How do I Check the Reputation of a
China ESL School Employer?
 Is
a contract worth the paper
it is written on?
It's important
to check the reputation of your employer. You can ask
directly on
ELT World and
TESALL discussion boards, but they can't know every
school in the world, so your best bet is ALWAYS to talk
to the other foreign teachers at the school where you
intend to work.
Ask
more than one teacher
Remember,
everyone has a different experience and while one person
loves the job and employer, others may not. While
some people adapt and adjust to different cultures well
- others don't. Ask more
than one person. Ask specifically what they like or
don't like about the employer.
Pay!
Some employers
are may be known for not paying on time, or even paying
less than was originally agreed. Be sure to check this
issue with the current employees. A friend of mine once
worked for a school with these problems, but stayed for
three years - knowing - from talking to others BEFORE
taking the job, and over time seeing it happen, that the
employer always made good on amounts owing - at the end
of the contract. Problem? Yes, but she loved the job
and her students - so she tolerated it, knowing the
money due was coming. And she was paid in full at the
end of her employment there. Good research
lessened the worry.
Contracts
In some parts of
the world, particularly parts of Asia, contracts are looked at
as "flexible" instruments - quite a different
understanding from how we view them in the West. Once
again, ask the current employees if the contract is
followed and if it is not, why and how it is violated.
This should not
always be the kiss of death for a potential job. Some
small issues are not so important in the big picture if
you really like a job, its location, what you will be
doing and getting paid.
On the
other hand . . .
Know that
probably 95% of schools pay on time, treat their
employees fairly and follow the contracts that they have
signed. And they have lots of happy employees.
You just don't hear about them. It's the the
unhappy people, who didn't do their research, who are
busy spamming the Internet forums with their bad news.
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"Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do than by the
ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the
trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover." -- Mark Twain |
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