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Posts: 372

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Q: Employment Offer: Zibo City vs Chengsha?

Hello Everyone,

 

So I just need to get your opinions on what which offer I should take.

 

Zibo City: 6,000 RMB/mo, 18 hours a week max (teaching, no office hours), Free apartment and accommodations. I've dealt directly with the owner of the school and I feel very comfortable with him and we've built a good friendship actually. The school is relatively new, so I will be the only English teacher, I will also be helping him develop better curriculum, etc. The owner is super nice. 6,000 RMB airfare allowance at the end of contract

 

Changsha: 10,000 RMB/mo 30 hours a week (26 teaching, 4 office hours), Wednesday - Sunday. Longest day being Saturday (8am-9pm with 2 hour break at noon) Free apartment and accommodations. The person I am dealing with is a recruiter and not the actual school so I have no basis or judgment that I can make on the quality of the institution or its owner(Drunk. There is a flight allowance from what I have been told, however it's not outlined in the contract so I am not sure of the exact amount.

 

From what I've been told, Zibo is very rustic and not used to foreigners, which I am totally fine with and don't mind being stared, pointed, or gawked at. Normally I would go with the highest paying offer, however it does require more working hours. Also I have been told multiple times to deal directly with schools and not a recruiter. All I truly want from a city is a nice free apartment, some local tai chi classes, a mountain to hike/explore, a tennis court, and some type of natural running water (ocean, river, lake) that I can meditate/jog next to. That's not too much to ask is it? lol

 

So what do you all think. Which option would you choose? I'm honestly so tired of interviewing and emailing back and forth at this point, that I just want to make a decision and be done with it.

10 years 17 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
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Comments (10)
Posts: 3837

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Make sure all your questions are answered by everyone you are talking to, and make sure you are satisfied with the answers. EVERYTHING including flight allowance should be specified in the contract prior to you signing. If they refuse to do so, as the Changsha recruiter seems to be doing, don't deal with them.

 

YOU have to have peace of mind on all issues before you travel.

 

good luck !

WanderingTeacher:

Thank you!

10 years 17 weeks ago
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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 446

Governor

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OK I don't want to rain on your parade BUT

 

if the school in Zibo is that new, and you are going to be the ONLY foreign teacher, are you sure, absolutely 10,000% sure that the owner of this school has all the necessary documents and has secured the proper authorization to hire a foreign teacher?

 

Is the owner of this school able to process and obtain for you before you leave the United States a proper Z visa or has he requested that you come over on a tourist visa or an "F" visa and then straighten things out later?

 

Look dear friend the schools in ZIBO are notorious beyond notorious for this kind of scam and bait-and-witch.  Until Beijing shut it down, ZIBO was all the motherland and home-of-all-homes of the foreign visa scams to Africans, Third World types and other truly unfortunate souls who would pay these ZIBO visa agents lot of money for proper working visas and the like.

 

I am truly concerned that you may be rushing through the gates of hell at great speed.  The Internet is replete with stories of what happened to innocent persons in Zibo in terms of visa fraud, bad schools, cheating owners, etc., etc.

 

Remember what P.T. Barnum said,. please.

 

WanderingTeacher:

Hi Belle, From what I can tell everything seems legit. I filled out on this paperwork and signed a No Criminal Record letter that was in Chinese and English saying that I have no criminal record and that I will abide by Chinese law. He submitted all the paper work including the work permit application and my documents to the Zibo City Administration of Foreign Expert Affaigot back to him and told him he can pick up the work permit next Friday and they will be mailing me the permit as well as the invitation letter to take to my local Chinese embassy to get the Visa. Based on that, everything seems pretty legitimate to me so far. He has been very honest and upfront throughout the whole process. His school is not super new I think he said it's been open for 3 or 4 years and he has had previous foreign teachers working for him in the past but due to the current size of his student body, only 1 teacher is necessary.

10 years 17 weeks ago
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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 372

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What does everyone think?

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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 372

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Please I would love some further input.

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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
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Do you know, what is the exact length of an 'hour' in your Contract? Is it 60', 50', 40' or 30'?

 

You must add 'breaks' to 30 hours schedule per week, what will add another 5 (60') hours to your schedule, if 'breaks' aren't longer than 10'. Now, divide offered salary with 35 hours.....Chinese don't consider 'break' as 'working hours'. I do!

 

Doesn't matter what, I see '30 hours per week' as very high. It is much better to work lower amount of hours at your prime job, and 'moonlighting' in your free time.

 

Generally, I don't like to pick too big cities, either.

WanderingTeacher:

For the Zibo job, I am unsure of the exact schedule.. I just know that the total hours is 18 max and that's only teaching, no office hours required. With the Changsha job, it's 7pm- 9pm Wednesday-Friday teaching and Saturday: 8am-12pm then 2pm- 9pm and Sunday 8am-12pm then 2pm- 6pm teaching. My office hours will be on Fridays for 4 hours from 2pm- 6pm.

10 years 17 weeks ago
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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 20

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i think you should go Changsha. at least you dont feel alone. and changsha is a old city many  pleace you can travel. and zibo not have a ocean just near.

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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1198

Shifu

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to enlighten it a bit for you:

usually classes in china (public schools) are 40minutes, your contracts says teaching HOURS. 18 teaching hours would mean they can give you 24 classes a week, thats almost 5 classes a day. Seems absolutley fine.

30 teaching hours would be really terrible, they can give you shitload of work, like 8 classes every day and dont pay anythings extra.

 

[quote] All I truly want from a city is a nice free apartment, some local tai chi classes, a mountain to hike/explore, a tennis court, and some type of natural running water (ocean, river, lake) that I can meditate/jog next to. That's not too much to ask is it? lol[/quote]

dont wanna kill your dream but in my experience ( i lived in 6 different city now, from east west south and north) there is no city that has this.

- tai chi? well never looked for it but i guess the locals go out at 5 am in the morning and doing this stuff in front of their houses

- mountain is obviously easier, but guess you are very limited to the cities that have a mountain around

- tennis sometimes hard to find and might be far away from where you live

- natural water in china is mostly very dirty

- meditate? good luck finding a quite place...

- jogging, yes if you have a park near you shouldnt be a big problem

 

over all you maybe should negotiate with the idiots in changcha as the amount of teaching hours is unreasonable

 

as for zibo i really would be careful if they are legal

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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
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Changsha.... dude, only morons go to Changsha. I mean, look at me... look at sorrel. Sorry, sorrel, but we're idiots... lol.

Seriously, avoid Changsha.... please.

sorrel:

i was SUCH an idiot cool

10 years 17 weeks ago
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WanderingTeacher:

Holy crap.... I had no idea lol! I will definitely be turning down that offer. Thank you both lol

10 years 17 weeks ago
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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 887

Shifu

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Just find a Uni job on the coast : Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong...

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10 years 17 weeks ago
 
Posts: 372

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Ok so the owner of the school in Zibo just emailed me a copy of the work permit he got from the Foreign Experts Bureau. I'm sure he's aware of the city's reputation for illegal work, so he always emails me a copy of any email correspondence he has had with the FEB and any paperwork he does or gets along the way. So since you all are familiar with working over there...is this work permit legit? I blacked out my name and passport id # for identity purposes.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz3JY9xL_nxXYVp4TFZKNjgweUk/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

dom87:

cant open the link here...

 

but he has to send you the original per mail (not email copy) to you anyways.. then you have to hand it in at the embassy and they will know if its fake or not.

 

if he still wants that you come with L/F/M visa first then be sure it is a fake

10 years 16 weeks ago
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WanderingTeacher:

Hi Dom87,

 

Sorry, try this link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bz3JY9xL_nxXYVp4TFZKNjgweUk/edit?pli=1

 

He has cautioned against me trying to come over on anything but a Z Visa. I was a little naive, ill-informed, and over zealous at the time when he and I first starting talking and I volunteered to come over on a L visa so he could have me working at his school sooner and he told me not to do that because it would be illegal for me to work with anything but a Z visa and we needed to follow the law.

 

He only sent me the email copy to show me what it looks like and let me know that everything is going through. They will be mailing the paperwork to the embassy here in Los Angeles in a few days and mailing me something too. Then I am to go to the embassy and get them to process the Z Visa, and then once I fly over there, we will go and get the residency permit. He seems really legit, honest, and trustworthy. I am assuming that maybe since his school is newer (3-4 years old) that he is trying to do everything by the book to make sure he can continue to hire foreign teachers in the future.

 

The only one thing I am slightly worried/confused about is this 3 bedroom apartment that I am going to be staying in. He doesn't have a lot of students, which is why the hours are short (18 hours), and therefore only needs one teacher. So I will be living in the 3 bedroom apartment by myself. But I am just confused as to why he would've gotten a 3 bedroom apartment in the first place when he doesn't have any plans to hire more teachers this year. I'll probably ask him that today.

10 years 16 weeks ago
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Personally,I think 26 teaching hours is too much.  Generally, you double your teaching hours to figure how many hours you will work.  No office ours doesn't mean no prep time.  You can live on 2000 yuan a month in China.  If you want to save some money, go to Changsha  If you want to save your sanity, take the job that feels right to you.

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
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Mate, are you still procrastinating over this?  If so, stop.  Make a decision and go with it.  Seems to me you've been fairly diligent, and well done there, however, you'll never know if you don't have a go!

Get stuck in because life's happening and tomorrow we could all be dead.

 

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10 years 14 weeks ago
 
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Thanks everyone, I chose the Zibo position It felt the most right to me. Going to the Chinese embassy next week for my visa

sorrel:

good luck - you will have a great experience !!

10 years 14 weeks ago
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royceH:

All the best mate.  Zibo is only about 90 minutes from Qingdao, so you could go there for some R&R from time to time.

 

 

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Answer of the DayMORE >>
A:  "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "S
A: "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "Shenzhen agent can connect you with an employer, who's authorized to hire waigouren ... and can sponsor Z visa." It's not like every 10th person you meet in Shenzhen's hood can sponsor work visa ...  The only way to change from student to labourer visa is just a regular way by: 1. Finding an employer, who'll apply for an Invitation letter; 2. Exit China and apply for Z visa in your home country's Chinese embassy; 3. Enter China in 30-days after Z visa was stamped into your travelling instrument ...As I am aware, you won't be able to switch to Working permit by remaining in China....,so make ready for a return to your home .... -- icnif77