Job Discussion Forums

massivegeoff · Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 43 Location: thailand

any info on pay and conditions at this firm?

i was a council slave in bangkok for a year and quite enjoyed it. they had fairly good pay and conditions in thailand.

i want to work somewhere they speak mandarin and teaching IELTS...i guess i could go elsewhere.

any thoughts?

malu · Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 1344 Location: Sunny Java

Forget BC Hong Kong. I looked into that and they were paying surprisingly little and expecting rather a lot.

OGFT · Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 432

BC, Beijing. Low Pay.

peepertice · Joined: 23 Nov 2005 Posts: 63

the BC does not teach English in China

InTime · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 1676 Location: CHINA-at-large

johnchina · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 816

If you have a certificate (CELTA or higher) and at least three years experience post-certification, you can be an IELTS examiner at the BC, even if you live in a smaller city. They'll fly you around when they need you. If you live in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Chongqing, you can also do IELTS writing marking. It is EXTREMELY lucrative. Anyone who qualifies should try it. The managers there are bunch of idiots, but if you just do your marking and then go home, there's no hassle.

mondrian · Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 2:52 pm Post subject: Re: none

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

Everyone I know that have worked for them, and many of them are/were well educated responsible folks have left- Many (about 60%) left due to displeasure with the BC;That's from 1998-2006(about 40-50 people)
Give them a try

johnchina · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 816

The Chinese staff (mainly doing the admin) are fine, IMHO, although many examiners disagree with that opinion. The expat managers are pretty poor quality. Always have been.

As for the idea that there's no guarantee of work, that's technically correct, but with candidate numbers high and examiner numbers relatively low, well, you do the math ... There are four day tests now, making examining pretty much a full time job with a great salary.

Visas aren't an issue. Many (if not most) examiners are on business visas and there have even been cases of examiners on tourist visas.

The continuous assessment is a bit of joke. Has any examiner been dropped for giving inaccurate scores? Out of the 200+ I've known, I can't name one.

"do your job quietly" - the most telling words in Mondrian's post! Don't worry about that! I'm keeping my head well down!

Oh, Massivegeoff, you can't teach IELTS and examine in mainland China - the BC here has a rule that you must choose one or the other. Unless you are BC manager, of course ...