Job Discussion Forums

[chinatimes]

How do you guys get your Beijing jobs? Anyone have a good recruiter? The ones I have encountered like to lie, not listen to me, tell me to wait, and then when I finally get an offer I like they lay down other demands that were never mentioned earlier on in the process.

So, I have been hitting these Beijing recruiters hard the past 3 weeks. I am not giving an inch to them. Week 1, recruiter #45 offered a university position for 10,000-12,000. I asked about housing and found out it is on campus and they lock the university up. Not my thing, so I said no. They offered 10,000-12,000 with 1,500 housing allowance. However, housing would cost 2,000 or higher. I still didn't budge and said no.

Week 2, recruiter #45 called up again and offered another university position, 8,000 including housing and they don't lock up the university. I am free to come and go. Great, I had a phone interview last week Tuesday, went well, was told to wait for a contract that the "lawyer" has. The recruiter also during this time tried to get me to take the first university position instead of waiting.

We scheduled a face to face interview where I would sign the contract on Thursday this week. They received the contract on Wednesday and I asked to have it sent to review before meeting them. No go. They would not send me the contract. If I were in the US I wouldn't have been able to visit them face to face. This has happened more than once, recruiters #13, #19, #24, #32, and #82 have all played the same game. They will not send me the contract for whatever reasons and they swear NO OTHER school does this either. They try to make you feel like requesting to see the contract is somehow taboo in the industry.

I refused to go to the face to face interview until I saw the contract. The recruiter was upset and said I ruined her reputation. She later said I had to pay her commission if I wanted the first university offer. She then went on to say she could raise the salary to 13,000 if I paid her 2,000/month in commission from my salary.

I laughed at that and told her the only time she is wasting is hers. If she wanted commission then she should have said this in the beginning instead of wasting my time because now I have lost 3 weeks due to these games. I contacted a recruiter that works with the same agency and asked them about commission. This is what they stated, "if people want to work in Beijing, they should give some commission" and "because first, they can get ganrantee about job they should pay some money for the service people."

I don't know when this came into effect. I came to Beijing in April 2011 and had no problems getting contracts, meeting schools, and I never had to pay commission. What experiences do other Beijing teachers have in getting a job?

Are you now finding more hoops to go through? I don't mean with getting your visa. I just mean getting a reasonable offer. It seems like everything I ask the recruiter upsets them and makes them think I am being difficult.

I ask, "What about housing?", "Can I see the contract?, "What is the schedule?", "What are the ages of the students?", etc....

Common sense questions, when I ask this to schools outside of Beijing, I don't get the demand, "Come visit our agency first, then we will find a school suitable for you."

For every recruiter you see, you lose about 3 hours in transportation and maybe an 1 hour in talking that goes nowhere, just to have them keep your stuff on file and offer you kindergarten job offers when you specifically told them you teach older students. Then, when you correct them on this, they say, "Oh, the person you dealt with is not working here anymore, so can you tell me what kind of job you are looking for?" You have to go through the whole thing again.

[rogerwilco]

Have you tried contacting schools directly ?

[chinatimes]

Update, I'll give recruiters nicknames now because I don't want you all to be confused between the good ones and the bad ones.

Another recruiter, 2 people apparently, we'll call them Chen and Linda (for Penn and Teller because they are like comical magicians, making one job offer disappear and then reappear with new conditions 2 weeks later after telling me some British guy will fly to their office just for an interview).

They messaged me today. I didn't speak with them in a week. Job offer 1 was declined, so they offered me some others. I turned them down requesting contracts. Then they said, "Why didn't you take job offer 1?". I explained I needed to see the contract. If I interview and work for a school I want to know what it is I am going to sign.

They emailed me the contract. It is with them, the recruiter, not the school.

This is why rookies, you need to see the contract before you book your flight to come to China.

[GuestBob]

[doogsville]

[chinatimes]

[chinatimes]

[GuestBob]