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Sofa_king
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 15
Location: Shanghai
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 Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:39 pm Post subject: Newby Questions and a Hello |
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Hey All,
After two years in Korea, I've decided to make a change and come over to Taiwan. Currently, I've applied to a list of recruiters, but I am a cautious person and it seems that the jobs I have been offered are rather shady and underhanded (this could be a result of a crappy experience in Korea). How cautious should I be when looking for jobs? Are there a lot of stories where teachers have been taken advantage of in Taiwan? Finally, can anyone suggest good recruiters to go through.
One more question. I have received an offer from a franchise called Principal. Any thoughts abouyt this place.
Any help will be greatly appreciated and I look forward to posting dirty responses to your posts!  |
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markholmes
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Posts: 661
Location: Wengehua
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I have received an offer from a franchise called Principal. Any thoughts abouyt this place. |
Was this school in Taoyuan? |
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Dr_Zoidberg
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 406
Location: Not posting on Forumosa.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:18 am Post subject: |
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| If you're going to use a recruiter, go through Dewey. Wait until your boots are on the ground here before you commit to anything. |
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Forumosa Maoman
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 22
Location: Lotus Hill
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| Dr_Zoidberg wrote: |
| Wait until your boots are on the ground here before you commit to anything. |
Excellent advice. For further information, feel free to consult the good citizens of Taiwanease.com - they're sometimes an excellent source of information, and always good for a wise-ass remark or two.
Last edited by Forumosa Maoman on Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:57 am; edited 2 times in total |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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Speaking of wise crack remarks, the OP's user name reminds me of an add I once saw for a sofa store called Sofa King. It read:
Our prices are Sofa King low! |
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Sofa_king
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 15
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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Why thank you for all your info. Your responses make me Sofa King Happy. I give you all a Sofa King humble greeting!
Another question... I've heard good things from Hess. Should I persue a job with them? Any other recomendations? |
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SanChong
Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| After two years in Korea, I've decided to make a change and come over to Taiwan. Currently, I've applied to a list of recruiters, but I am a cautious person and it seems that the jobs I have been offered are rather shady and underhanded (this could be a result of a crappy experience in Korea). How cautious should I be when looking for jobs? Are there a lot of stories where teachers have been taken advantage of in Taiwan? Finally, can anyone suggest good recruiters to go through. |
Just make sure that you go through a reputable recruiter/ school. If you do some research, you should be fine. Buxiban.com and Reach To Teach are two good places to start.
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| If you're going to use a recruiter, go through Dewey. Wait until your boots are on the ground here before you commit to anything. |
You can wait until you get here, if that's what you want. However, more and more jobs are being filled from overseas, so a lot of the good jobs may be gone. You may find something, but if you do your research you can also be certain that you have a good, honest job before you arrive. |
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Sofa_king
Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 15
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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| markholmes wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I have received an offer from a franchise called Principal. Any thoughts abouyt this place. |
Was this school in Taoyuan? |
Yup, that's the one. |
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BigWally
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 765
Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 2:26 am Post subject: |
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| clark.w.griswald wrote: |
Speaking of wise crack remarks, the OP's user name reminds me of an add I once saw for a sofa store called Sofa King. It read:
Our prices are Sofa King low! |
or the t-shirt i saw in high school
I'm
Sofa
King
Wee
Taw
Ded
no lie...all black with big bold white letters....cant believe the teachers didnt pick up on it...oh well....  |
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Toe Save
Joined: 04 Oct 2004
Posts: 202
Location: 'tween the pipes.........
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| Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:15 am Post subject: |
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Opinions vary and we've had this argument back and forth. With all due respect to some of my fellow Davians, I highly suggest avoiding recruiters in all but the direst of circumstances. There are some reputable ones (according to other Davians) but I've yet to see a need for using them. Especially if you are as close as Korea. Why not take a week's vacation and come on over to Taiwan and look around? (I hear you can take a train  )
I still maintain that anyone with the right attitude can step off the train and within 8 hours, have 3 job offers.
Oh, and Maoman, have you no shame? |
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BigWally
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 765
Location: Ottawa, CAN (prev. Kaohsiung "the Dirty South")
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| Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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to further ToeSave's point....in Kaohsiung there is a website called Connect Kaohsiung which is basically an ex-pat/teacher website that has tons of job posting for all types of jobs ranging from part to full time, illegal kindy to reputable english school jobs....they seem to be a dime a dozen these days...
easily one could get off a plane, go to 3-4 interviews a day and most likely have a job offer later that same afternoon... |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 1028
Location: Taoyuan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:56 am Post subject: |
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There are very few veteran teachers who will advise you to use a recruiter to get a teaching job in Taiwan. Those that do are usually recruiters themselves or otherwise have a vested interest in the recruiter trade. Recruiters are simply not necessary in Taiwan.
Sofa King has experience in Korea. The environment there is different with the use of recruiters being the norm. Taiwan is not the same in this regard. |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| TaoyuanSteve wrote: |
| There are very few veteran teachers who will advise you to use a recruiter to get a teaching job in Taiwan. Those that do are usually recruiters themselves or otherwise have a vested interest in the recruiter trade. |
...or just people who happen to recognize that just because a company or a person is a recruiter does not mean that they will rip you off.
I am not a recuiter nor do I directly benefit from whether or not one uses a recruiter. I don't however subscribe to the theory that recruiters are bad and inherently useless. In fact I don't think that it matters whether or not you use a recruiter to find work. The important thing is research. You need to research Taiwan. The cities that you are contemplating. The schools that you are considering and if you choose the recruiter route, the recruiter that you are dealing with.
From my point of view it is just as misleading to suggest that you definitely shouldn't deal with a recruiter as it would be to suggest that you definitely should. Everyone has different needs and if you feel that a recruiter can provide a service for you then go for it. If you prefer to do things yourself then that is okay too. |
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mizzo
Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Sofa_king wrote: |
| I've heard good things from Hess. Should I persue a job with them? Any other recomendations? |
No one seems to have replied to this yet. I'm starting with Hess in November. From what I can tell, the major complaint is that they have a set cirriculum and materials. Great for a newbie like me, maybe not so much for someone with experience, like yourself. There are a lot of threads on Hess in this forum so if you do a little searching you can get a pretty good idea of how teachers feel about the chain. |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 1028
Location: Taoyuan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:58 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| ...or just people who happen to recognize that just because a company or a person is a recruiter does not mean that they will rip you off. |
No. But there is a risk that they will. Given the undeniable fact that a recruiter is not necessary in Taiwan, it is a risk best avoided.
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| I am not a recuiter nor do I directly benefit from whether or not one uses a recruiter. |
You represent a website that receives advertisements and money from recruiters and companies. You have a vested interest.
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| I don't however subscribe to the theory that recruiters are bad and inherently useless. |
It's not a mere "theory". It's a rule borne out of experience and observation. It is, further, forwarded by those who really care about the well-being of teachers. Your motives are obvious, or should be to anyone who has read here a while: to promote your site and those companies (including recruiters) that support it. I have no other motive in giving advice other than to help people avoid the pitfalls that I and so many others have fallen into.
| Quote: |
| From my point of view it is just as misleading to suggest that you definitely shouldn't deal with a recruiter as it would be to suggest that you definitely should. |
Bull. You are just trying to construct an argument to support your commercial interests. It's not misleading at all to suggest that one shouldn't deal with a recruiter in Taiwan. It's a word of caution grounded in reason, experience and the realities in Taiwan.
1) Recruiters are not necessary. It is a fact (nothing misleading about it) that there are a multitude of jobs available. Anyone can find a job on their own with little effort. Overseas? Use sites like this one, Tealit or others (or google phrases like Taiwan English schools and such) to contact the schools directly.
2) Recruiters are avoidable risk. This is really just an extension of the above. However, there are many horror stories out there about recruiters. Most involve jobs in the middle of nowhere (recruiters more often represent jobs in undesirable places because they are the jobs those already here will not take), broken promises and --in the worst cases-- out right rip offs. What's the risk? Hard to quantify. However, myself, I was left standing at the airport when the too-good-to-be-true job my recruiter promised vanished when I actually got here. Everybody I've met who's used a recruiter is less than satisfied. Big or small, there is a real risk dealing with recruiters . Given that there are so many jobs available-- and it is so easy to find one yourself-- there is no need to take the risk and deal with a recruiter. Therefore, one simply shouldn't deal with a recruiter.
Research? Hell, yes. But the best kind of research is direct experience. The ideal situation for a teacher is to get here and actually see what Taiwan is like. You simply can't know from outside the place. It's way better to come here, take a look around, see where it is you want to live and work and then take a job. Otherwise, as happens so often, a teacher is placed in a job they accepted site unseen in a place they've never heard of. Not a recipe for success.
Give a hoot; don't recruiit. |
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