Employment & Professional Development

Dr. Greg,

I've read in your guide and article, "If you have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree (field related or not) and any type of teaching or training experience, you should focus your job search on universities only." However, I am having a hard time finding any Public University jobs advertised, especially in the cities (Dalian, Zhuhai) that I'd like to teach in. Any advice?

Thanks,

David

Hi David,

Navigate to the EFL Teacher Resources page in the guide. Check the first three or four links. If you don’t see anything advertised, then conduct Google searches for “universities and colleges in Dalian,” “Zuhai,” etc. The search page results will return many home pages for these schools. If you don’t see any specific information about employment, then look for a link for foreign students (it will be the same office). Send them your résumé using my advice about applying for job.

This is not a great time to be looking for university work now as they hire in March-May for a late August/September start date.

If you are just looking for some travel adventure before returning home in a year or two to resume your life, then universities are a good choice (as a rule) because your workload won’t be very demanding and you’ll have more than three months off per year (that is, if you renew your contract, most universities will then pay you continuously for the summer months). The problem is, there is no growth potential at the university level and the longer you stay, the harder it is to retain the previous year's salary and benefits at the same workload.

However, if you are looking to make a career of this, then, actually, a good private school that is up and coming might be a better choice. You could easily work your way up the ladder and find yourself earning a salary comparable to what you could be earning back home—especially if you were to earn an online TEFL master’s degree.

So, it all depends on what you are looking for and what your reasons are for teaching English in China at this time.

If you need more help, just let me know. Good luck to you!