]

[xjgirl]

http://bizpanda.org/download-chinese-letter-of-release-reference/

I put a copy of the standard form now requested when processing your new residence permit for your new job up online for anyone who would like to download it.

Everyone should get their school to fill in the form and stamp it as soon as possible before the Summer holidays are here, it's a good idea to get it done early, so they can't try to use it against you, or the dean disappears for weeks on end for a "business trip", and they're the "only" one who can stamp it.
I think even if you plan to stay on at a school, it's still a good idea to get
it filled out and stamped.

[xjgirl]

in response to the OP

the reasons behind requesting such a letter seems to be manifold,
and is part of an ever widening and deepening effort to keep tabs
on the waijiao working here

e.g i myself have worked 7 years on residence permits, but this year i had to leave the country to get a z-visa for the first time

it certainly works out in favor of the school, but I do believe they have
a legal obligation to provide a letter of release

[igorG]

"A legal obligation" is an interesting wording. Then, the confusion over an appropriate wording of what the LETTER'S name is is yet another wonder. Understandably, there are Letters of Release, Letters of Recommedation, and Reference Letters. I believe we are well familiar with the second and third, but the first, Release Letters are somewhat different and I also believe there's been plenty of discussion on about this. It seems this confusion is purposeful and employers shy away from providing any evaluation of their foreign employees for reasons, some legal as well. Just imagine you're misevaluated by someone that knows little about little.

[7969]

[choudoufu]

release letter? could it be to show you have been released from
your former employment?

here we are in a sorta, kinda com'nist country, central planning
and all that jazz.

employees were at one time identified by their (单位) unit,
which had an enormous amount of control over their lives.
where they lived, when they could or could not do certain
things.

they would have to get permission from various entities to
move to another city and or just to find other employment.
one of those permission thingies would be the release letter.

release letters will eventually go away, to be replaced by
recommendation letters. we're stuck in the transition, where
an obsolete requirement for chinese folks is being applied to
foreign folks.

[igorG]

There's a lot of truth in the last paragraph above.

[Johnny_Utah]

I think it is safe to say many of the evaluators don't even understand their system, or at least take it seriously.