Job Discussion Forums

[5h09un]

i know most employers here ask for two years of experience, a college degree and a teaching certificate in their advertisements but often end up hiring people who have much less (or even none) of those attributes. thank god they do, because otherwise i don't think i ever would've been able to get a job here.

i was talking to a colleague tonight and she told me that she re-signed with our current employer after a brief hiatus because she's hoping that after she's finally accumulated two actual years of experience, she'll be able to get a better job. (better pay, better location, etc.) however, another colleague who was talking with us told us both that our experience needs to be verifiable. when i asked what exactly i needed to prove that i've been working in this field for at least that long, she told me that i'd need copies of release letters and recommendation letters from everyone i've worked for.

is that generally true?

at the end of march, i will have been teaching here for exactly two years. i have a tefl certificate and a bachelors degree too. i'm on my fourth job in china now, but i've never been offered more than one copy of a release letter at a time. and some of my past employers have treated me rather poorly and as a result we aren't on good terms. the company i'm working for now is being run so incompetently i'm not sure it'll be around for another year. i'm really hoping that just coughing up my residency permits will be enough because i feel like i've been working in the doldrums of of this field for most of the time i've been here.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Yea, the opportunities abound.

Instead of being able to snag that prestigious 5,000 RMB a month teaching gig in a remote area, you will be able to grab a 5,000 RMB a month teaching gig in a major area.

Sorry, but in my experience just as you said, schools that need foreigners are plenty and there are many work arounds.

[Zero]

The two years seems to be more of a government regulation or guideline. In practice the schools just want you to look foreign, preferably white, and show up on time and keep students/parents reasonably content. Anything else, they don't care. Jobs in bigger cities pay more but the expenses are also higher. The way to make more money is through private lessons or part-time language-mill work. Don't expect to climb some merit-based ladder in China. It doesn't exist. Only ingenuity will get you ahead.