Job Discussion Forums

chengdu619 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 76

Just wondering what experiences people have had on angelina's esl cafe. Thanks.

xiao51 · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 208

chengdu619 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 76

Yes I realized that this is a very common thread Embarassed

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alter ego · Joined: 24 Mar 2009 Posts: 209

Fred Smith · Joined: 06 Dec 2008 Posts: 77

Never a good experience. usually low ball offers, often never a response, and poor responses when I did receive them.

Give them a miss.

Fred Smith · Joined: 06 Dec 2008 Posts: 77

Never a good experience. usually low ball offers, often never a response, and poor responses when I did receive them.

Give them a miss.

brsmith15 · Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 1142 Location: New Hampshire USA

Dave's esl is the Force. Angelina's esl is the Dark Side of the Force.

chengdu619 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 76

Thanks everyone. I am taking the advice and not using angelina's. Again, thanks for the advice! Oh and by the way, happy Passover and belated Easter.

menso35 · Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 51

I contacted them about a job and that particular job was conveniently no longer available though there was a great opportunity in a coal mining town that offered "an authentic Chinese experience".

Garboldisham1 · Joined: 06 Apr 2009 Posts: 10

Ditto.... All the recruiters seem to want is my photo, passport and email address. I think maybe we are being listed in some sort of 'Satisfied Customers Brochure' and keeping the recuiters in a job.

Garboldisham1

HaveAGoodRest · Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Posts: 49

Agreed - this middleman is at times slow to get the ball rolling.

However, Angelina's Cafe can be a GREAT resource for finding legit jobs in public Chinese universities. I did a 6-month stint in China in 2007, and found a wonderful university and great boss through Angelina's.

As I understand from previous posts, the website is a front for government recruitment efforts. Yeah, at first thought - a little shady. But then, who would you rather go through - a government recruiter, or a private recruiter seeking a commission who may or may not have your best interests in mind?

Going through Angelina's directly, that is by emailing them your top 3-5 schools and documents, you may run into some bureaucratic delay. You may or may not end up at a great school.

BUT....AND THIS IS WHY I RECOMMEND THEM....you don't necessarily have to go through them. You could cut the middleman. This is what I did, and it worked. It's very fast. It's very easy.

1) Go to Angelina's website, find the schools you want to teach in.
2) Instead of emailing Angelina's to tell them which schools you want, email the schools directly.
3) But - who do you contact at the schools and how? You want to reach the "Foreign Affairs Office." This is who will give you a contract, salary, and visa. They will be extremely happy to get an email from an English teacher. Just google the school that interests you. The school should have at least a barebones English website. If not, there will probably be a job listing for an English teacher from this school on another website. Just try to locate a direct email address for this school. If the address is connected with the Foreign Affairs Office, so much the better. If not, who knows, your email may eventually find its way to said place.
4) Send the school your resume and tell them you want to teach there.
5) You should send the resume to like 5 schools, because odds are they all want to hire you but things like this, ahem, often happen in China: Someone who is supposed to know English because his job depends on it received your email. He freaks because it's a long English email, he can't read half of it, and admitting so would mean he loses his job. So he just deletes it. Shit happens.
6) Negotiate with the school for like 10-25% more than they offer you salary-wise. You can do it. They need you.

Feel free to PM me if you need any guidance. Or if you just want me to connect you directly to the school where I taught.

The whole process of searching this entire board for info. before you go can be helpful but def. time-consuming. So why not do things the fast way?

chengdu619 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 76

Cannot say how much I appreciate the help!

robot · Joined: 14 Dec 2008 Posts: 25

I used Angelina's,

Like all middle men they have pros and cons, but are the only real option for someone in another country without their own contacts to find a position.

I found them to be prompt and helpful, they also have quite a good list of vacancies/ schools, some of which have been filled months ago.
I haven't found a better recruiter.

chengdu619 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 76

If I don't get anything else I will stick with Angelina's. I have done what you said though HaveAGoodRest.( Have gotten a few replies back. The snag I have run into two times is that I have no TEFL cert.) Oh, and by the way, I would love to PM you, but there is this pesky requirement that I make 50 posts before being able to PM anyone Shocked

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gordon1984 · Joined: 14 Apr 2009 Posts: 19

Hey, I was intersted in your post becauseChina was one of the place's I was considering but decided on Indonesia because they don't require a degree( i think) to teach there, but after reading some posts china sounds interesting again, Have A Good Rest could you pm me I wouldn't mind getting some more info from you, and chendu619 im in the same boat as you with the whole pm thing, so annoying! Lol