Chinese Living in the USA 中国人生活在美国外教招聘 Foreign Teachers Recruiting

Teaching English in China

We collaborate with multiple schools and other recruiting companies in China to fast place American teachers in Chinese schools from Kindergartens to high schools and universities, plus the language schools and training centers.

We provide FREE service to our teachers. Here is how the recruiting will work:

1. Send us your CV or resume and photo (highly preferred, schools like to see pictures first) via email or online

2. After we review your resume we will contact you shortly and schedule a 30 min-phone interview

3. After the interview, we will present your qualifications plus your interest and requirment to our China partners

4. The partners will let us know which candidates they would like to interview and we will coordinate to set up an interview with the schools via SKYPE (free download and registration through www.skype.com)

5. During the interview, you will get to know more about the position the school is hiring, including responsibility, benefits, salary, and other requirements. If both sides agree with each other, a employment contract will be signed between the teacher and the school.

6. The school will take over, or they will ask our help to guide the teacher to prepare documents to come to China to teach.

ESL teacher recruiting

We recruit English teachers to teach in China at schools of different levels, such as kindergarten, primary schools, middle schools, training schools, and even universities. The basic requirement is differentfrom school to school and we will try to match you with the right school that values your background and credentials.

The basic requirement is:

• Native English speaker (people born or grew up in US, UK, Canada, Australia, ect)
• Age from 22 to 55 (sorry, this is the rule set up by the schools)
• Bachelor degree or above preferred
• TEFL, TESOL, or similar teaching certificate preferred
• People with good health (passing the physical exam) is MUST

The basic benefits provided by schools are:

• Working visa provided (Z visa, as a general rule, Bachelor degree or above is required) by schools
• Different amounts of reembursement for the airfair tickets between the home country and China before the contract starts or after the contract ends
• Free housing or housing allowance provided by schools in many case, but hard for first tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In these cases, higher salry is expected
• Free basic medical insurance provided by Schools after the Z visa employment
• Salary varies depending on the regions and the teaching hours, generally from 4000 to 20,000 RMB ($700 to $3000) per month. Some of universities pay lower because the working hours are only half of the other school types and generally AP teachers can get the highest pay
• Paid some Chinese and few American public holidays and maybe some annual allowance such as travel allowance. Ask for these information during the interview since it is all different from school to school

Please contact us if you are interested, or refer a friend to us. 

Before you apply

Before you apply, you need to ask the following questions to yourself:

1. Am I ready to leave the country to go to a country which is very different in culture and language

2. Am I ready to forget my work here in my country and go to seek a career in a different country and what can I do after I return? do I return in short term?

3. When do I leave? Do I have everything ready by the time I leave, such as lease of my apartment, arrangent of family members?

4. Am I a qualified teacher candidate? Many schools need a Bachelor degree with at least two years of experience and a TEFL/TESOL certificate.

5. Do I have all my credentials and documents ready? These documents include: valid passport (6 months at least from expiration), diploma copies, certificate copolies, criminal record from department of Justice (some schools need this for Z visa), and physical exam (most of them need this for Z visa). Some of these documents may take days or months to prepare. If you are serious you should prepare early rather than wait until being accepted.

6. Do I have the money to buy flight ticket and do I have the first month money to pay rent and meal? Many school will not pay the ticket even some of reimburse it when you arrive. Many other only reimburse you when you finish the contract term. Many schools pay after you work for 40 days and they pay monthly rather biweekly as here in the US.

Do you know?

There are some facts that are important to know for foreign teachers. These facts are the reason that why thousands of foreign teachers are attracted to and stay in China over the years and demand is still increasing.

Benefits for teaching in China:

a. Salary now is from $1000 (very few are lower) to $3000 depending on the location (first tier, second tier, or thrid tier cities), teacher's experience (education, teaching experience, and teaching certificates), and the schools (public or private), and of course teaching hours per week

b. Besides salary, the schools will provide free health insurance during the Z visa employment.

c. Free housing or housing allowance is often provided to foreign teachers. That could be another $500 to $1000 per month added.

d. Flight ticket reimbursement, generally from close to $1000 to $1200, is sufficient to cover one-way trip for some schools.

e. If working overtime, the foreign teachers are provided with extra pay from 75 to 100 Yuan ($10 to 15) per hour, up to 200 Yuan ($30) per hour.

Considering the living cost lower than most of the western countries, foreign teachers enjoy the good compensation while teaching children and adult English and learning the Chinese culture.

f. The living cost is quite different from city to city. The first tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are usually very high in living cost compared to the second tier cities such as many capital cities in China, such as Wuhan, Nanjing, Shenyang, Changchun, zhengzhou, Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, ect. Even among the second tier cities, the living cost is very different. The souther cities turn to be more expensive than the northern cities. The thrid tier has increased demand for English teachers in recent years although they pay less than big cities. However, the cost is much lower and the population is much smaller. It could be a good place for people who prefere quiet and more culturely-oriented teachers.

g. The time line for planning to teach in China is important for the teachers. In most cases the schools need teachers all the year round. However, April to August is the busies time for the schools to recruit teachers for wither summer or the fall. We suggest the teachers look for positions 4 to 5 months before the leaving date. For instance:

• Leaving date early Sep.
• Preparation: Mid Aug to end of Aug (2 weeks)
• Getting visa: Early to Mid August (1 to 2 weeks)
• Waiting for Z visa documents: Early June to early Aug (2 months)
• School filing for paper work for Z visa sponsorship: Mid to late May (1 to 2 weeks)
• Paper work prepared by teachers: Mid Aprl to Mid May (1 month, maybe more if criminal record proof and physical exam are needed)
• Application and interview: Early to Mid Apr.( 1 to two weeks)

Of course, this is only for the formal application process. Some school may need only half of the time.

Some important information about teaching in China

1. Visa

Although a foreign teacher can come to China with an F visa to legally teach, one has to be careful about it. The F visa is issued with the invitation letter from a Chinese school. However, it is typically used to invite a teacher to help with curriculum design and system set-up, ect., for the Chinese school. It is not supposed to use to hire a foreign teacher to work. Although the teachers will get some allowance, it is not salary. People with F visa can stay for 90 days and will have to go outside China and come back to China with extended visa for another 3 months.

The right working visa is Z visa. With this visa, the foreign teacher can work for a year or more in China. It will take much longer time to get Z visa than the F visa. Since Z visa holder will be treated as foreign expert, so the application process has to go through local (to the school) Chinese Foreign Expert Office and Foreign Affair Office. For this process, a lot of documents are needed and some are totally required and others are optional to different cities. The required documents often include:

• Passport copy (valid for the next 6 months)
• Updated resume
• Electronic visa photo
• Education degree diploma copies (usually Bachelor degree or above)
• Teaching certificates (state teaching liscence or certificate, or TEFL or TESOL) (sometimes teachers can get hired without these certificates)
• Proof of no criminal record from Dept. of Justice, Police department, or even convincing websites for criminal background check (some can bypass this)--request early as it takes up to 6 weeks in some states
• Physical exam by filling an official medical exam form (available at the Chinese consulate or embassy web site) by your doctor or other qualified doctors with signature and preferrably with stamp
• Recommendation letter from the past schools you have taught (not always required)

These documents will eventually give you the work permit from the Foreign Expert Office. with this document, an invitation letter will be issued from local Foreign Affair Office.With both the invitation letter and work permit, the foreign teacher can go to their designated (based on their location in the foreign country) Chinese consulate or embassy to get Z visa and use the visa to come to China to teach. The whole process can go for 4 to 8 weeks. That is not all, when the foreign teacher come to China, she or he needs to get a local resident permit to legally registered and stayed in the city. With all these steps, the foreign teachers can offically be legally hired and teach in schools they are designated.

It is important to note that tourst visa--L visa is not legal to work in China. If cought, the teacher can be fined at 500 RMB ($80 or so) a day for the period they stayed and taught and can be detained from China immediately. Some of the teachers and the Chinese schools can not get Z visa and use this way to fulfill the teaching needs. It is really risky to be caught by local police unless the school has Guanxi (personal connection) with authorities. It will be interesting to see how the new government will do about this down the road.

2. Schools

Not all the schols are equal. With the fast expansion of needs for the foreign teachers all over the middle size to big cties, there are a lot of demand for the foreign teachers (more towards the native english speakers). The schools are also competing to get good teachers. The foreign teachers need to be careful enough not to get cheated by some illegal schools who can not provide what they have promised. For this consideration, getting a trustable recruiter is a good thing to do as many of them have established good relations with the schools they place for and the schools are generally more credible.

There are different types of schools that need english teachers. Perhaps the most demanding schools are kindergartons and early child education centers (most are private). The next class will be the international schools (teaching high school or even middles school students in English) and language training center (teaching TOEFL and GRE for instance) to prepare students to go to college or graduate schools in western countries. There are more demand for the universities. However, because of the rigid payment strucutre in universities, the foreign teachers are often not paid well in total salary. But considering the half time working compared to the other types of schools, it could be a good choice for people who enjoy leisure time to work for themselves as well.

3. Locations for teaching. Not everyone will like first tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. They are more westernized and easy to get around for the foreigners but the crowdedness and business are obvious and too headach for people who may enjoy relatively quiet enviornment. The second tier cities such as the capital cities of provinces are better choice. Some even choose a middle size city in a province if they know the city offers the good living enviornment for the foreigners. But always keep in mind that bigger cities tend to cost more for living as well. In general, southern China is more expensive and the people there also earn more in general. The southern parts may be more business oriented and easy for foreigners but the northern cities are more friendly and layback and keep more of the traditional Chinese culture.

4. There are many things a foreign teacher will have to be careful about in finding a teaching job in Chna. The US embassy has a very comprehensive guide for teaching in China. Please click here to read.

Knowing China (useful links)

China Map 

China cities and population

Chinese education system

Chinese food

Chinese culture

Chinese holidays

 Recent English articles to read about teaching in China

In China, English teaching is a whites-only club

The great pretenders: China's "unfirable" English teachers

Go East, Young Man

Teaching English in China: One Expat's Experience

Teaching English in China: Moving to China was the best thing I ever did

What is better? Finding your own school or using a recruiter?

This is the question many foreign teachers ask when they are looking for a Chinese school to teach.  There are people who only use recruiters and others hate recruiters. What is the right choice?

There is no right answer. People who hate recruiters may be due to their negative experience they had with the recruiters they used in the past. You can not "get scared by straw rope for ten years if you got bitten one time by a snake". You have to try out different ones until you find the right one. Every recruiter  has a different style and mindset when they are looking for teachers and the teachers just need to find out if the recruiter just wants to earn a quick money from the school and finishes his or her task, or he or she thinks for you and gives you good suggestions and culture and policy education. The latter could be the most important reason people use recruiters while they know nothing about the country or just have a freind there in China for a year.

I suggest all teachers should interview the recruiters when they are interviewed by recruiters. It is your right to use the ones you feel trustable although they just totally works for you without charging you. But eventually, it is because of your presence in that school that he or she can get paid.

Find a recruiter who is very educational and can tell you the truth and help you analyze your situation. He or she should think for you when presenting you to the school. If a recruiter just wants to get the job done and collect money without putting his or heart into it, it is easily seen. You will see the impatience and indifference through his tone and voice if you are on the phone with him or her. Ask some good questions and see if they know the answer. You will be surprised to see so many recruiters out there barely can talk to you in English but use the connection he or she has to earn big money. You should find a person who is knowledgable and passionate to help you to make selections and answer your questions patiently and with good attitude.

You think you may control your hiring process better and quicker without using a recruiter because you can go to the website and get many schools who directly want to talk to you. Think twice! Many schools do not have anyone near you to answer your questions and even speak to you in an understandable English. Why do you think they can help you go through the whole process and help you find this best school in the world? Always be cautious when you directly find a school on the website and you may not know if the school is illegal.

Although finding a recruiter can not always guarantee you find the right school, the recruiters usually have more connections and they may find you some schools they have sent many teachers in the past. That alone may shorten and save your time for communication with the schools. They will find it for you and give you all the advice you need to go through the whole procedure.

It is true, not all the recruiters are good ones. But once you find a good one, you will know. With him or her, you will get good education on culture and speed up the whole process. Hey, a good one works for you for FREE. Does he deserve your attention and joy?

What Type of Candidates Recruiters DO NOT like

The recruiters work for candidates for FREE but not all the candidates really appreciate. The good candidates can really take advantage of the recruiters' time and expertise to get a job easily. They know how to respect recruiters' time and get them work for them to their best interest. However, there are always less ideal candidates that waste recruiters' time and lower their motivation to help the candidates. The following type of candidates are not the ones that a recruiter will like:

1. Contact the recruiter but the recruiter can not find them by either emailing them or calling them, or both, or drop the phone within the first minute

2. Started the initial conversation with one or two emails and then disappear

3. Do not provide the documents that the recruiters provide and delay the process and later complain the process is too slow

4. Cheat on the recruiters and find another school to go

5. Blame the recruiters for what the interest they did not tell earlier

6. Say they will get back to the recruiters and never call back or write back

7. Do not communicate with the recruiter or school in the process of application and suddenly tell the school to pick up without detailed arrival information

8. Depending on the recruiters to do everything for them on paper work without making any effort. It is not recruiters' job to complete the forms and getting visa for them

9. Run away after they go to the country and break the contract

10. After they work there for a few months and run away before the contract ends