Employment & Professional Development

Dear Dr. Greg,

Last week I received a call from a prominent University in Chongqing. The FAO said they had gotten my name from an agent, and would I like to come to their school in March to teach English in the business department. I had applied for this job in December and had received no reply. I have no contract, just an e-mail specifying the contract details and verifying when I am to arrive. The people who can authorize a contract are not around, I was told. I asked the questions on your checklist, but some have gone unanswered. The FAO seems nice, sincere, and I have no reason not to believe her. But, they really seem distracted.

It is safe to assume that their top choice has backed out and I am a desperation replacement, although I am certainly qualified for the job? Would you move from Beijing under these conditions? I was planning on freelancing here, but this seems like a good offer (6,000) for 12-14 hrs/week. I am quite suspicious and half expect some kind of typical Chinese chaos to unfold. I told them I would take it, primarily because of your comments about Project 211 Universities and the relatively high national ranking of the school. It will cause me no real problems if all hell breaks loose, or at least none that I can think of. What do you think of this?

I'm curious, specifically which questions have gone unanswered? Knowing that will go a long way in my ability to give you better advice.

The middle of January is rather late to be hiring foreign teachers for March 1st but that alone doesn't mean very much. It's certainly possible that someone else bailed out on them,they browsed through past applications, and simply told you that they received your name from a recruiter in order to give you face. It's also possible that the FAO is overwhelmed with 1,000 different tasks, especially at the end of the semester, and is just now getting around to it.

I would like to know specifically which questions have gone unanswered. More to the point, assuming all the questions that weren't answered were deliberately left unanswered because they feared you wouldn't like the answers, would you still be able to live with the offer?

I'd be interested to know which university it is, there are only two national ranked universities here in Chongqing: Chongqing University and Southwest University. Southwest does not hire foreign teachers in this manner, all of their foreign teachers are peace corp volunteers and they don't need to advertise for foreign teachers. The other university is Chongqing University, I have a few friends there (both Chinese and foreign students). I know a couple of the foreign teachers there and they have been there for a long time and have no intentions of leaving.

Most universities here have old and new campuses and you would be teaching at the new campus. These new campuses are located an hour or an hour and a half from Chongqing proper so part-time work is fairly limited as the language centers here are in the main precincts (Jie Fang Bei and Jiangbei).

Most of the university teachers here are teaching far more than 12-16 classes a week, the average being around 25. In some ways this makes up for the remoteness of the campus you would be teaching at. I work for a middle school here and teach about 18 classes a week, the majority of the teachers at the universities here are retirement age and for them the distance away from the bars and nightlife is no problem. Most of the younger expats work at the language centers and the average wage here at universities is 3500-4500rmb a month, not including overtime for extra classes.

Well, I just received a contract, unsigned, but it is a contract, 30 minutes after this post, along with the answers to my questions. Patience has never been a virtue of mine.

I don't have a photo of the apartment, but it is a 2-bedroom, which is larger than my current digs. So, I suppose I have wasted everyone's time. Sorry about that! It is Chongqing University, and it seems to be a great job. I just hope I can extricate myself from my current commitments in time. The last minute nature of this is the problem, so it isn't a done deal yet, I suppose. Thanks for your input.

You didn't waste our time, I understood your concerns.

Best of luck with this and let us know how it works out for you.

Chongqing University, well that is a good job and the best thing about that university is that it's one of the oldest universities in Chongqing and it does not have a new campus (one of only two that doesn't). All three of its campuses are located in Shapingba, which is a great district to live in as there are western restaurants and a good active nightlife and a lot of foreigners live there.

I don't know much about their English program besides having met a couple of teachers from CU briefly, but the students i know that go there say the school takes it very seriously (but this might have been a defense to my usual spiel about teaching English in china)

Here is the link to the Chongqing expat club which has some great information regarding living in Chongqing http://www.cqexpat.com/ and it's one of the most active and friendly expat sites I've seen around.

Does it say in your contract that the accommodation will be used only by you? I ask simply because as Chongqing University doesn't have a new campus, space is at a premium so I think you might want to ask if you will have to share it with another teacher.

Anyway good luck and I hope you enjoy Chongqing if you take the offer up, it's a good city in my opinion (as humble as that is, haha).

Thanks, Joel for the information. That was a good point about the shared housing. I asked them and they said the apartment is for my exclusive use.

The only thing I don't like is having to go back to the U.S. for my visa. They said it was a regulation, whether they are correct or not. I haven't been home in a year and a half, and I need to take care of some business anyway. I would have preferred to go to the Philippines and look for a potential wife.

I think I am sold on the idea, but have no real experience with Filipino women. I like the way they look and that they have a religious background. I'm not a holy roller, but I can't relate to atheists, either. Someone who understands my culture might be nice. I can always go in the summer I suppose.

Hey no problem mate. In Australia I knew a few Filipino people and grew up with one of them as my best friend as a kid. If you are really set on going there why not have the university send your visa paperwork there? Haha, just a suggestion if you are really set on the idea.