Job Discussion Forums

[redhead]

Through Ms Karen Yu of Australia City College in Brisbane I've been offered a 4.5 month contract in Sunde, Guangzhou. I'm having trouble aligning the interview information with the contract emailed to me - which omits dates and salary information!

The school is Gang'an English Training School.

I was offered 3000Y at interview , subsequently improved to 3500.

ME: Very experienced, registered teacher with multiple degrees in a variety of fields including Physical Education, Special Education & TESOL. I know I'm not going to collect my Aust salary (Annual $64000) but this does seem on the low side, n'est-ce pas?

A website I've found for the Gang'an group suggest the normal salary range is 4000-5000.

Interview: Half airfare refunded on arrival; remainder on completion.

Contract: Airfare refund at completion OF 12 MONTH CONTRACT to max 6000 (AUD $1000 or slightly less on today's exchange rates). Best fare I've found is AUD $1441 without travel insurance.

I also need access to swimming / hydrotherapy pool at hours compatible with my teaching responsibilities. Can't get any concrete info on that to date. Anyone know my chances there?

Anyone know anything about Sunde / Gang'an Education Group / Australia City College? Time to sign and travel is less than two weeks.

All advice and inside information gratefully accepted.

[ytange]

whoooaaaaaa bloodnut

I know hardly anything about teaching in China
I have never been to China
I am not a teacher

But, from my research on the internet, I do know very crisply:
You are being ripped off with both mits

All I have got is a 2 year diploma and I would not work for that.
(oh, OK I might....
Actually, I probablly will....
In fact, i want the job!
Gimme )

If I could I would work in Tawan or Japan or Hongkong but I dont have the k-wallies
BUT you do, blue!
Bag it, dont blow it

You need to survey the situation before they suck your blood out too and even sell your organs, Hammond

[Spiderman Too]

One Aussie to another:-

In seeking a job in China, be patient! Don�t accept the first offer. Also, July / August is the prime recruiting period for a September start.

Stay away from language schools! Even if Gang�an has 100 foreign teachers (which would indicate that it�s a good place to work for), language schools are the bottom rung of the education ladder.

That they advertise 4,000 to 5,000 and their opening offer to you is 3,000 indicates a propensity to take advantage of gullible foreign teachers. After you sign on the advantage-taking may continue in other areas.

Don�t sign up for more than 20 periods at any school. 16 is a comfortable workload and 20 is manageable. 25 will quickly wear you out.

Compare your offer to my position in Guangzhou; for 20 x 45 minute periods per week I earn RMB6,700 net of RMB300 tax (so I am totally legal), I get RMB8,000 CASH per year for airfare allowance, paid Spring Break from December 23 through to February 20, and other benefits.

With your qualifications you�d get RMB7,200 here! Positions available in September, PM me if your interested.

But if I had your qualifications in education I'd go for one of the NET positions in Hong Kong (http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/china/index.cgi?read=15563) which have a salary range of CAD2,500 to CAD6,500 (average of CAD4,000) or, at the very least, I�d wait for one of the USD2,000 to USD3,000 jobs that become available on the mainland every once in a while.

With the Hong Kong NET jobs, the time from application to appointment can sometimes take 6 months.

Swimming pools are not so difficult to come by at universities and colleges but I don�t know about a hydrotherapy pool. Does Gang�an have a hydrotherapy pool????

As for Shunde (note the correct spelling) send a PM to forum member Roger. He knows the place like the back of his hand.

Oh, and Taiwan, South Korea and Japan have a strong bias for under 35 North Americans but it's still possible for teachers outside those parameters to secure positions.

[redhead]

Thanks for the advice to date - keep it coming please. The more information the better.

The HK Net gig appealed to me but when I applied a couple of years ago I got an email asking for further information with approximately 170 other people's emails in the CC field - including a colleague and neither of us had advised our Admin personnel about advance plans to fly the coop! What confidence can I have in professionality or confidentiality when job applicants get THAT sort of exposure.

byeeeeeeee
redhead

[woza17]

Absolutely no way. I worked for a Sino-Tafe college in Dalian on a 4 month contract. I received 12,000rmb a month for 15 hours a week and an apartment with utilities paid. The Aussie teachers were on home pay plus an overseas allowance. I was the cheaper option.

I am interested to know what you want out of your trip to China so I can point you in the right direction. Do you especially want to work in Guangdong?

I am not far from Shunde never been there but I am told it is industrial lots of money there.

You could do a lot better.
Cheers

[redhead]

Thanks for your response.

I want to stay warm - I'm a Queenslander - and ENJOY the experience of teaching and living in another non-western culture.

There are some Oz teachers in China as gov. sponsored who do get much better salaries under the arrangement between the two countries. Last time I checked they were all in places which required winter clothing and heated apartments!

byeeeeeeeee
redhead

[Roger]

I now see clear: please, DO NOT ACCEPT THIS OFFER!

I happen to know Andrea whatever in person despite not remembering her exact name (you know they morph from one monosyllable into anotyher over time and their English names are never permanent fixtures either).

The place name is SHUNDE, not Sunde, and it's not in Guangzhou but some 35 kms west.

The place is good, really, but the training centre - and it's not a school! - is horrible! Read my various posts - I have come to the undeserved (I say, others disagree!) reputation of being a supporter of the CHinese training centre operator mafia; I am not! I put Guang'an and schools of the same kind on the blackest list there is in the world!

Andrea fell out with her own partners long ago; I knew them. The working conditions they offer are subpar, i.e. they try to avoid paying you staturoy dues such as flight reimbursement and holiday pay.

What's particularly dubious is Andrea's iron grip on your private life!
She is known to burglar homes (and she will put you up somewhere in Daliang). She will visit you at random hours and woe betide you if you are found engaged in activities not to her liking: a Nigerian guy I personally knew was found teaching students in his home. SInce they paid him rather than the training centre Andrea sent him to Manchuria a few days later. He spent the next year teaching for relatives of Andrea's in Harbin.

I mean: you want a job in CHina? You can find one. EF would be much, much preferable to this gangster woman!

[redhead]

Thank you Roger.

Coincidentally I have just received an email from the agent in OZ, Karen Yu, which suggests I can solve my access to swimming pool problem by a 5 minute 5 yuan ride each way to The Courtyard New World hotel.

Obviously I've now emailed the hotel to check that this is possible!

byeeeeeeeeeee
Redhead


Email from agent accompanied by picture of four star hotel :
Hii

I rang Andrea today and she suggested you to use the swimming pool in this hotel -- by taxi it is 5 minutes distance and the taxi is 5 Yuan one way from your appartment. You can also using Google to search other hotels with swimming pool in Shunde city (satelite city of Guangzhou).

You can also ask Andrea questions directly as she is going to be back to Shunde tomorrow (Sunday) when she can be contacted easily.

Cheers
[/b]

[kev7161]

So, some cities have 5yuan taxis? The lowest I've found is 7yuan in Guangzhou. 10 here in Suzhou and in Hangzhou as well.

The thing is, with teaching credentials and a solid resume, it shouldn't be too hard to find a higher paying (sometimes MUCH higher paying job) in China. If it were me, I would settle for no less than 5 to 6000 (although I took 4000 when I first came to China, but there were a lot of nice perks).

[Super Mario]

"Black" taxis anywhere are 5.
But any 3000 job is a rip off.

[Spiderman Too]

[tw]