Please be serious with your job application in China

With the greater need of foreign teachers in China, more and more people are coming here to teach English. One teacher can get many offers like 20-30 or even more. This should have been a very good thing to have many options to choose from, but it leads to some bad phenomena.

The first one is unreasonable requirements. Many schools are willing to offer more money to hire a native teacher. Therefore, some foreign teachers are asking extremely high salary, which doesn’t not match his qualifications and experience. There was a native teacher. He only has a high school diploma, no tesol/tefl and just some tutoring experience. His requirements were: a public school in Shanghai and price would be $50,000 a year! I explained the current market price for his qualifications and the requirements for teacher who can get that high salary, but he was unwilling to accept that. He insisted that schools in Shanghai are pay very high and he is native, so it is possible to get an offer like that. For those kinds of teachers, we recruiters usually just give up working on his case, because that is very unreasonable.There are also some teachers saying that I have a bachelor degree, so I can get a high salary. His point is that many teachers from his country doesn’t gain a bachelor degree, so it is a big advantage to him. But the reality is bachelor degree is a basic requirement for teachers to work in China. Without it, schools can’t make a work visa. It is not an advatange, just a basic requirement that you need to meet. Recruiters are definitely trying their best to get the best offers for the teachers they work with. But if your requirments are too reasonable, they would just giving up helping you, because it is an impossible thing to work out. So for those who plan to teach English in China, it is best to search the information online, learning about the current market situation and giving an reasoable requirement for the job.

The second one is not making decisions among the offers. Some teachers are active in arranging interviews. But when they have got some offers, they are always considering the offers for too long to make a decision. That is also why many schools in China would give a deadline for the offers they have made, like 3-5 days. Speaking of this, I think of a teacher. He got some offers and there were three of them that he was interested. He has already authenticated his degree and non criminal record. We all know that non criminal record is only valid for 6 months since the date of isse. And his was expiring at the end of that month. One of the offer was very perfect for him. The docs he has got are enough to make a work visa and he doesn’t need to take a medical check abroad. He also told the school that he would be happy to join them. Every time the school asked about signing the contract, he said he still needed some time. Two weeks passed, he was still thinking. I reminded him again about the expiring date of non criminal record and also said if you were not interested, that was ok, but please let me know and the school would look for someone else. He said he was interested, but no progess again. The school withdrew the offer and said didn’t want him anymore even if he decided to come.Around 2 days before the non criminal record expired, he still hasn’t decided. That means he has to apply for a new background check and get it authenticated again. What he has lost is not just an offer, but his time, money and reputation. Neither schools or recruiters would like to work with this kind of teachers again in the future.

The third one is not sticking to the contract they have signed. A few teachers would still interview with other schools, even if they have already signed a contract with one school. This is the worst phenomenon. To avoid this, schools will resigster the teacher in the syetem under their school soon after the contract is signed. Even though the visa documents are not sufficient, they can also do the resigster first. Some teachers would tell the school that they would not come, making some excuses like family issues. Some would just disappear. But there is one thing they didn’t know. Once he is registered in the system, no other schools can submit the application again, unless this school cancels it. And for those who are not serious with the contract, schools won’t cancel it. Even if you find another school, you can’t make a work visa, unless you work illegally with tourist or business visa. So if you are not ready to accept an offer, you can say it. But if you have, please keep your promise.