Day 3 of China teachermaxxing job hunt

[Orientalist]

I've got like 15-20 recruiters on my wechat contacts so far, but I've been spamming just about everything my resume to everything I'd remotely consider on echinacities so this pace might start to decline. Tl;dr: kindergartens and training centers are everywhere and you should have little problem landing a job at one of them while having 0 experience, especially if you're flexible with what city you want - but they both kind of fucking suck. These guys are ready to just throw kindy/training center offers at you ("hmm without no experience you should start at training center" kind of thing), some of which send them exclusively, or maybe some have schools in random tier 2 cities.

Personally I'm only interested in certain T1/New T1s + a few others, unless I somehow get a crazy gig with low hours to make up for it. I'm starting to line up some interviews with primary/high schools in said T1s so we'll see about that.

You should really consider frauding some kind of past teaching experience, or bare minimum present past work experience to have taught you relevant skills. I really don't think they care about that in interviews though. They want an outgoing E人 white monkey tbh + some experience so they know you're not a drunk retard or whatever.
I'm neither condoning nor not condoning ethical behavior in the face of potential employers, but it's pretty easy to lie about it honestly, notably everything leading up to and during the interview. It seems the people at the school can know barely anything about you or even how many years of experience you have before you tell them yourself, lol. Recruiters kind of just set you up. Verifying things and getting documentation could be another challenge for you, but maybe cross that bridge when you get there. I don't know how strict the interviewers tend to be drilling you about having x number of years, but saying "no - I have no experience" or something to that effect is always a failo. I don't even know - just be active on Hellotalk/Italki for a few days and say "I've done some tutoring" or some shit - would take you far enough for some jobs I imagine.

When I really think about it, I'm pretty sure I'd rather just work in Saigon, Vietnam my first year than some bumfuck provincial city. Grind Mandarin in the meantime while rotting in my apartment calling girls over from Bumble - a luxury you scarcely have in China. I enjoyed Chengdu a lot and Beijing and Qingdao were pretty solid, but you're kinda rolling the dice signing a 1 year contract to go somewhere you've never even been before. I fear the vibes might be totally off, dating might fucking suck, etc. I highly recommend every man go to China for a few months and visit as many cities as you want. It absolutely mogs for tourism but living in one place for a year is making me check reality a bit lol.
Schools in Vietnam apparently starts hiring in like August - meanwhile I have no later than early July to accept something in China. So we shall see.

 

[Orientalist]

I need input from the China slayers here as for how cooked your social/dating life in China would be in working 10am-9pm on the weekends. (That's basically the standard for training centers, + a few hours over the week, usually W-F. Which doesn't seem as unappealing if it's only 20-24 teaching hours in reality with no office hours, but I have no idea how legit those places are about that. Lord knows plenty aren't)
I mean, you can still go out until like 2am on Friday/Saturday and late as you want on Sunday I guess, lol. Like are 18-22 year old students and such usually free on the weekdays or is it over for you? The days blurred together for me when I was in China and Vietnam and didn't really pay attention to it lol. I don't really remember it being a huge problem but most of the action was definitely technically friday/weekend obviously

 

[AlexBrown84]

I need input from the China slayers here as for how cooked your social/dating life in China would be in working 10am-9pm on the weekends. (That's basically the standard for training centers, + a few hours over the week, usually W-F. Which doesn't seem as unappealing if it's only 20-24 teaching hours in reality with no office hours, but I have no idea how legit those places are about that. Lord knows plenty aren't)
I mean, you can still go out until like 2am on Friday/Saturday and late as you want on Sunday I guess, lol. Like are 18-22 year old students and such usually free on the weekdays or is it over for you? The days blurred together for me when I was in China and Vietnam and didn't really pay attention to it lol. I don't really remember it being a huge problem but most of the action was definitely technically friday/weekend obviously

pretty cooked imo. most girls here are robots in the sense that they wage slave or study during the weekdays, not allowing anything more than the occasional cafe meet. like most girls i talk to are only open to meeting on weekends and give me excuses like work or school (prob just because im ugly)

but things are different in guangzhou and shanghai only i’d say. more alt girls not tied to the typical routines

 

[AlexBrown84]

what cities you getting offers for in china?

 

[AlexBrown84]

i’m evil

 

[Orientalist]

what cities you getting offers for in china?

As far as what I'm actually looking for, Guangzhou and Chengdu are my top 2. 2nd place is basically Chongqing, maybe Shanghai if there's enough dough, and anywhere in Yunnan for the lols because they're so rare.
Obviously there are a million other cities I could go for like Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, etc. but I just don't know their vibes; they are not in the geomaxia chronicles. I need to go on another expedition (undoubtedly will happen) before I can really trust myself moving somewhere lol. I haven't even been to Guangzhou either
As for the random offers I've gotten, I see no pattern really. Dalian, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Quanzhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, whatever. Like I said if someone wants to go to like any tier 1 you should be able to level up the totem pole to a public school job without much trouble. I'm also applying for universities pretty country-wide, but I think they might be much more competitive/want experience

pretty cooked imo. most girls here are robots in the sense that they wage slave or study during the weekdays, not allowing anything more than the occasional cafe meet. like most girls i talk to are only open to meeting on weekends and give me excuses like work or school (prob just because im ugly)

but things are different in guangzhou and shanghai only i’d say. more alt girls not tied to the typical routines

Some training centers can be more like 8am-6pm on the weekend, which idk if that's better or worse than 10-9 in the grand scheme of things if you're going out at night anyways. As for like daily life, it's probably a pro? Having monday/tuesday off means less people packing around you in the subway like fucking sardines and places being less crowded while everyone is trying to do errands and shit. But of course that could be a con if you like having people stare and come up to you

 

[Orientalist]

Considering training centers generally hire year-round, and that I'm prioritizing free time, and that there are training centers out there that are only like 5-10 hours a week yet pay quite well (I just got an offer from a recruiter for such a place in Shenzhen) - personally I probably won't settle for some bullshit. Could always wait around for a little something. I don't mind that they're usually meme institutions with no responsibility as long as they don't rape me with contracts or whatever - I prefer a little bit of chaos.
Not really out here trying to start from the bottom working a ton of teaching+office hours just to do things the 'career teacher way' or whatever right off the bat lol. Ironically I might work on a teaching license/M.Ed remotely if I end up with a lot of free time. Plus, it essentially seems that once you have an existing work permit ready to transfer (along with the concomitant work experience), finding something else is substantially easier, as stated above.
I'll have a much better idea of what I'm even looking for a year from now, but at the moment free time is a priority

 

[Orientalist]

(I just got an offer from a recruiter for such a place in Shenzhen)

After week of daily checking Tinder in Shenzhen (and then setting location back to Shanghai, because Shenzhen sucked so much), got results worst ever experienced in China:

Shenzhen
left 487
right 0

Next week will try Beijing


And this day's dose of ugly is from very important and special place we all love and cherish

It's off the list

 

[Orientalist]

@explorer7878 Is Wuhan good?

 

[explorer7878]

@explorer7878 Is Wuhan good?

the city is ugly, the girls are not the best quality but I would say still easy for dating

 

[AlexBrown84]

the city is ugly, the girls are not the best quality but I would say still easy for dating

i thought it was pretty aesthetic and had an underrated art scene

only downside was the pollution

idk if ur still there but checkout wuhan art museum in qintaiguan

one of the best art museums i’ve been to in china, even beating most in shanghai

 

[Orientalist]

had an underrated art scene

Yeah after having looked into that Wuhan is prob on the radar at this point
Also 10 mins ago a recruiter just said a university Yinchuan is interested in me, where the fuck is this jfl. 25% the population is muslim wtf.
Wanna give me that one training center guy’s wechat or are you gatekeeping

 

[AlexBrown84]

Yeah after having looked into that Wuhan is prob on the radar at this point
Also 10 mins ago a recruiter just said a university Yinchuan is interested in me, where the fuck is this jfl. 25% the population is muslim wtf.
Wanna give me that one training center guy’s wechat or are you gatekeeping

don’t live in yinchuan. if it’s anything like a city i visited nearby called lanzhou, it will be shit filled with dust from the desert reaching an aqi of 900

and yea ima gatekeep before i go talk to him myself. your posts making me motivated to go talk to him. he said i could do part time so might do that.

but we’re both american. i’m sure he would hire us both

 

[AlexBrown84]

do you tell the recruiter you don’t have a degree yet?

 

[explorer7878]

do you tell the recruiter you don’t have a degree yet?

do you think i can get a teaching position in english with an Austrian non teaching related university degree and German citizenship

 

[Orientalist]

do you tell the recruiter you don’t have a degree yet?

No lol I just tell them I’ll have it ready by July

 

[Orientalist]

do you think i can get a teaching position in english with an Austrian non teaching related university degree and German citizenship

Some listings do explicitly say they consider non-native speakers. If you’re a blonde htn or whatever you are not SOL. There are also random positions for (native) german speakers if you look at echinacities

 

[explorer7878]

Some listings do explicitly say they consider non-native speakers. If you’re a blonde htn or whatever you are not SOL. There are also random positions for (native) german speakers if you look at echinacities

can i add these positions in my cv or are they dodgy?

 

[Orientalist]

can i add these positions in my cv or are they dodgy?

Lol as opposed to putting nothing? Tbh I get the impression schools don’t really dive that deep into your history, especially going so far as to see how “legit” places are, but I could be wrong. The main thing that matters is if they’ll give a reference letter if another school asks and they don’t say you were a retard

 

[High-Normie]

i’m evil
View attachment 10879

>evilest

learn English, mongoloid

 

[AlexBrown84]

>evilest

learn English, mongoloid

did you come from 4chan by any chance?

 

[Yuezhi]

It's off the list

Yeah I don't reccomend Shenzhen for dating as I was there for a couple of months pre scamdemic. Way too many hong kongers go there on the weekends inflating the expectations of the girls.

 

[Yuezhi]

Anyways good luck on your search, an M.Ed and license should go a long way when you eventually get them and will prob give you a decent salary boost

 

[Orientalist]

Yeah I don't reccomend Shenzhen for dating as I was there for a couple of months pre scamdemic. Way too many hong kongers go there on the weekends inflating the expectations of the girls.

It also has the worst male to female ratio in the country, too. ~130:100. Fuck that lol. I'm not interested in anywhere with a wagecuck culture there. Proximity to Hong Kong is a plus for some, but to be honestly I don't really care about HK. Found it kinda boring like some knock-off lite version of China but substantially more expensive and crowded, with indian guys everywhere as a bonus

 

[masonfrancis]

can i add these positions in my cv or are they dodgy?

Add in your CV that you are a Blonde HTN bro

 

[Orientalist]

Add in your CV that you are a Blonde HTN bro

I mean, you literally do. Everyone attaches a photo

 

[Orientalist]

@Rance When you condescend to emerge from the shadows, can you elaborate what you meant by universities having "zero career potential"? As opposed to what? Sure I can see a bit of a continuum with public→private→bilingual/international schools, and I suppose if you've worked in a certain type of age range that entire time things would be easier for you, but since when did experience teaching EFL at a university not transfer to, say, high schools? Surely it's better in that regard than 99.999% of all the other jobs in the world, lol.
You can also definitely have a high dough:work ratio at them if you have a graduate degree as a subject teacher in topics like computer science, math, business, or indeed even English - you can be squarely in the 15k-20k range instead of 10-15k. And, at the end of the day it's all about landing the positions you actually want to be in.

I got an interview scheduled which I may or may not fumble with a uni in Wuhan for ~10-12k after tax working 22-24x45min teaching hours per week with no office hours. Quite shit, but that's not that different from the better public school positions I've had thrown at me, and I assume their contracts are a millionn times more reliable than training centers so it's kinda tempting.

I've seen these offers for training centers that are 20k+ and ~15-20 hours a week, but god only knows what they might make you do during the 8-5 office hours. Primary school - lesson planning and whatnot doesn't take a genius so you usually have free time during office hours but it's kind of impossible to guarantee that.
However - some of the training centers have very similar salary:hour ratio with no office hours. This one recruiter told me they could set up an interview at a training center in Shenzhen that's 5-10 1hr classes a week for 20-24k after tax. What the fuck actual fuck is THAT? (Especially when training centers sometimes have zero preparation; they are the true "white monkey" jobs of the industry) seems like the jackpot. I didn't really pursue it cuz Shenzhen boring, but now I'm telling recruiters I am interested in training centers with low hours/no office hours, since this is a true enigma. I am yet to perceive the supposed notorious scamminess of the Chinese TEFL industry but perhaps I shouldn't find out by staring directly down the barrel. Since the real question is if they won't rape in one way or another or outright lie on your contract. Being able to sleep at night signing a contract with a credible institution knowing I won't get fucked over somehow might make it worth generally disregarding training centers as an option; On /r/TEFL and /r/chinalife you just hear all kinds of weird ass shit about these companies. I dunno what to make of it. If it's legal it's legal and I couldn't care less about being unorthodox, but they're still plain sketch

At the moment, I'm just taking every round 1 interview I can get, for the sake of practice + seeing what sticks before I be picky. I'm not gonna bother with kindergartens or middle schools tho. University > training center that probably won't fuck me ≈ primary school > high school >> everything else.

 

[Xavist]

@Rance When you condescend to emerge from the shadows, can you elaborate what you meant by universities having "zero career potential"? As opposed to what? Sure I can see a bit of a continuum with public→private→bilingual/international schools, and I suppose if you've worked in a certain type of age range that entire time things would be easier for you, but since when did experience teaching EFL at a university not transfer to, say, high schools? Surely it's better in that regard than 99.999% of all the other jobs in the world, lol.
You can also definitely have a high dough:work ratio at them if you have a graduate degree as a subject teacher in topics like computer science, math, business, or indeed even English - you can be squarely in the 15k-20k range instead of 10-15k. And, at the end of the day it's all about landing the positions you actually want to be in.

I got an interview scheduled which I may or may not fumble with a uni in Wuhan for ~10-12k after tax working 22-24x45min teaching hours per week with no office hours. Quite shit, but that's not that different from the better public school positions I've had thrown at me, and I assume their contracts are a millionn times more reliable than training centers so it's kinda tempting.

I've seen these offers for training centers that are 20k+ and ~15-20 hours a week, but god only knows what they might make you do during the 8-5 office hours. Primary school - lesson planning and whatnot doesn't take a genius so you usually have free time during office hours but it's kind of impossible to guarantee that.
However - some of the training centers have very similar salary:hour ratio with no office hours. This one recruiter told me they could set up an interview at a training center in Shenzhen that's 5-10 1hr classes a week for 20-24k after tax. What the fuck actual fuck is THAT? (Especially when training centers sometimes have zero preparation; they are the true "white monkey" jobs of the industry) seems like the jackpot. I didn't really pursue it cuz Shenzhen boring, but now I'm telling recruiters I am interested in training centers with low hours/no office hours, since this is a true enigma. I am yet to perceive the supposed notorious scamminess of the Chinese TEFL industry but perhaps I shouldn't find out by staring directly down the barrel. Since the real question is if they won't rape in one way or another or outright lie on your contract. Being able to sleep at night signing a contract with a credible institution knowing I won't get fucked over somehow might make it worth generally disregarding training centers as an option; On /r/TEFL and /r/chinalife you just hear all kinds of weird ass shit about these companies. I dunno what to make of it. If it's legal it's legal and I couldn't care less about being unorthodox, but they're still plain sketch

At the moment, I'm just taking every round 1 interview I can get, for the sake of practice + seeing what sticks before I be picky. I'm not gonna bother with kindergartens or middle schools tho. University > training center that probably won't fuck me ≈ primary school > high school >> everything else.

I’ve also read quite frequently online that institutions in China and elsewhere in Asia will withhold pay for many months at a time and there’s nothing you can really do about it as a broke foreign teacher so that also kind of worries me…
How common is it in reality you think?

 

[Friar Tuck]

Update us on your interviews.

I'm going to look at teaching there at some point.

I still have quite a few regular Chinese students booking every week online.

 

[High-Normie]

Hey, what are your stats? Height? PSL? Race?

 

[Friar Tuck]

Hey, what are your stats? Height? PSL? Race?

He's 5'1. I think his PSL was rated at mtn on org. And he's Bangladeshi. Hope this helps.

 

[nomad]

pretty cooked imo. most girls here are robots in the sense that they wage slave or study during the weekdays, not allowing anything more than the occasional cafe meet. like most girls i talk to are only open to meeting on weekends and give me excuses like work or school (prob just because im ugly)

but things are different in guangzhou and shanghai only i’d say. more alt girls not tied to the typical routines

What makes guangzhou so good in your opinion? I also read positive things about it on xiaohongshu

 

[Orientalist]

Hey, what are your stats? Height? PSL? Race?

I’m like MTN but my photo is touched up with the app Snow to look like I’ve never seen the sun in my entire life and things like that

 

[Orientalist]

I’ve also read quite frequently online that institutions in China and elsewhere in Asia will withhold pay for many months at a time and there’s nothing you can really do about it as a broke foreign teacher so that also kind of worries me…
How common is it in reality you think?

Idk. There are all kinds of accusations, but something to keep in mind is they're still legally obligated to do certain things, like for instance allow you to transfer employers on your work permit with a letter of release, and I hope also pay you on time, lmao.