Job Discussion Forums

[moonraven]

Do NOT have anything to do with a recruiter named Alin Buuer or Bauer--who knows what his name really is! This guy got ahold of my resume, I guess, and started pressuring me to accept jobs, filling my e-box with offers, etc. When I finally told him I was not interested and that I had accepted another position, he began sending me exteremely abusive e-mails. I have never even spoken to the guy. Either he is insane, or he is just out to try to recruit and place folks aND HAS ZERO SCRUPLES--or both?

[Roger]

He has in fact become a celebrity with us China-based TEFLers as I found out by receiving numerous enquiries by PM or written on some threads; Alin Buur or whatever his real name is is a Chinese with insider knowledge at Helen's recruiting company in Zhejiang, the same outfit that runs www.chinatefl.com
I guess he is one of those in charge of running the website.
And, he does get a commission for everyone successfully placed.
Unfortunately, he helps the more hopeless schools more often than others.

[cmknight]

Hmmmm, very interesting. I was recruited out of Vancouver by a sleazeball named Richard Gau. I was told (after I got here), that he's known for some fake diploma scam. Anything else I should know about this fellow?

FWIW, Helen's company hasn't tried to screw me over.....yet. As a matter of fact, I've gotten nothing but co-operation from them.

Chris

[moonraven]

I don't know about the guy you mentioned. I have noticed that the recruiters for China seem even more unprofessional in their approach than recruiters for other countires. Of course, there are no guarantees no matter how careful you try to be. Last year the vice-rector of a university in Ecuador flew up to Mexico to interview me for a director's job for one of the divisions of the university. We spent about 6 hours together, and he seemed okay. The salary was double what I was making, and I took the job. The place turned out to be fraudulent--they were telling students that they were getting diplomas jointly with a US university, which turned out not to be the case....I stayed less than 3 months, but at least I made them pay me several months more of salary when I left. Unfortunately, in this business you take your chances, and I have found avoiding taking jobs if you have any doubts, or leaving quickly when you find yourself in uncomfortable situations are the only survival strategies worth considering.

[cmknight]

Moonraven,

Thank you for your advice, and comments. There are 3 of us here, at this school, and we are starting to see some problems. No one particular incident, but rather, small things that seem to add up to one problem. From what I've seen on these message boards, that's the way things start. Helen is coming here to Tonghua in May, to try and figure out why there are so many runners from here. Boy, is she going to get an earful.

Chris

[Clancy]

www.chinatefl.com is a good web site except that they do not monitor their ads for truthfull representations.

do a google search for an article "China EFL: A Case of False Advertising"

It has what appears to be some good pointers.