Job Discussion Forums

[alipa]

Hey gusy.. this is my first post and I was just wondering if anyone could help me out... I'm Australian, and I have signed up to do a 12 month teaching stint in Shanghai with the company GLOBALCROSSROADS... Has anyone heard anything about them... I'm a uni student with tutoring experience and no TESOL so I had no oportunity to go with anyone else and still get a job in Shanhai (my girlfriend studies there). Anyone heard anything bad about them? The pay isn't that good all I care about is having enough to live on and be in the same city as my girlfriend.

[BigD]

Alipa,

Global Crossroads is connected to a organization here in SJZ named New Times LTD. I suggest you avoid these two organizations.


TEACHING IN SHIJIAZHUANG, HEBEI, PRC.

I have worked in Shijiazhuang, Hebei for about a year and a half now. I know this school and all the foreigners that have worked at that school have had problems with payments(i.e. airfare and salary) and numerous contract disputes. That School is current being investigated by The State Bureau of Foreign Experts and by the PSB here in Shijiazhuang. So, stay away from Shijiazhuang I.T. college in the eastern economic development zone. This school will tell you anything to get you there and then once you sign that contract(a mear formality)your life will take a turn for the worst.

The schools and organizations that I have listed believe that the general government contract and their own addendums only applicable on your end. This is not the case my fellow teachers. Please, read the contracts carefully. I have heard many cases where the foreign teachers signed contracts that they haven't read in there entirety. The standard government contract was created to give foreign teachers rights here in China. Many schools follow the contract but many believe that you don't understand your position in relation to the school and they will prey upon your own ignorance but you have legal recourse.
The foreign teacher has the right to appeal at anytime to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs for final arbitration.

Then we have New Times LTD. This organization brought me to China and then lied to me about having a job for me. First, they forgot to pick me up at the airport in Beijing and then they wouldn't reimburse me for the two night expense I had in Beijing. Then they got some college kid in Beijing to help me get a train ticket to Shijiazhuang where there representatives were late by three hours picking me up from the train station. This I could put up with but I was still angry. After they finally found me at the train station they told me it might be a day or two before they found me a job. I was really angry now, they told me I would have job waiting for me when I arrvied, more LIES.

They put me up in their company room with two other foreigners who were in the same position as myself. The room was a run-down cold water tenement that was infested with *beep*. After two weeks of misery and constant flow of LIES from the mouths of the workers of this little dysfunctional inept organization. They actually found me a job at Middle School #1 here in Shijiazhuang. I signed the contract and moved in.

This school ended up being a nightmare. The FAO decided that all the foreign staff were second class citizens and were treated accordingly. We were never told any information about anything relating to school or the surrounding community. This was upsetting but it was China so I decided grin and bear it.

About half way through my first term the school decided not to follow the basic rules of the government contract in regards to accomodations(i.e. water, power and access to food) and they were violating their own addendum. So, I decided to call my friends over there at NEW TIMES LTD. to see if they could help me talk to the administration about my current situation. I thought they should because of the simple fact they were taking a percentage of my PAY every month. I assumed this was for any help we might need here in China. This was far from the case. I asked for there help and they told me a presentative was on the way over, well I'm still waiting. They had nothing but LIES for me and no assistance. So, I decided to leave that school and I found another job via the internet. I told the little cretin(Dou Songlin) that runs this criminal organization that our business is over.

NEW TIMES LTD. owes many foreign teachers the rest of their payments. Never work for the company because they will alter your working hours to satisfy there need for RMB. This happened to three of my friends at NEW TIMES LTD. and they will not pay you the full amount for your air-ticket. This recently happened to a friend of mine. NEW TIMES LTD. tried to take or withhold 2000RMB of his airfare reimbursement. The school told him they paid NEW TIMES LTD. 9000RMB for his airfare and NEW TIMES LTD. decided to pay him 7000RMB. This is a common practice at this organization. They have a well designed and constructed website but looks are DECEIVING...


DELL ENGLISH SCHOOL here in Shijiazhuang is another school to avoid. They to, will not pay you for your actually hours either. They will also try to change the pay scale if they are running short funds. They will envite you come and interview with the school but they won't tell that you are going to a school with some other potential hires and talk in a auditorium for two hours and not get paid for it. They will LIE and tell you it will only take 20 minutes. Then they will take your picture along with the other foreigners and use that in there advertisements. This is now illegal for schools in China to do this without your permission and you must be compensated for the use of your photograph in a advertisement.
Then after using your picture without permission they will hire Africans that can bearly mumble a word of English because they are cheaper.
WELCOME TO SHIJIAZHUANG!!!!

Summation.

SCHOOLS AND ORGANIZATIONS NOT TO WORK FOR IN SHIJIAZHUANG.

1)NEW TIMES LTD.
2)MIDDLE SCHOOL NUMBER ONE
3)SHIJIAZHUANG I.T. COLLEGE
4)DELL ENGLISH SCHOOL

[nolefan]

Mr. D,

please get your facts straight. Global Crossroads WAS connected to NT but that relationship was severed in august of 2004. To the OP, do some research on GC and their previous names... they used to go by the name of Asia Volunteers before they had to change it.

[Serious Traveller]

I have seen a number of negative comments about New Times(NT) and can only agree that this recruitment firm should be avoided.

I was advised by them to come over on a tourist visa and, they said in writing that ,with all their top contacts... the work visa would be arranged within a couple of weeks.

Well, that didn't happen . A good ol' F ( or Business) visa was arranged after 8 weeks into the job and that doesnt come with a residency visa or the foreign experts' certificate , which Chinese law demands.

My school was more than unhappy with Mr Dou, the owner of NT ,for not complying with his part of the bargain and arranging the promised work visa.

Yes, I know about the 'difficult' Hebei authorities,and I don't question that they have made Mr Dou's life difficult.

But I note there was no reduction in the fees charged to the school by New Times for my services.I get the feeling that NT will not be called upon again in the near future to simply provide a warm, foreign body to that school in exchange for about 6000 yuen.

The fact is New Times knew about the impending changes to work visas at the end of last year, but were still happily welcoming teachers in January and February 2005, knowing that the rules had changed.

Nowadays, part of their web site says very clearly that it is the school's job to arrange the work visa........UNLESS.... the school can't do it, or if the teacher concerned actually asks New Times to do it.
I asked for help, Mr Dou, and funnily enough, no reply.

So there we go. Now I await with interest for the usual defenders of New Times to come to their rescue.
However , the fact remains that a large number of prospective teachers are arriving on the doorstep of New Times as I write.And I have little doubt that many of them will fare well enough.
But this writer remains unconvinced of the abilities of New Times, based on my dealings with that company.

A final word - read the various comments on Dave's ESL Cafe and make up your own mind.
China is both a fascinating and frustrating place but ,as it is only going to become ever more important on the world stage - please come visit .

For however long you are in China, you will never forget your trip.And I mean that in a positive sense. Good luck.

[alipa]

where would i be able to find out whether Global Crossroads is still connected to New Times or not?

What other company can i go with if i haven't got my degree yet?

I have experience tutoring internation students in English (with excellent results)

[nolefan]

[Keath]

Global Cross roads also cooperates with Babel Language in hangzhou, a very dangerous company that threatens teachers to work long hours for little compensation or get kicked out of the country.

We had some experience dealing with GC teachers recently. In one case a 16 year old high school student from GC was brought to China, dumped off at the school and told to tell the school he was 26. That lasted about as long as it took for the PSB to register his passport and figure it out..

[nolefan]

[alipa]

in that case can anyone recommend where i could teach without a degree and with experience only in tutoring students in english and still get a job in shanghai?

[wayne8z]

[mlalahoi]

I will add one little point to this whole New Times thing. If you check the archives you will find that it is ALWAYS the same few posters that step up to defend this company. Primarilly NOLEFAN (AKA Badr, this pearl has about a 30% take on New times profit and in his own words "has got Dou by the b@lls," a real nice guy). If so many different people report bad experiences and only the same two or three people post conflicting stories....you do the math.
As an added bonus to thier oh-so-peachy business practices, if you actually tell other people how bad they have treated you, they will head down to the PSB and try to cancel your illegal, contract nullifying F visa that they got for you, getting you deported. Really some great folks, aren't they?

[nolefan]

[JadedMenhir]

First off so people don't think I'm hiding, this is Chris Dalby. Most people connected to New Times or in the foreign community in Shijiazhuang know who I am.

My relationship to New Times is very good. Mr. Dou and his staff has been there for me repeatedly for me since I arrived in China from big matters (visa extensions) to little matters (helping me find a new power cable for my laptop). Honestly, I would obviously encourage anybody coming to China to use this agency. I am not paid by New Times to say this and neither is Nolefan whatever people might like to think.

Now, to address the issues posted here. New Times is not perfect. They are only human and mistakes do happen. But I have never seen one occur without the New Times staff and Dou doing their utmost to correct it. However, I have heard from several people the bad tales that are spread about this company. They are either an exaggeration (usually the case in any scenario like this), total fabrication or human error. I can understand why some people get pissed at New Times. But is it New Times or just China? This is a country which is tough to get used to for the most patient of us. New Times represents us here and so, when something goes wrong, we blow it out of all proportion and blame them. I have seen people here, including myself, overreact to problems here which would be nothing in our home countries.

As for New Times deporting people that is quite quite hilarious. Every time someone badmouths you, you just throw them out the country! Yeah, I can see that working out.
There is nothing wrong with people posting negative things about New Times. This board is a place for discussion and debate. However, I will end with debunking one claim I hear often. Dou takes money from you, from the schools and keeps it to himself.
Of course, he takes money from schools. The man runs an agency with 6-7 staff. How the hell do you think he pays them? Does the flight over to China brain damage some people? As for taking money from you, I think I have an idea how this originated. Some people seem to think every yuan a school pays the agency should be theirs by right. I have heard of some teachers asking to be paid for their ten-minute breaks and swearing abuse at the New Times staff about it. Again, New Times keeps a commission.
I mean, you get paid 4000 RMB a month or 50 RMB an hour when you come in on a short-term (yes, volunteers do get less) in a country where the average salary is under 1000 a month and you still bitch and whine. Do us all a favour. Get on a plane. Today.