Step 3 — Start your Search for a Job in China
People have a hard time with this step. Why? I have no idea. It is really very simple. Get on the internet, open up your favorite browser, type in Google.com or Yahoo.com and search for “Teach English in China,” “Teaching jobs in China,” “English job listings in China,” or other variations. It’s that easy! Now, when you hit ’search’ you will probably be given a listing of thousands of pages but remember that many available jobs are listed multiple times throughout the web. If you find one job listing on one board, you’re sure to see it again later on.
There are basically four types of job listings out there:
1. Jobs listed by professional recruiters who charge multiple schools for their services. Some of these guys (and gals) are a bit shady but they can also be helpful as well. If you contact a recruiter always make sure that you end up talking with the actual school that they represent as well.
2. Jobs listed by professional recruiters who charge YOU for their services. Look, I’m not going to pass judgement on all of these peopple but they are to be avoided as much as possible. I have met with these recruiters who will charge you 50 percent or more of your first month’s salary for their services. They will also often post jobs on the internet that are too good to be true salary and benefit wise. Don’t fall for it! You don’t need to pay ANYTHING to find a job in China. And you shouldn’t! Now, how can you avoid getting “mixed up” with these people?
a). Pay attention to the postings. Often, the posting by one of these recruiters who charge you will not contain the actual name of a school. Obviously, they don’t want you making contact yourself with the school. If you see a job id next to a posting (eg. Job 91:) you can also be fairly sure that you are dealing with one of these agencies.
b). If the salary is much higher than similar positions in the area, it is probably too good to be true and could be simply a ploy to pull you into their little money making scheme.
c). Always ASK about these things UPFRONT. These places won’t tell you they are going to charge you until they think they have you hooked. Ask them if they are a recruiting agency and if they charge teachers for their services. If the answer is yes, or they don’t want to answer, don’t even bother thanking them. Cut off communication right away!
3. Jobs listed by the education arm of the Chinese government. This is how I got my first job. These people are pretty professional and most likely, the schools that they represent are going to be legitimate and keep up their end of the contract. You can usually recognize these types of jobs by looking at the email address or signature which will contain some reference to “foreign experts” etc.
4. Job postings listed by the schools themselves. I think that these types of job listings are the best way to go. There is no middleman involved. You talk directly with the school (often there is someone who is in charge of foreign teachers) which means that there is far less miscommunication and a much faster process.
So, spend some time perusing some of the listings now and see if you can identify which listings are in the above categories.
