Job Discussion Forums

[mattyko40]

What happened? I was just looking for Taizhou info and happened on this. I'm in Taizhou and I know they are still open and have talked to people who work there. They don't say anything too bad about it. It didn't sound great but what is in China

[Deats]

Sure it was just one guy on his high horse and nothing happened at all.

[nyrstein]

I just had an interview with Birmy today. I researched them before, and found this thread as well as a couple of others that had negative feedback from them. But, I went ahead with the interview to see what it was like. Of course, I didn't mention the negative feedback I found to the interviewer.

The interview went well, which I would think it would regardless of whether it was a bad school or not. They want to have that good first impression (as I want to give one as well). The young woman who interviewed me had found my profile on teachinchina.net, so she is the one who read my resume and wanted to bring me into the interview process. One of the reasons she contacted me is, aside from my experience, the fact that she said she went to college and grad school in NYC (which is where I'm from). Now, I didn't think she was lying about that just to please/impress me because whe I asked here where she studied, she named specific schools that were kind of obscure and also named a specific neighborhood where she lived right off the bat (and not a famous neighborhood at that).

She was candid about the job expectations/working hours/salary. Also, she mentioned that a TEFL certificate is mandatory for candidates. I do not have one (I have a BA in English, which was sufficient for where I am teaching at the moment), but applied for an online degree which I'll get before the beginning of when I would work. She emphasized that it was very important to have one. So, in my mind, that means that they're not just plucking anybody from the proverbial ESL tree to fill positions. They aren't just hiring people without any credentials. That sounds legit to me.

But, these negative remarks scare me a bit. Although, all of them were from 2010. Have things changed? Is it better? I don't know. And I can't find other foreign teachers who are there at the moment to ask.

[jimpellow]

"I didn't mention the negative feedback I found to the interviewer."

You have every right to ask her and should have.

[nyrstein]

[quote="You have every right to ask her and should have."[/quote]

That is true, I should have and will for any other interviews I have in the future.
I decided to stay with my current school anyway, which pays about the same anyway and I have a good relationship with students and staff.