After a long time away, and during the vacation too, I thought I would ask you guys for more advice...
So, after looking at being China for a while last year, I went ahead and went for it back in August. I did what by all accounts was the most reasonable thing: I took a leap with a provincial university job, making only okay money but with a light workload. The school had no major marks against it. It's not very prestigious but as many had said, that doesn't matter for quality of job. Students are very good to deal with, one of the best parts of the job here. Administration leaves us alone. Housing...sucks, basically, but I've make my peace with that. There are various pluses and minuses but all in all, when it comes to the job alone, this isn't too bad. If that was all, I could probably manage another year here.
The issue is, the place. The city, the province, all of it. I chose wrongly here. Very wrongly. I'm in Nanchang, which some other forumer posted a list that said is one of the 5 lowest quality of life cities in all China. I can certainly reinforce that opinion. It's an ugly, charmless, generally horrible place. Its climate is as bad as Nanjing, Wuhan or Chongqing with none of the redeeming cultural, intellectual or Western amenities of those places. There's nowhere interesting to go or hang out. The people are insular and standoffish. English proficiency is atrocious (forget dating). The damn drivers honk constantly, for no reason, everywhere (When I went to Ningbo and the roads were quiet, my God). Even the food isn't much to speak of, compared to other places in China. And, it's hours on a bullet train to go anywhere else. All of my students who aren't from Jiangxi agree with me, that this city sucks. I would really like to get out of here.
I know what I want...JiangSU. Night and day compared to here. Or Zhejiang. The provinces with money. I cannot deal with more backwaters. I'm doing my backwater time. I would take Fujian or Guangdong, too. Chengdu or better Shandong if it was necessary.
I've got until July. How do I find a university position in a better, sizable, city, with good working conditions? People say, don't use a recruiter. It does seem like they only have awful jobs in backwaters. Or the conditions get worse...I saw a Nanjing uni job, offering '7-10K' (I'm sure not getting the 10K) for 20 classes per week! A 25% pay cut relative to my current workload! People say, don't email the schools directly, because they'll ignore you. Is this ever worth a try?I read Raoul's own posting on this question years ago on this forum, but it doesn't really seem to be clear about what I SHOULD do. Wait for direct postings from the schools?...but I hardly ever see any such things. It's always from recruiters. Is there somewhere special I should look?
Mainly, it seems like the only way to get a good university job in a good city is to know someone at that university who would recommend me...how exactly do I pull that off? I mean, how do you find these jobs? I don't KNOW anyone in China, because I'm stuck in freaking Nanchang!
To be clear, I'm not expecting a super difficult place like Suzhou, Qingdao, Haikou, Kunming. I'd be perfectly happy with a Wuxi, Ningbo, Changzhou, Xiamen, etc. I'm reasonably young (30s), look younger, and am not completely incompetent in the classroom. I present well and keep my various weird aspects well-hidden (unlike most of my current colleagues). I even have multiple years documented Uni experience in my home country (no Master's, but that's a whole other story). I'm more than happy to visit any good prospect during the Spring term to be reviewed in person.
Anyone out there with experience in this regard have any advice? It would be greatly appreciated.