What does the “silence” mean when you get a job through agency?

Everyday there are hundreds of foreign teachers come to Sunrise to look for jobs, some through wechat, some through email, some through website. The consultants in Sunrise have been working very hard and trying to make every candidate get a satisfied job in China. However, there are so many “silence” occurred between candidates and consultants. Because of these “silence”, many candidates lose their opportunities to get good offers.

Now, let’s try to understand these “silence”.

First, if you find that the consultant has contacted with you for days, it means that your requirements of the job are high.

Sometimes, the candidates don’t know the average of salary in the ESL market. They are trying to compete the salary in China with the one in UAE. However, they haven’t considered the cost of living in UAE and China. For example, $4000 or $5000 is very common in UAE, but in China, it’s very high. In China, the salary for native speakers is from 15k-25k, the average is round 20k. So if the expected salary is filled into the reasonable range, it will be much easier to get an offer in China.

Second, Not the right time for the right job.

Many candidates prefer to work in an international schools, since their salary is good. However, the positions in international schools are very competitive and only opened before two month of spring and autumn semesters. Therefore, if you are seeking a job in intentional school, you’d better get a good time, which is more efficient.  For example, December and January are good time to lock a job in international school for spring semester. June and July are good time for autumn semester.  Other times you can go to training centers or kindergartens.

Third, the sooner you response to the consultant, the more offers you can get.

Good offers are always filled quickly, since there are so many candidates seeking jobs every day. The sooner you response to the consultant, the more offers you can get. If you could not response to the consultant quickly, you may miss many opportunities. Plus, since you don’t response to the consultant timely, the consultants will not look for more offers for you. Therefore, you may lose many opportunities. In our company, all the candidates who get good offers are those who responded timely.

Fourth, you may lose the offer when you take a longer “silence”.

As we all know, after the interview the school needs some time to think about their decision. Since the school has to make a decision among several candidates, just like candidates interviewed with several schools. After the school gives an offer to a candidate, she is expecting that the candidates can give response soon. If not, the school will go to other candidates. I have many candidates who have interviewed with many schools and need breaks among so many interviews. I don’t really recommend that ESL teachers interview with so many schools. Figure out what you need and prefer and get four to five schools is the best and efficient way to work it out.

Fifth, if there is a “silence” more than two weeks, you can change to another agency.

If the silence is over two weeks, it means that you can change an agency or check your English level and requirements of the job. There are some candidates whose English is not good, but they think their English is good for kids. Generally, candidates like that are really hard to get jobs, since the requirements of the schools are also getting stricter.

Last but the most important, don’t keep silence, nothing can not be solved through communication.

To be honest, I hate silence. Although I could not get candidates back timely sometimes, please try twice or third. I will try my best to give candidates some useful advice and get them good offers. If ESL teachers get offers, please also inform your consultant in other agency that you have had a job already. Do not make them wait and leave messages once and once. Show some respect to each other at least!

In conclusion, I hope everyone who comes to Sunrise will get a good offer, let’s try to work together and do not let silence happened between us.