The Best Times to Apply for Teaching Jobs in China

The Best Times to Apply for Teaching Jobs in China
Jun 25, 2011 By Thomas Ackerman , eChinacities.com

If you're looking for a teaching job in China you're probably asking yourself: What's the best job I can get? How much salary can I negotiate for? How can I get a position in the city I want? Certainly your schooling and teaching experience will have the biggest impact on your possibilities, but how early or late you choose to apply has a significant effect on your employment and salary options as well. Applying at the right time can mean the difference between a so-so job and a great one, an alright salary and an excellent one. Read on to find out when’s the best time to apply for teaching jobs in China.

China has several types of teaching institutions which hire foreign teachers: primary schools up to universities, public and private schools, international schools and private language academies. Most of them run on a system of two terms per year. The fall term, which is usually the biggest time for hiring, begins late August or early September. The spring term, which brings with it slightly less hiring, begins late February or early March. There are a few exceptions to this, especially with private academies, which sometimes offer contracts of several months.

According to the schools I spoke with, you should apply for teaching positions as early as April or May for the fall term, and as early as November for the spring term. By this time, schools have already heard from most of their teachers about whether they will return, and the hiring departments know how many teachers they have to search out. Three to four months may sound early to a lot of ears, and it is certainly possible to start finding a job later, but when you consider that you'd probably like to shop around and compare location, salary, benefits and even do a bit of negotiating, then the more time you give yourself the better. You probably don't just want to sign a contract with the first institution that offers you one. Ideally, you want to be looking over several possible contracts, and learning more about the position and the institution itself.

After all, communicating and asking questions about a job may sometimes go smoothly, but it can also take weeks. I once spent nearly a month applying to teach at a university, having an initial interview, and then having a meeting to negotiate a few details. It was only at the last meeting that the hiring director told me that the school actually ships out their teachers to another location an hour away to teach most of their classes. As you might imagine, this was not exactly what most teachers, myself included, would want, and I was glad that while discussing their offer I'd been taking my time to apply to other universities as well. A week later, I turned down their offer and accepted a different one. If I had been over the barrel because of time and without other options, I could have done no such thing.

Similar to the school system, large academies advise applying four months in advance also. This is not just for the sake of deciding if you want the job, but also because with a multi-franchise school you can choose which city you want to work in. Four months in advance, you may be able to choose between all of those cities as your destination. By about six seeks in advance, the pickings are slim. Academies also offer positions during winter and summer breaks, which range between six and eight weeks. Academies need fewer teachers for these shorter programs, but many local teachers choose to go out of town during this time, leaving some positions open.

While your immediate concerns may be with the time involved in researching and applying for jobs, another important factor in the hiring process is that you will need to get your work visa. This is usually shortly before the semester begins, but in some cases schools will help you get it earlier. If it's simply a renewal, and you're in China already, it will often take only a week. However, you should leave yourself at least two weeks just in case of bureaucratic problems, or in case a public holiday falls on a visa-processing day (as it might during Spring Festival). Getting the work visa for the first time in China can take as long as a month. At home, it generally takes two to four weeks. To avoid overstaying or other problems while acquiring your visa, make sure you have time during this period to visit the necessary offices (most of which are only open during work hours), and check to make sure public holidays won’t reduce the number of business days, making it impossible for you to get it processed in time.

If you already have a visa, you can sometimes negotiate higher salaries when applying at the last minute. The school will also be short on time, forcing them to agree to contracts they would’ve turned down several months out. This is obviously a dicey tactic, especially when it involves a move, and can result in complications on the visa front.

It might seem daunting going through the whole employment process the first time, but getting a jump on it early will be a huge help. Even if you've had teaching jobs before, an early start will definitely give you more options. It will also allow you to review more schools, examine more contracts and compare more offers. You may already be very confident in your credentials, but with the added advantage of proper timing, you’re in an ideal position when it comes to landing the right job and the best salary.

**Thank you to the folks at Aston English, New Oriental and South China Normal University for their help in researching this article
 

Related Links
How to Find the Perfect Teaching Job in China
5 Blunders to Avoid for English Teachers in China
The Life Cycle of a Teacher in China

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8 Comments

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victorale

cool

Feb 16, 2017 14:28 Report Abuse

victorale

nice article, thanks

Feb 01, 2017 08:30 Report Abuse

Andy

Good to know this...
I would like to find a job which acts as a liaison to English teachers and other Chinese. If there are possible opportunities, pls feel free to contract me.
Thanks.

Jul 22, 2011 19:56 Report Abuse

J.E

@ Leon and Ric,

If you done your homework before going to China, you'd know that racism occurs.... Knowing that would probably not encourage you to enter the market in China?! As I presume the degrading racism will not make your life happier....

As for me, I am a recruiter for a Chinese company. I told my boss that I am not judging applicants on skin colour, however she seems to be rather ignorant towards my ethics.... (Do not always think its the recruiter who is being unreasonable, he has forces behind him as well...)

Jun 29, 2011 22:53 Report Abuse

Marc

Interesting points here, and here are mine just for good measure. Firstly, this is not a recruitment site, maybe others can add to the list but if your looking for teaching jobs try these :

.eslteachersboard.com
anesl.com
.seriousteachers.com
.findworkabroad.com
.daveseslcafe.com

Or simply google"Teach in ........" enter the city you want and go from there. I arrived in China in 2006 in Dalian, telephone and MSN interviews, i have a minor disability, i am missing 3 fingers from my left hand due to a venous condition. Now, this was not noticed by either Chinese or Foreign friends for 3 months, i certainly dont advertise it, i am not ashamed, i simply do not want to explain a trillion times why i have it, my hand, my body, i do as i please. Once my employers noticed a few comments were going around the office, more inquisitive than any other kind. This culminated in a visit to the bosses office where it was "suggested" i wear a glove.....yeah, cos obviously people wouldn't question me then would they, stupid F......s! i explained that i would not be doing that, nor any other hair brained scheme they might come up with and that if they felt that my "disabilty" was losing them students, or affecting my work, then please fire me....they did. I decided to punish them where it hurts the most, their pockets, upon me telling all my students who in the short space of time had bonded with me, they in turn told their parents, who spoke to the school, who lied about why i was leaving, who tried to have me beaten in a bar because i told the truth, which ended with me removing 47 full time paying students from the school and placing them in others that i had made relationships with. So, was i discriminated against? Partly, but Chinese discriminate against themselves also, fat, busty, thin, spotty, they are critical of their own place in society not to mention in the worlds eye, so i just did not match up to their highly inflated egotistical appearance values. After i left the city, i joined a huge Chinese company, nothing said, infact, when they noticed, they asked all the right things in the right way, and have bent over backwards to ensure that i am ok, performance matters here not looks. I won't even get started on the racism.......

Jun 25, 2011 16:55 Report Abuse

um

Seriously? Like... seriously? How did you get.....? OK, Nevermind.

Jun 25, 2011 22:25 Report Abuse

Luc

Good for you, Asghar—I hope you made it, buddy! :)

Jan 12, 2012 03:19 Report Abuse