Job Discussion Forums

[rogerwilco]

Job offers seem to just be getting worse and worse....
Received this in an email today...



"Full-time ESL teachers needed urgently in Su Zhou City, Jiang Su province



Any experineced native speakers teachers needed in Su Zhou, Jiang Su province Requirements:



The bachelor degree or above.

More than two years teaching experiences before.

If have the certificate is better(for example TESOL or TEFL).



About the working time is five days a week from 9:00�21:00 everyday(work hours) ,but often have class in the afternoon or at night, and in total 40 working hours a week,but 25 teaching hours. And 25 classes a week, one class about 60minutes. And you can choose the separate two rest days out of Monday to Friday.



About the salary for the first two months (probation period): is 7000RMB//M, thereafter that is 8000RMB/M.The school will not provide the house for the foreign teachers,but have the allowance is 1500rmb/M,if the foreign teacher is suitable for it,the school can help them do the vise. but if foreign teacher quits the job halfway,they will pay for this by themselves. And if you have worked here for half year, you will have the travel allowance 1000RMB/M later on and have 3000rmb for the air tickets,and if worked one years,have another 3000RMB airfare allowance.

If you were available about it, you can contact with us.

[Salvatore]

Exactly.

United Flight 826 from HK to Chicago on July 12th. Next stop - Vegas.

Have fun.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

September, collecting my wife, daughter and going home, final contract fullfilled!

Next stop?

Rocky Mountains!

I'll teach English there.

[rogerwilco]

"About the working time is five days a week from 9:00�21:00 everyday(work hours) ,but often have class in the afternoon or at night, and in total 40 working hours a week,but 25 teaching hours. And 25 classes a week, one class about 60minutes. And you can choose the separate two rest days out of Monday to Friday. "


In case anyone missed it. My understanding is that you will be there 5 days a week from 9:00�21:00 . That is 60 hours a week at the school, and possibly 2 weekdays off, but no weekends off.

240 hours a month/ 7000 RMB a month = 29RMB an hour (US$4.50), if you ever get paid........

[therock]

While I agree the offer is abysmal, it's the norm for the lower end mill jobs.

I highly doubt you'll have to be at the school from 9.00 -21.00, more likely their meaning is your working hours could be scheduled between those times. Any potential applicant with half a brain would get that clarified before accepting the job.

[Zero]

[MisterButtkins]

I received the exact same email. I guess if they send a few thousand people this offer they'll find someone stupid enough to take it.

[askiptochina]

Location seems good, have to look into it more.

You need to find out more about the 60 minute classes. Sometimes this just means you need to be in the classroom with the students. It's not always actual teaching time. I usually do 40-50 minutes with these jobs and no one has complained so far.

"If have the certificate is better(for example TESOL or TEFL). "

I don't know what that means. Better because the teacher gets more pay? Ask, find out.

Are they saying the salary is 8,500 first month and 9,500 after? How much is rent in that area? If you get a place for 1,000 then figure 7,500 first month, 8,500 after with a place to live.

The main issues I would have are with location (which could be cleared up with some simple research, do you want to live there or not?) and total teaching time.

My contract says 24 classes, but I am only scheduled 16-18. Obviously the school didn't advertise it this way.

You need to check more into this offer before flat out rejecting it.

[Lobster]

No, this is not a good offer. Here's why:

School hours are 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.

You have 15 office hours per week. These, and the 25 teaching hours, may be scheduled at any time during that period. So, you may have a lot of split shifts with unpaid downtime.

25 hours/wk is actually quite a lot, esp when you consider prep time.

You will never have weekends off. In fact, the wording may suggest you'll never even have two consecutive weekdays off.

Two months is a month too long for probation on a 1-year contract. If they can't tell whether you're any good after a month, they suck. They just want to cheap out.

3k will buy you an air ticket to.....? Nowhere. Again, the sign of a cheapskate operator.

"We'll help you do the visa." How nice. Too bad it's their responsibility to do all that for you. Sheesh. I guess you can presume they won't be of much help in finding you housing either, unless they can get a kickback from a landlord.

BTW, "If have the certificate is better(for example TESOL or TEFL)." doesn't mean you'll get more pay with it. It just means it will make it easier for them to get your FEC and latch onto a trained teacher.

Look, if there's this much wrong with the posting, you can only imagine what crap the actual contract is and how they'll exploit every vague clause to their advantage. It will be in Chinglish, and the correct interpretation will be their interpretation.

RED

[chryanvii]

This sounds like an ad for Web International English. The office is open from 9am to 9pm. But FT's don't usually start until 1.

You might have to find your own housing, and you do have to make some payments for other things up front: half cost of visa, agency fee, etc. But in the long run, the pay is much better.

Oh...and the 1-on-1 classes [which you often get, especially during the Fall] are easy, and the salon-style classes much less noisy.

If you don't like it you can bail out of the contract within one month. But universities pay much less money. And there is a lot of jibber-jabber.

[jibbs]

Not sure about most language mills, but Web at least has one hour classes with no real breaks between unless you get an hour or two free. It's a bit strange, but you'd have to duck out a few minutes early to get ready for the next one. The English Corners are a drag. A lot of the classes are not hard to teach though, and after a while you'll be repeating the same lessons where you'd barely need to prepare any more. I only worked at one briefly and part-time. It wasn't so bad, a bit of extra cash. Had a friend at one for a year who didn't seem to mind it too much. Could depend on the boss of course.

[Miles Smiles]

I wonder just how much time the OP put into researching his schools.

[rogerwilco]

[askiptochina]

[rogerwilco]