Job Discussion Forums

Judith111 · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 5

I am a Teacher of English from the Netherlands with 3 years of teaching experience. I visited China for the first time this year and really loved it. I would like to spend a few years teaching in China. But after two months of applying to dozens of vacancies, it turns out to be very hard to find a job. I realise that native speakers are preferred but my education and experience has to count for something right? Any advice?

johntpartee · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 3258

Odd. You should have gotten something. You're not in China now? That would be a bit of a setback, but "dozens" of vacancies should have yielded something. Dunno.

xiaolongbaolaoxi · Joined: 27 Aug 2009 Posts: 126

what cities were you applying in? The closer you get to fall classes, the more relaxed the requirements for native speakers may become.

Rooster_2006 · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 984

distantrealm · Joined: 13 May 2010 Posts: 13

I have to say I have also been a quite disappointed with the lack of responses I have received or the dubious nature of the offer I got.

vikeologist · Joined: 07 Sep 2009 Posts: 600

I've heard through the grapevive that at least one university was very disappointed with the number of applications that they received. They did manage to fill the vacancies though.

I think it's very important to apply in the correct way to Universities, ie with all the correct documents.

Clearly there should be no problems with private training schools, but the good ones are few and far between, so it's helpful to be here in China.

OP, where do you want to work, Uni, mill, school? what age group?

LanGuTou · Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 621 Location: Shandong

The problem with this "non native" issue is not so much the universities not wanting to employ you as trying to satisfy the ever more stringent immigration policies.

Any employer, whether within the realms of Arts & Education or not, has to satisfy certain requirements when employing an overseas national. In other words, they have to supply an irrefutable reason that there is a need to bring in a person that is not a Chinese national. The immigration laws state that, if the job can be done by a local Chinese citizen, then a foreigner will not be given a work permit.

With ESL teaching, the trick is to stipulate that the applicant must be a native speaker. By definition, that means from a country where English is L1. As much as they may try, local Chinese cannot ever qualify as a native speaker so the WP requirement is satisfied.

Regardless of how high the English language ability of a non native speaker is, they cannot ever satisfy the WP requirements as there are Chinese nationals that are also bilingual that could be employed. It does not matter if the ability of a non native far exceeds that of any native speakers, they cannot satisfy that legislative requirement.

Of course, this being China, some employers will find ways and means or the guanxi necessary to overcome this requirement. But year on year, the likelihood of non native speakers getting WP's is becoming less and less.

johntpartee · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 3258

AGoodStory · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 738

MisterButtkins · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 1221

Try more backwater cities and private schools.

mat chen · Joined: 01 Nov 2009 Posts: 494 Location: xiangtan hunan

I think there is something else going on that has nothing to do with qualifications or demand. I too am frustrated with tedious multi telephone interviews and thousands of applilcations. I am having a little sick fun now sending in applications where I say I am someone else. I give them all the blah about wanting to experience China. I tell them I have a Masters from Harvard , Stanford , Oxford etc, I tell them I am a 25 year old woman who plays guitar. I say I want to work anywhere. I get no responses.
After spending a month in Hong Kong in May
I am seeing the government is changing immigration rules. People coming from some countries are non grata. Married people with a Chinese spouses now are only allowed 90 days before having to leave the country.
Maybe employers are being put under stiffer restrictions for having a foreign teacher.
What I see everywhere is this demand for preparing Chinese students for studying in foreign schools. The last two universities I worked at had these programs. Kind of a conflict of interest . The concept doesn't exist in the Chinese mind.
Anyway like everything in China it will eventually work itself .