How beneficial is it to go China and have a face to face int...

You don’t say where you are in the world, Dale. Nearly all the jobs advertised for China will conduct face to face interviews by Skype, with some asking you to make a short video of yourself speaking. They’re looking for speech and your looks/presentation. The worst way to find work is to come over on a tourist visa and look around. Find work on ‘Serious Teachers’, read the contract offered and ask to be put in touch by email with teacher’s already working for the company or school. Google the name of the school/company for any comments . . . in short, do some homework before you accept. You will be tied into a contract if you accept employment and it’s not really a good idea to break contracts because you’re ‘unhappy’. Accept, stick with it through the up’s and down’s and complete the contract and then if you’re still unhappy, move on.

Dale Harapat, Some Serious TEFL Job Adverts are from Recruitment Agencies. They like to get the names, contact details and CV + Degree & Teaching Certificate off prospective ESL Teachers looking for work in China. They might even suggest they can find you work, even if you don't have a TESOL or TEFL Certificate ('preferred' stated perhaps?). Whilst a Teaching Certificate is required for Graduates without a minimum of 2 years post graduate experience, I was hired without a TEFL Certificate. I now have a Serious TEFL Diploma. If one does not have a career background in Teaching to different age groups, I would recommend taking the TEFL Diploma, before seeking any ESL Teaching jobs. Then when you are hired with your TEFL Diploma, you can apply what you studied and learned from such TEFL Training. If any Agency suggests they can hire someone without a Degree, be suspicious of them. It seems SAFEA insist on seeing a photocopy of the Degree, that is entered on the FEC Application Form. It also seems that the SAFEA will not accept my City & Guilds of London Institute 'Full Technological Certificate',even though that was what the Engineering Council UK accepted for my Professional Registration as an Incorporated Engineer back in 1979. But I still did not become an Incorporated Engineer until 1982 when I was promoted to a 'Position of Responsibility' in Bahrain as 'Group Leader ASN'. A Bachelor of Arts Degree was not accepted as it was not Engineering related! This Agency in Chengdu, Hunan Province had set me up with a High School to the South. They had not processed my papers for me to get a Z Visa, and I entered on a Tourist Visa. After traveling to Chengdu by plane, I was met by a driver and taken to a Guest House in the Center of Chengdu. Turns out I was NOT going to be going to that town to the South of Chengdu, but to Mianyang to the North. Even after arriving there and staying in an apartment that was so dirty it took a team of 4 or more cleaners 3 hours to clean the place. There was no linen for the bed, and no electricity in the apartment! The next day they said pack up, change of plans, you are going to another school (same City). It seems some agencies trade the ESL Teachers on their books as 'commodities' to be 'traded' to the school that will pay the highest, and this give the agency the biggest 'commission'. The School that I taught paid RMB120 per class to this Chengdu Agency, but we Teachers with our Z Visa (eventually),received RMB65/class. All initial Interviews are usually conducted by Skype (or QQ if in China, as this is more widely used by staff, and students, in China Schools). You might get photos of the accommodation you will be offered (perhaps taken from when it was new and fresh, or even some other apartment)? Ask what furnishings and appliances are provided. Ask if Utilities (Water, Electricity, Gas, Telephone, Internet) are provided, and possibly drinking water. You might be sharing an Apartment? Perhaps you will have to pay for Utilities, so ask HOW and Where to add load to electric and gas etc. In my limited experience of just 2 x Contracts in China now (and having seen 2 more), there is usually a probation period of 1, 2 or even 3 months. Usually the wording is such that "during the probation period, either party can terminate the Contract by informing the other Party in a written form according to the law". The Contract that I ended up being asked to sign was NOT the same as the Draft Contract that I received, prior to traveling to China. (Different City, different Schools, different T&C's)! Some schools don't accept Teachers above a certain age also, but they don't tell you that until after you arrive. Appearance counts a lot apparently! In my limited experience, it appears Native English Teachers are perhaps hired for appearance sake. So the School can state, and show, that they do indeed hire foreigner Teachers for Oral English. If a school really wanted to genuinely improve the spoken English of it's students, would they have as many as 58 students in a class, and of mixed abilities?

I’ve been in Northern China for the last three years at the same school, with the same company. It pays to research your prospective employer starting with a quick google at the very minimum and a contact email from a teacher currently employed by them is a must. Avoid outrageous claims of 60k a month salaries, special ‘accredited’ government status or those ‘fishing’ to place you in, “we have lots of schools”, without identifying exactly where you will be placed. Avoid private language ‘schools’ like the plague and never pay any money to an agency. Choose carefully; if you’re in your fifties a ‘fun loving energetic environment’ probably isn’t going to be your thing and at twenty five, a village in the outback will most likely bore you to death. If you don’t have a minimum of at least one verifiable degree and a TEFL, with teaching experience, expect a salary to reflect that. Looks and presentation are crucial; if you haven’t the academic credentials and/or insist on the backpacker look, you can’t reasonably expect to be treated as a professional anywhere in the world. I’m on 9000 a month, (M.A/M.Sc. any subject plus TEFL), with 900 a month food allowance, free apartment and all utilities with internet. B.A/B.Sc. any subject plus TEFL would be around 7,000. 7,000 per year for flight reimbursement and two times one month holidays a year paid at 60%, with all internal holidays paid at 100%. All visas and medicals paid for by the company. My working hours are five days a week, 20 lessons at 40 minutes a lesson.

I would find a job prior to coming to China. I currently work at a smaller company in Zhengzhou (CZZChina) and they never do interviews with people already here, mostly because if you only have 10 days left on your tourist visa it's difficult to get paperwork to change you visa done before you r 10 days are up. If I were you, I'd do some research on where you want to go and then talk to different schools! Be careful and know the difference between recruiters, agency's and other companys.

I work for a school in Northeastern China and have been there for three years now. I would not come to China before finding a job. I would also suggest working for a private school if class size and hours are important. You can have a skype interview and do NOT need to come all the way here. The pay sometimes is not that great but the cost of living here is so low that you keep almost everything you earn. Larger cities offer higher pay but there are reasons for that. Also I would ask for some references from previous teachers, and look to a school that keeps their teachers for a number of years. There are a lot of sketchy schools out there .... and public schools and uni's are no guarantee that you will be treated well. Good luck

before the current situation, there was a train of thought that a walk-in to a school was a smart - if yet not common - move and a secret knowledge type of way to get a teaching job (provided you are qualified to teach that is). It probably still is the case, but instead of the walk-in method, try to seek out the school's contact details and send a decent inquiry letter to the HR of the school, ideally written in both Chinese first and then English. This method is still not yet a common way of doing things in China and a decent school that has had a good history of employing foreign teachers would likely respond. Especially as since 2018 there is a (foreign) teacher shortage in China.

When a foreign teacher accepts a job under contract in China.....a release letter from your employer is required, if you wish to leave your employment. And should you leave without consent, you might find yourself on the blacklist, the next time you apply for a new job in China.