Job Discussion Forums

[Teachurrrr]

Has anyone dealt with Horizon ESL China recruiters?

Feedback directly concerning the question (ONLY) would be most appreciated.

Cheers.

[daCabbie]

They are a waste of time. Many of the jobs listed on their site are not available. I had numerous headaches and an unpleasant experience applying for jobs through them. They could never remember what type of job I was looking for or what my requirements for a job were. They tried to push endless jobs on me in cities I didn't want and positions I would never consider. In the end I gave up on them and went with another agency.

I recommend applying through as many agencies as possible and then if someone comes up with a decent job, take it. Many will say do the leg work yourself. I prefer to make a recruiter do the leg work for me. But always remember there is nowhere and no one who has to tell you the truth about anything, everything will be sugar-coated.

It's important to note that the schools pay requiters to find you and sell the school to you so it benefits them to leave out any details that might turn you off. You need to prepare a list of your requirements for a school/position and stick to your goals.

[Jayray]

daCabbie,

My experience with Horizon has been pretty good. Perhaps you applied for too many jobs on their website. That could be the reason why you feel that they "pushed" jobs onto you.

They do a pretty good job of at least TRYING to match you to a position for which you are qualified. Each school is rated according to the school's educational prerequisites for FTs. A school rating of 1 indicates that it requires a minimum of a BA degree. The top number is 6 which indicates that the school requires (or at least accepts) an MA degree and a specific number of years' experience. The intermediate numbers indicate that the school requires various combinations of educational levels, years of experience and TESOL.

My experience and observation indicates that they may actually be contracted to fill positions before other recruiters are given a chance to recruit for the positions. (I can't verify this, but it appears to be so. I saw positions being offered by Horizon that were not being offered by other recruiters until it seemed that they were no longer contracted to fill them).

The guys who run the site are online 24/7. One takes the day shift, and the other takes the night shift. You can always call one of them or send them an email and expect a much faster response than if one were to work with other recruiters.

They also do their best to act as intermediaries if you have a question which you can't get from the school or the school representative. This REALLY helps to cut through the cultural barrier and the language barrier.

There appears to be a couple of layers in the screening process. I spoke with the dean of the foreign languages department first. Then, an interview with the FAO was offered to hammer out the contract. If more questions arose afterward, Horizon goes to bat for the prospective hiree to get the rest of the questions answered.

Caveat: Like all recruiters, they can't guarantee that every position in every school is heaven. However, Horizon DOES appear to handle the better positions out there, and they seem to have good relationships with their client schools.

As one member of this forum likes to say: You makes your pick and you takes your chances.

My experience with most other recruiters is that one merely needs to send in the required paperwork. The recruiter then sends you a contract. You sign it, and you're hired. You never hear back from the recruiter after that. Not so with Horizon.

If you don't like to be scrutinized, and if you don't like to communicate, you may not like Horizon. However, if you have concerns about the kinds of people with whom you will be working, Horizon may be for you.

I give Horizon twelve thumbs up.

[NATO]

Well I hope your not on the payroll Jayray 'cos I've just taken the plunge with them largely based on your recommendation. I'm wont to avoid recruiters but my own enquiries have hit a dry patch.

[Jayray]

Nope. Not on the payroll at all. If you have prior experiences with Chinese recruiters, you'll find Horizon and the schools that they contract with are much better.

I decided to get on with a decent recruiter because I got really tired of the slimy "people" that I had to deal with during and after the negotiation process.

Never again.

[Teachurrrr]

Thanks for the feedback (negative and positive).

NATO, I have been in the same boat. After trying to contact schools directly, they seem to only want to deal with me once I am in country (i.e. tourist visa) which seems a bit dodgy. So, it has been difficult to contact a school, have an interview, sign a contract, send the docs, get an invitation for the Z, then proceed. It's just not happening after months of effort.

Dealing with recruiters hasn't been any better. Decent job adverts at first, then contact, then an offer of lower salary than offered in the advert, salary ranges to low-ball the teacher, switcharoo tactics, etc.

In Theory, I would like to send my credentials to a suitable job opening, have someone actually review my teaching credentials and experience, then if they want to offer a position, schedule an interview and if successful, send a contract for review. Oh well.

Since it is not possible for me to be hired directly from a school from outside China (I'm in Korea) and since it is not viable to accept the crap offered by recruiters, it seems my only choice for working in China is to take a chance, go there on a tourist visa, cold call for jobs, get an offer, then stand firm to get them to process the Z before I ever enter the classroom (demo excluded).

It's just disheartening.

I guess I will give Horizon ESL a chance and hopefully not get the same "run-around."

Thus far in dealing with them, everything seems legit except the guy from Horizon told me about (what sounds like) a good job in Jilin Province and said I could come there on a tourist visa and have it converted to working permit.

Converting a tourist visa in Jilin Province, hmmmm. It seems that the concensus on this board is only Shanghai (and maybe Shenzhen) will let an L be converted to a work permit.

Oh well. Thanks for your input dacabbie, Jayray, and Nato.

Much appreciated.

Teachurrrr

[xjgirl]

i had loads of problems with their website, so i just gave up on them
this was last year though

[mnguy29]

I agree, forget about Horizon. I tried to deal with them. Waste of time and they did not give much feedback. Most jobs were not even available!

[Jayray]

I've never had a problem with Horizon. I don't see how anyone could if he really went through the application process with the recruiter (send in your documents and then pick your school). Every job that I have applied for through Horizon was available to me. There are six levels of qualifications and each school is rated by the requisite qualification. If the level of your education is just a BA, you won't have much luck. Horizon makes that pretty clear from the beginning.

Each school to which I applied and was accepted allowed me to interview the head of the Foreign Language Department, then an FAO representative. I never had such an opportunity through any of the fly-by-night or independent recruiters.

Often, problems with recruiters don't become apparent until the applicant arrives on the job. This is my third job that I've gotten through Horizon. So far, no problems. They are excellent communicators, so speaking English with them is not a great problem.

Before anyone takes the advice of someone who just joined the forum (or just got a new screen name), he should read an interesting article called "The Psychopathology of Anonymous EFL China Teacher Forums".

You can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/28h2sa5

[jedi smurf]

Jayray, you say if you have only a BA, you're out of luck. Umm, what? There are many people that teach in China with a lot less than that. I took a look at their website, and a BA is halfway up their rankings. Seems pretty farfetched to say you're out of luck with a BA.

[xjgirl]

what a glowing recommendation Jayray
You sure you don't actually work for Horizon???

Like I said, their website was full of glitches so my dealings with
Horizon where just a huge waste of time