Job Discussion Forums

[chinamama05]

Has anyone used them to get a job in China? What was the experience like? I am just starting to look around at jobs and was contacted by them.I am planning for Sept 2008.
Thanks.

[AussieGuyInChina]

Yes.
Excellent (could not possibly have been better).

[clark.w.griswald]

Could we get more details as to what you felt made them a good recruiter in your case?

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Sorry, Clark. The more I read your posts, the more I see ulterior motives in your posts. An, I am not alone in this line of thinking.

This board is primarily for teachers, not for recruiters trying to do research and find ways to snag clients.

If you want teachers so badly, pay the fee to Dave and make an ad, please.

Frankly, I find it offensive to see solicitation in any form on a discussion board.

[beautification]

[arioch36]

Beauty

[AussieGuyInChina]

[chinamama05]

[arioch36]

So what would be pertinent here is ... what kind of offer did they make you?
What promises?

There is no such thing as a legit recruiter because there are no regulations

Do they put you in direct contact with the school that you will be working for?

Do they make sure that you have your invitation letter before you come to China?
Seriously. Most recruiters (as you can see from just posts on this board) have no set standards. If they think that you will accept the worse situation, they will save the better situation (were they know it is easier to get laowai) for other teachers.

Example ... Recruiter has contacted 50 schools. You say that you will come over on a L-visa. Now he is happy. He can think about farming you out to the terrible schools, including the ones that have no legal right to hire you. You are willing to accept a lower wage to help the por Chinese? great, he knows just the school for you, wink wink. You insist on contacting the school directly ... now his kind of recruiter must try to explain why this is bad or direct to to a smaller pool of schools, the ones he wants to reserve because they attract laowai easily.

So one of his catches gets to contact the school directly, gets an invitation letter, gets a z-visa, had protection if there are any problems.

The other catch comes on a L or F visa, gets the run around on where he will work, etc if you catch my drift.

1) Make sure the recruiter puts you in direct contact with the school's FAO (he'll still get paid)

2) Check out the school's website

3) Make sure they send you the invitation letter and you have a contract via e-mail from the school

Anything else is a scam waiting to happen

[arioch36]

But something is screwy because no school...not a one is really going to make an offer now for September 2008. So anything this recruiter says about a 2008 job???

[chinamama05]

They were trying to get me aob for now. When I made it clear it was for 2008 they backed off.

[arioch36]

Well I would say that if they told you they would have you contact the school directly, and you would get a contract and invitation letter before coming, then try them again next semester.

if not, avoid. Many ways to contact schools directly

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Thanks, arioch36. I didn't know until recently that he was a recruiter. I haven't been active on Dave's until recently.

As to the original question from Chinamama05, consider the following:

Recruiters are only after one thing: Money. They arae salespeople. They are selling schools to you. But instead of getting your money, they get the school's money.

Additionally,many recruiters actually get extra money for keeping salaries low. If you want to negotiate your salary, odds are it's 2 vs. 1. School and recruiter vs. you.

Be careful, read every contract thouroughly, make loud noises when it's not being adhered to, and inform others and let us know if you have any problems, so we as teachers can all help each other and protect each other.

[AussieGuyInChina]

[Teatime of Soul]

So basically, you were screwed over by a recruiter.