Job Discussion Forums

[MBA_guy]

Questions
How hard would it be for me to find a job with my current education/experience?
What are the best methods to go about applying to jobs?
Should I only look online or is it acceptable to send resume's to schools?
How many of my preferred items below should become required?
Which ones would be the easiest to fulfill?
What if anything do you find unrealistic about what I'm looking for?
What would make me more marketable?
Should I add anything? (if I'm asking for to little)
Any additional information would be appreciated (first time teaching abroad and my mind is set on doing it)


About me:

Age: 26
Education: MBA (Bus Admin) and BBA (Eco, Fin, Int Bus)
Nationality: American - Native English Speaker
Work Experience: 3 years teaching experience (student teaching and assistant lecture undergraduate classes)
Ethnicity: White, blonde hair, green eyes, 5'10 (still odd for me to include this)
Teaching Certification: TEFL in Progress (est. April 15th)

Preferred items:

Guangzouh
10,000+ RMB per month
High School or College students
Housing allowance paid independent of salary
Start date after May 20, 2013 but before October 2013

[kungfuman]

[vikeologist]

I think most High school or College / University jobs are basically part-time; about 16 teaching hours a week, and about 5,000 a month pay.

To get 10,000, you'll be looking at full-time jobs in private training schools, or language mills as they're sometimes called.

Not to say that there aren't 10,000+ paying jobs in high school / college; but I don't think they're very common.

Wherever you work, to get 10,000+ you'll probably be doing a lot of hours; probably an unsustainable number of hours.

Mind you, I think Guangzhou is expensive, but that doesn't necessarily mean the schools pay a lot more.

Just to answer one of your questions; apply directly to schools. Send your CV and all relevant info.

For entry level teaching jobs, you're marketable enough.

[roadwalker]

Most public universities will start at or near Sept 1. (Expect to arrive a week or so earlier to settle in.) Run away from offers that don't include a reasonable accommodation on or adjacent to campus or a housing stipend that is reasonable for the area, so that you can find your own place. (Guangzhou reasonable would probably be RMB 3k+, but there might be less expensive parts of town.) Contract will likely run from Sept 1 to June 30 or to July 31 and pay you for 10 months depending on whether you agree to another year or not, in which case you may be paid through the summer. Public high schools should be the same or similar. I can't speak from experience, though. Private schools could have a different schedule.

Guangzhou should have a higher salary than most for the standard oral English (conversation) class, but I don't think 10k to start is likely. High schools may pay more. Also, if you sell yourself as a subject (business, economics, etc) teacher, you may get higher offers from public universities. If you make a bit less for teaching oral English classes, you may have more free time to pick up side work. Your school may actively discourage side work or may actively recruit you to teach for their partners (don't sell yourself cheap.) Oral English may be strange at first but after you get a rhythm for the class there is usually little prep time compared to other classes.

Don't send resumes/CVs through the mail. They will arrive in 2015. Email is the best way. Find schools through goggle and wikipedia, and ads that show a direct contact for the school. An ad for a school that has you correspond with a recruiter may be ok, but don't expect anything but an introduction so the recruiter can get their cut for finding you. Don't hire an agent yourself to find a job, they are too easy to find and you might be offered a lower salary to cover the agents fee. Send a resume, a photocopy of your passport photo pages, a copy of your MBA degree and tefl certificate and any letters of recommendation attached to a short email expressing interest. Don't send large size files if possible and don't bother with transcripts or criminal background checks unless specifically asked. (not likely). That's it.

Hopefully someone else will have high school or private school information. I don't have that experience.

[Non Sequitur]

Do you have US or other Western country teacher registration?
If you do then you should be looking at international schools.
If not then you're uni FT fodder like the rest of us.