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Q: What things do you need to do prior to signing your contract?
This isn't the 'what do I need to bring to Cbina' question, but the 'what things will I probably never think of before I sign a contract' question... please provide your bits of wisdom learnt from experience!
Firstly, make sure you know exactly how your tax is calculated! This includes allowances.. I was told my living allowance would be taxed as personal income, unless I got a fapiao (official tax receipt). I was also told that getting that would be difficult (most landlords don't give you one, because it means they have to pay tax!), and that should I choose to pay that tax myself, it would end up being around the same as the tax on my income anyway.... WRONG!!! I'm losing about 400/month from this!(3% of the rent, vs 20% of my higher allowance).
Visas - make sure it's in writing what the company will and won't cover. If it means 'we'll cover the costs of your getting your visa", have it stipulated what additional expenses are included... the flight to HongKong, the hotel accommodation while you're there for 3 days, etc etc...
Holiday pay... do you get it in the month it accrues, or packaged with your first month back? If the latter, what's happeing with the tax? My current one is bundleds, so I lose about an extra 2K in tax (that I can't get back...). The local CT's get theirs in January... so don't pay that additional tax!
There is supposed to be a new 'social security' pay-in/rip-off coming in... will you be paying it, or your employer??
Probabion period? Is there one?? How long?? Etc etc...
Specific hours and duties.... don't get wrangled into dressing up and doing ridiculous stuff for marketing, if you're a dedicated teacher.
Are you required to stay on campus all the hours of the day, or what?? You may only teach for 2 hours, but some places will require that you stay there for 8 hours...
Any other thoughts??
12 years 7 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
I would say that also the need to be sure that the English version of the contract is a correct translation of the Chinese version, which will be the official one. This will be to avoid "surprises" down the line.
An important one for English teachers is that if you are working for a school, make sure that school's name is Party A on the contract. If it isn't, if it's some other company or agency, they'll give you the run around. That allows them to assign you to different schools which may or may not be close to eachother and who knows what else. When searching for a job before, I was offered several contracts like this, so be careful.
Shining_brow:
Actually, that's also another point.. make sure on the contract that it stipulates IN DETAIL exactly where you will be working! Doesn't matter if it's an agent or not - a school can stuff you around, and send you all over the place as well, if you're not careful!
Nobody is a decent person,when there is money too be made,trust gut insticits and they will try too rob you as well
One thing that's not a contract checklist but an attitude one... make sure they FULLY understand that you're not in China out of economic dependence (but for language, culture etc) and that if things go tits up, you can and will have many opportunities to find another job somewhere else.
Shining_brow:
yeah!... always let those bosses know that you can up and walk anytime things turn south! AND that you can plaster it all over the ESL forums so everyone else will avoid them too!
