Employment & Professional Development

I am new to China working at a college in a small city in southeast China and was hired through a recruiter. I have come to find out a couple of things that are not true.

I do enjoy the job, the kids are fun the hours are low, 12 hours a week and no outside teaching allowed. The students can tutor but not the three foreigners. The city is very small and with no foreigners around you really stand out so the school would find out. Too far to travel to another city for just weekend work.

No summer school so I am not sure what I am supposed to be doing during the six weeks off. It was suggested I go travel but now the school will not pay for my ticket from the U.S.: only as far as Thailand because I went to TEFL school in Thailand and then was hired from there. Is there a web site that breaks down the hiring policy regarding insurance and travel etc. for the colleges and universities?

My contract is up in January and I would like to move to a bigger city and be able to make some extra money. How do you find out about the college jobs without a recruiter? I do like the security of the school and the idea of working part-time somewhere else.

I found your site today and have really enjoyed all the useful information you give especially about the differences we have from the West. After I first came here, I was really shocked about the dating and the fact that I don't think the students for the most part are having sex because they're waiting to be married. Try explaining that to the students in the West.

You don't need to use a recruiter to find university employment in China and, in fact, probably shouldn't unless you anticipate having difficulties due to age or race.

Take a look at our China EFL Teacher Resources page for a list of websites that advertise EFL teaching jobs. The China TEFL Network is a particularly good one for collecting information on university employment.