Job Discussion Forums

[denzil_01224]

I was wondering if it was possible to get a job in China without having to go through a face to face interview? Is it normally just in big cities where you have to go through a face to face interview to get a job?

Also if i go over to China on a tourist visa and get a job is it easy to change from a tourist visa to a work visa or would i have to go back to the UK to apply for the Z visa?

I have been searching for a job in Shanghai for the past month and most places i apply for get back to me asking when i will be in Shanghai for a face to face interview but i have heard of people getting jobs after just going through a phone interview or Skype interview.

[johntpartee]

I could have had my last job without a face-to-face, but I'm near the place, so I insisted on it. I wanted to assess them. But to answer your question, yes, it is possible.

[struelle]

It depends on a variety of factors, but there seems to be a push-pull kind of logic going on as follows:

-- Face-to-face interview is better for both parties, but the FT needs to be in China for that (Skype video calls notwithstanding). For that to happen he/she needs a visa and the tourist visa is the easiest to get. It used to be an easy process to change this to a RP and other paperwork needed for a job, but now the rules are stricter.

-- By doing phone or Skype interview, the employer can then issue a Z-visa offshore to the FT and have the person go through the "front door", he enters China with that Z-visa, whereby he later gets the RP and works the proper way from the get go.

So they are basically playing off these options.

From an employer's point of view, option #1 really makes more sense. It's going to be a hassle for them no matter what to get proper RP documents and the usual paperwork to set up a new FT. Whether do they that the "front door" method, i.e. Z-visa, or the "back door", i.e. changing a tourist visa, it's still a hassle. With option #2, the phone interview can't tell as much, and so they'd be more reluctant to use it, but I'm sure they know their options are limited.

Maybe that's why we have recruiters

Perhaps the best way to make this work is for the FT to already have a RP from a current job that he plans to quit, use that to hunt for other jobs in China, do face-to-face interviews, and then it's relatively easier to change the paperwork when it comes to getting set up in the new job.

[5h09un]

i had a job when i came to china, but i came on short notice, so i had to come on a tourist visa. a few weeks after i started, i was sent to hong kong, where i got my Z visa.

[themanymoonsofjupiter]

yes, it is quite possible. you may see standards in a city like shanghai creeping up since they can be picky, but plenty of other places do not require a face-to-face interview. almost all the best (maybe not the best to work for, but the best-known) schools will require this.

personally, i've never had a face-to-face in china, but my school (where i just renewed my contract) just started this--no overseas candidates at all. while i think it's great to have face-to-face interviews, there is a great potential to 'settle' for who you can get within the teachers who are already in town.