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AmericanSuisse
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Posts: 5
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
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 Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:04 pm Post subject: Gold Star TEFL Recruitment |
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Sorry if this has been addressed in another posting. I searched and looked manually but saw nothing.
My time in Switzerland doing private teaching is over next spring and I've been looking for another placement. Heard interesting things about teaching in China, some fantastic and others along the line of horror stories. One of the sites I've been researching is Gold Star TEFL Recruitment, Recruitment Consultant. My contact has been Aidan Wang.
Does anyone have exp. with this company or this person?
Thanks!
Rob |
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Miajiayou
Joined: 30 Apr 2011
Posts: 283
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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| No, but there is no need to use a recruiter in China. There are plenty of schools doing their own legwork. |
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eurobound
Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I got a job through this recruiter late last month. Their involvement was minimal and after our first exchange of e-mails I corresponded with the school and we c.c'd these exchanges to the recruiter. I'm not sure why the school had employed them at all really, maybe just to shift through huge numbers of applicants.
It just so happened that the job they were advertising ticked all the boxes for me and I wasn't messing them around dilly-dallying, so maybe that's why everything went well.
I know nothing of this Aidan though. |
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AmericanSuisse
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Posts: 5
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks both of you for the fast replies. All the teaching I've done has been private here in Switzerland which is why I think it would be better for me to use a company/recruiter. Maybe that's the wrong way to go about it but I'd rather not take chances after reading some of the stories posted here and on other sites.
eurobound, I'd be interested in hearing more from you if you have the time. At the moment I'm considering applying for a posting in Daqing.
Thanks for your time. |
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AliceB
Joined: 13 Apr 2011
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I had some contact with Gold Star while I was job hunting this year. They seemed perfectly legitimate - but bear in mind that they recruit almost exclusively for EF schools. I had a good experience with the recruiter Network ESL, so you might want to check them out. They asked lots of questions about exactly what and where I wanted to teach, and found me a couple of excellent job offers. I ended up taking a job with a different school, and when I declined the jobs with Network they sent an email full of advice about common ESL scams. |
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eurobound
Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| AmericanSuisse wrote: |
Thanks both of you for the fast replies. All the teaching I've done has been private here in Switzerland which is why I think it would be better for me to use a company/recruiter. Maybe that's the wrong way to go about it but I'd rather not take chances after reading some of the stories posted here and on other sites.
eurobound, I'd be interested in hearing more from you if you have the time. At the moment I'm considering applying for a posting in Daqing.
Thanks for your time. |
Hey. To be honest, when you're saviour looks like me then you're really in trouble 
This is the very first time I'll be teaching in China and therefore I might not be the right person to take any advice from. Like you I've only done a year of teaching, and I've also read quite a few horror stories about teaching in China.
However, from what I understand, going through a recruiter doesn't guarantee that you won't end up in a bad situation. Try some google searches about recruitment scams or read through some old posts to get a jist of this type of thing. A poster called Hewlett77 (or something) springs to mind; though to be fair I believe he was largely working illegally and perhaps therefore causing most of his problems himself.
I'm not saying all recruiters are bad - I don't have the experience or knowledge to do that - but I'm just saying that from what I've researched people get scammed from schools AND recruiters.
But I researched Gold Star TEFL Recruitment on the internet before applying through them and didn't find any negative comments about them. But I was after the job they were advertising and that is the sole reason I contacted them. The school they were advertising for is a well known one who I would have probably interviewed with at this stage in my career anyway. So the recruiter wasn't important to me.
Having said that, I interviewed for a great many jobs previous to taking this position. I turned down most of the ones I was offered simply because I couldn't bring myself to move to China on the say so of people and schools that I could find absolutely no information about on the internet or anywhere else. So I understand why you might want to go through a recruiter.
I'm not sure if any of that is of any use/interest to you at all. I fear not. I leave for China in September and although I've travelled in the country before, it's my first period of employment there and I'm a touch nervous myself. |
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AmericanSuisse
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
Posts: 5
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks. Any info is better than none.
I've a bit more time at this (seven years) but all in one country. I will be finishing up spring 2012 hence the desire to go somewhere else. I've had all the Alps, cheese, fondue, cows, and chocolate I need to last the rest of my life. Ya right. I'll miss it here but it is time to go. I've looked everywhere I know of to find out any info about this company with very little result. Not sure if that's good news or not. Oh well.
As for you heading off in September I wish you bonne chance! |
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eurobound
Joined: 04 Apr 2011
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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Oh sorry, I misread your post and thought you had a year's experience in Switzerland only 
Bonne chance, buona fortuna, good luck! |
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