Try to be polite when you are looking for job

Working as a recruiter for over 3 years, I have met different kinds of people. Some are kind and nice. Some are arrogant. Some are stubborn. But there is a kind of people both recruiters and schools dislike very much. That is impolite people.

When we say impolite, we not only refer to people whose words are impolite, but also behaviors.

I recently help a young South African femalte teacher found a kindergarten job in Hangzhou, which is a very nice and professional school. Everything was good at first. She interviewed and signed the offer. Then we came to the visa documents. As you know, Chinese schools require either an authenticated tesol/tefl certificate or a reference letter of 2 years teaching experience to get a work visa. She said her tefl was from the UK, so she wouldn’t be able to authenticate it there. Then a reference letter is the only way. She has one, but the work period is not written clearly. It need to have a start date and an end date. She said she would ask the previous employer to see if it can be rewritten. Then problems come. Both the school and I were waiting for her update. 4 days passed, I asked what the employer said, but no reply. Finally, until a Sunday, she said sorry for keeping us waiting because she was waiting for the response from the employer and he agreed to rewrite it. Then we started to wait for the letter again. The school wanted her to sent the full contract back first, because they will be off work soon for the winter holidays and there is no way to have the school get it stamped to apply for the visa. I left her messages, but no reply. Both I and the school tried to contact her, but no response. I thought she might be busy these days and don’t want to push her so hard. After around a week, I called her on the phone again, no answer. But she wrote to me immediately. She said: “Unfortunately I have to decline the offer being made as I cannot have the reference letter being amended and I wont be able to get the original. This is why I havent been responding.” I got very annoyed. It’s not because that she can’t come, but the way she did it. Obviously, she saw all the messages, but just kept silent. She already knew that she couldn’t get the reference letter and can’t continue with the school, but she didn’t say any word. She could just tell us what was going on and we won’t blame her for not coming.

It is not a rare phenomenon. Many foreign teachers just disappeared after we recruiters sent them the positions and contracts, no matter how we contact them. They may forget that they have the right to say NO. If you are not interested, you can just tell us. Even a single word “No” is much better than keep silent. This is a very small thing, but it does show a person’s quality. Even if this kind of teachers came to us after some time for new jobs, we won’t help them. There are many teachers looking for jobs every day. We don’t have the time or effort to waste. We would  help with a teacher who is difficult to find a job but cooperative rather than work with an impolite person. Your previous behaviors have showed that you are unreliable.

Another behavior that shows impoliteness is not being on time for the interview. Some teachers just didn’t show up for the interview without saying anything. If you are ill or have some unexpeted things to deal with, you can tell the recruiters and schools, we can reschedule it. We all can understand that. But just now showing up would leave a very bad impression on the schools. Then the chance of being hired will be reduced greatly. Most schools will doubt if you are reliable. For those who have rescheduled the interview, it’s better to say sorry first at the beginning of the interview for not being there last time. Once there was a teacher asked me why he needed to say sorry. I told him just to be polite.

China is a country what emphasizes respect and politeness. So for schools, even though your qualifications are great, they won’t hire you if you are not a polite or reliable person. So try to be polite when you are looking for esl jobs in China, it will bring you many good opportunities.