Job Discussion Forums

[Bramlow]

Hey folks,

Because of the way things are working out back home, I can only manage a 6-month contract out in China. While I thought these would be fairly easy to find, my research so far suggests that it's actually pretty darn hard to get them.

My situation is:
- Master's degree
- Some teaching experience back in England (not much, but enough to puff it up on my CV/resume)
- Formal TEFL qualification
- Can speak pretty good putonghua

My flexibility (for a 6-monther) is fairly good:
- Don't care which part of China I work in
- Could start any time from Jan-Mar 2011
- Not expecting air fare, huge salaries, or other perks. If it's only 5000 kuai a month, so be it.

What are my odds of finding somewhere that'd take me, realistically? As you can tell, I'm not that fussy about things, but so far it looks like my vision of it being fairly easy to pick up these sorts of jobs is being shattered every day I research.

[johntpartee]

Your best bet would be (dare I say it?) a recruiter, especially since you don't want all of the extras. You may be able to stumble upon a place where a teacher didn't return after Christmas.

[LanGuTou]

It depends on what you mean by "six months".

Many universities will offer half year contracts but that equates to one semester. A semester is generally only four months. Unless you sign a full one year contract, you will not be eligible for holiday pay. Therefore, all that you will get is four monthly salary checks and maybe a few add on bonuses.

Private schools may offer more flexibility. You could contact them directly and put your proposal to them.

[Bramlow]

[hot_water_hillbilly]

The school and police are not not going to issue you 7 month resident permit so you can wander China for 3 months on your own.

You need to rethink your plan.

[kev7161]

Also, nobody is going to be hiring NOW for a 2nd-half-of-the-year replacement position. They are working toward getting positions filled for a September start. There is all likelihood that you will see job offers starting either in January or after the Chinese New Year break, but you'll need to start checking in late autumn/early winter.

[LanGuTou]

I have no idea how financially stable you are or how your circumstances pan out. You could try this:

Arrive in January on a 60 day L visa. This gives you January and February left to your own devices. You may be able to negotiate a deal with a university whereby you can use the accommodation FOC on condition that you teach from March onwards (but by no means guaranteed - no harm in trying though!).

At the end of February, do a visa run to HK. Get yourself covered until the end of the contract.

At the end of June, you should have sufficient time on the RP to spend another few weeks knocking about China. Alternatively, you can get a one month L visa extension.

That is your seven month stint taken care of!

You may even be lucky enough to end up at one of these places that I hear about that can get you a RP on the L visa without going to HK.

Chinese universities are unlikely to recruit now for March 2011 starts. You may have to take a chance and wait several months.

Finding universities is not that difficult. Look on Angelina's ESL board and others. The name of the university may be blanked out but, with a bit of rudimentary intuition, you can usually accurately guess which they are by location and a Google search. The best method is to choose three or four locations that would suit you. Then use the websites to narrow the search. You can then approach them directly via the corporate website.

[Bramlow]

Thanks for the replies guys. Some great thoughts and ideas there.

I'll just fire off a few responses in turn.:

[Miles Smiles]

Two years ago, one-term contracts were common in Jiangsu province. I don't see them anymore.