Job Discussion Forums

Scooter Burns · Joined: 13 Aug 2010 Posts: 1

I have been searching online for the past month and most of job offers that have come my way have been loaded with problems (questionable contracts, undesirable schedules etc.). I am just wondering if there are many more jobs on offer than are published on the internet and would I find a much better job doing the search in person?

Thanks

johntpartee · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 3258

There was a big debate about this a while back. MY PERSONAL OPINION is that it's best to be here. They get to see you, you get to see them, you see the facilities, etc. Lots of people disagree.

RBJfaraway · Joined: 02 Sep 2009 Posts: 27

I've yet to land my first job in China, I am an aspiring first timer shooting for a Feb 2011 arrival, so keep that in mind. However, it seems to me that it would be ill advised to go to China trying to find your first job, unless you have some money to burn. If that was the case I'd just go to China for fun and if you don't find work, no big deal.

I would love to see the schools in person, meet my employers and talk to other FT's who work there, but I think this is a luxury that is usually reserved for people who are wrapping up one contract and lining up another for the following year.

So for what it's worth, I would never go to China just to look for a job. I would only go if I had a job lined up already. That's just my financial situation though, I can't afford to go to China and come home empty handed. Rather, I need to take a chance on that first job and try to tough it out if it sucks. Good luck job hunting in any case.

Edit: And to answer the other part of your question. There is no doubt that you would have better luck finding a job in country. Why would they hire me from the other side of the globe when they have you sitting in their office?

johntpartee · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 3258

Miles Smiles · Joined: 07 Jun 2010 Posts: 1294 Location: Heebee Jeebee

Suppose that you were Chinese and Chinese lessons were the rage in the U.S..

Suppose that you are not a fluent speaker of English.

Suppose that your target city is in your real (not imaginary) home country. (I include this just to infuse a dose of reality into the scenario).

Suppose that secondary schools, colleges and universities all recruit on the internet. You have addresses for each school. Maybe you have contact names for each school.

Imagine that your target schools (for the most part) don't answer your email requests for interviews, but you decide to set out to look for a job anyway.

How easy would it be for you to find an employer? How much time and money do you think you would spend going from school- to- school, city-to-city trying to get an interview? If you have no credentials, how willing would your prospective employers be to consider you for employment?

Back to the reality of seeking work on China.

You ask the question

I am just wondering if there are many more jobs on offer than are published on the internet and would I find a much better job doing the search in person?

How will you find all of those other unadvertised jobs in schools that may (or may not) be better than those who advertise on the internet through recruiters?

If you've done exhaustive internet searches, have received offers but don't like any of the contracts, do you think that your odds of finding an employer who offers better than the standard contracts are greater?

Consider this: there are literally thousands of FTs who are already in China who have the wherewithal to do what you propose to do. Many of them continually visit schools and interview for jobs in an effort to improve their living and working standards. They have a competitive edge that you don't have: experience teaching in China.

Could you compete against those teachers?

Could you convince your prospective CHINESE employer that you could adapt to life in China? Your employer WOULD be concerned about this issue.

It is assumed that you would enter China on a tourist or a business visa. You'd have to be armed with foreknowledge of which schools can and are willing to change your non-working visa to a Z (working) visa. You'd also need to be armed with the foreknowledge of the possibility of having to work for an employer who CANNOT change your visa.

Experts on this forum will tell you that it would be a simple matter of traveling to Hong Kong to obtain the Z visa. This may be true under some (or maybe all ) circumstances. If you found a job in Beijing, would you know how to get to Hong Kong, obtain your visa and return to your school on your own?

Suppose that you COULDN'T find an employer who can provide you with a Z visa, and it becomes impractical for you to make the trip to HK. Suppose that you find yourself strapped for cash, and you need to work for a school that (IN PERSON) is actually much worse than those schools who offered you unsatisfactory contracts via email.

What then?

These are a few points to ponder.

maotouying · Joined: 16 May 2005 Posts: 119 Location: My Chair In China

Greg 09 · Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 169

I'm a China first-timer and I spent the better part of 2 months searching, sparring with recruiters, wallpapering ESL sites with my CV, emailing schools directly etc etc etc. In time, the right offer came.

However, I was doing that in May/June. Now that its mid-August, and classes start in a couple of weeks, there might not be that many quality slots available.

Unless you look at language schools, which is where I saw most of the "questionable contracts, undesirable schedules etc.". But they do hire year round.

Keep in mind too that if you get an acceptable offer it will take a couple of months to get your Z visa and be ready to go. So if you want, say, a Uni job you might try to find one that will give you a Feb start.

Personally, I would not try to do this in-country unless:
1. You have time and money to burn
2. You know specifically 1 or 2 cities you'd like to be in

Miles Smiles listed a host of pitfalls in that scenario.

Best of luck

Jeremiah · Joined: 26 Jun 2010 Posts: 32

"Most schools turn you over to the department that handles the scheduling. Which I have yet to see online. I maybe wrong but seriously I have 6 years experience."

Agree. I do not believe 99% of the squat I read on this site now.

askiptochina · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 488 Location: Beijing

Greg 09 · Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 169

askiptochina · Joined: 26 Feb 2010 Posts: 488 Location: Beijing

Anglichanka · Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 64

I've been working outside of my native country since 1981 and I never go without a job to go to. I've seen too many people have problems who did not line up a job first. I definitely would not risk it in China as the market is flooded with young, often unqualified foreigners wanting to teach English, not to mention visa and other issues.

Take a job and look for a better one when you get where you're going if necessary. I broke my contract when I came here but paid the fines imposed and did it all 'legal and above board', as my first job was dreadful in every way, despite being far better pay than the second. I found myself a much better one by direct contact then moved across at Spring festival time.