Job Discussion Forums

[LarssonCrew]

So you can spend 2 years for an MA and then 5 years for a Phd to earn an extra $300 a month?:D

[LarssonCrew]

So you can spend 2 years for an MA and then 5 years for a Phd to earn an extra $300 a month?:D

[7969]

[ghost]

[Non Sequitur]

[ghost]

[The bear]

The lowest I would accept is 5,000 a month.

Salary isn't everything, for some people at least. Salary is important if you've commitments back home e.g. debts, mortgage etc. But for other people happiness/quality of life is more important.

Personally speaking I recently walked away from 2 well paying jobs (25k+/month and 12k+/month) to accept a job that pays 5,500. Why? Because for me, and what I want to do next year, salary wasn't an important factor.

[Spelunker]

[danshengou]

Looks like the only thing an FT might beat is a PT

[ghost]

[Spelunker]

At one school I was at in Jiangsu, they had one of these programmes with an Australian uni. As a result, all the teachers had to teach the aussie curriculum and do examining/marking accordingly. The pay was only about 8,000 rmb a month more than I was getting....to me it did not seem to be worth the stress of long hours sat in an office, or god forbid, taking homework back to your flat to mark and so on. I was happier to just teach my oral english classes and have my free time.....but each to their own!!!!

[LarssonCrew]

I remember being offered a job in Beijing for around 24,000 a month.

Sounds good right?

Well actually it was about 19,000 with additional hours paid at 200. Now, that sounds great, but actually everything over 19,000 is taxed at 25% or 30%, so you actually are getting around 140 an hour after tax.

So, after tax you get 21,000 or so. Your housing is at least 5-6000 for a nice place and you have to pay 4-5 months up front.

Aside from that, the holiday was, and I'm not joking, just the normal holidays. I.e. 7 days at Spring Festival 4 days October 1st and then 1 day in Christmas, 1 New Years etc.

I was shocked.

With regard to privates and 76's cheap dig at me[again but we'll let it go]. I never had a problem getting privates and asking for ten classes up front, and the reasons were:

1)I was white [it does matter]
2)I went to an impressive university and the parents really digged that
3)Most students were informed about me by a current student. It puts you on good stead and they already know the prices/expectations [10 hours upfront etc] and my style, and a lot were comfortable dropping their kid off in the coffee shop and going shopping or eating for an hour or two
4)I spoke Chinese. If they needed to cancel or I was sick or had a prior engagement[such as the school moving classes to weekends] I could just text in Chinese.
5)[for IELTS students]I had a great list of previous students who I had helped achieve better marks and they were proof of it. If the parents were doubting me I'd show messages from previous students saying how I'd helped them move up a grade and how they could now go to [insert foreign country]
6)The students loved me. This was the most important one. More than 'results' if anything. The parents were happy their kid was being exposed to a foreign teacher and I knew how to keep the students happy and enjoying the class. So once the ten classes were up the parents would say 'Hey, Jimmy, do you want to continue?' and they'd always say yes. Happiness of student is almost more important than the quality of teaching.
7)I knew Chinese culture. The students loved that I could relate to things. Oh you've been to Changsha the last week? Did you eat the Hong Shao Rou?' etc.

And so, it's pretty easy to rack up many privates.

[joe30]

Seems like it's very important to get housing negotiated in these big cities.

I've been looking at the various international schools in China, and most do seem to provide housing, even in Beijing and Shanghai.

No way in hell would I be paying 5 months rent upfront to a Chinese landlord. No, scrap that - no way I'd be paying 5 months rent up front to any landlord. They're up there with taxi drivers for the most scummy people in society. Even in the UK it was frequently a hassle to get deposits back, being charged ridiculous 'fees' for stuff etc.

I've learned my lesson now. No more than 1 month rent up front, and when it's the final month of the contract I just won't pay it, and tell them to take it out of my (1 month) deposit instead.

[Spelunker]

[Jmbf]