Job Discussion Forums

[makalu72]

I'm an Australian and have just graduated from my Bachelor of Education. I really want to teach in Chengdu. However, I am undecided on whether to sort out a job before I go, or whether to turn up and get a feel for the city and its schools and then find a job once there.

If I commit to a school before I go, I'm worried that I might have locked myself into an unsatisfactory situation. Are there lots of job opportunities available to those who just turn up looking for work? If anyone would like to share their experiences of doing the latter I would find it very useful!

[Kitegirl]

Promise to publicly retract your use of "b4" and we will all do our utmost to help you.

[Slim Pickens]

X

[wailingtraps]

I think maybe some actual advice might be neededat this point.

Bottom line....if you pitch up without a job you might have more success getting a job that suits you. The trade-off would appear to be the visa issue.....if you get a pucker position then you will need to head down to HK or somehwere to get your visa...not the worst thing in the world but its a fair old trot from Sichuan. This may not be the case now...I should point out that my time in the middle kingdom finished a year ago.

As far as schools go....nothing springs to mind...im sure there are plenty of good jobs about .....you just have to find them........there is (or was) an EF somewhere and there was a lot of work teaching in middle schools. If you are thinking about a university position then look on chinatefl.com for a load of positions with a september start. Pay will probably be lower than most of China...but Sichaun is great and I would definitely give it the thumbs up.....

Apologies for being vague but its beena while since I was there..............hope it all works out


the wailer

[Changjiang]

I'm in Chengdu right now, but don't have much usefull advice. I guess what you do mostly depends on how risk averse you are.

I wandered into town low on money and kind of took the first semi-decent offer, which is not a good strategy. If you're coming in Sept PM me and I can give you a line on a place I do part-time at, they treat me reasonably well.

Otherwise, if you do just show up and hope, there's a fair amount of choice here, but you have to put in quite a bit of legwork to find something decent.

Good luck.

[pandasteak]

I'd make contact with some schools first.

I'd venture to say that most of the better places to work can be found on the net (i.e. universities and the larger english schools). So even if you wait until after you arrive to look for work, the net will be a useful way to find schools.

I'd pick the most attractive situation. Then go there.

But i wouldn't sign a contract until I got a very close first hand look, or spoke to some other teachers.

If it looks bad, just say "thanks but no thanks" and be on your merry way.

[makalu72]

Thanks for the feedback! Oh yeah and...