Hi there...not too sure about the whole avoid CV websites..I posted my CV on one in 2008 and ended up getting a nice, rewarding uni job.
The reason I (and apparently others) recommend avoiding these is that they tend to make one a magnet for recruiters. A lot of people who post CVs on these sites find themselves hounded to death by every recruiter and other such EFL lowlife in China.
There are also security issues. Posting personal info- even e-mail addresses- in a publicly-accessible site can create real problems for people. I don't recommend ever doing that...even here.
There are other ways to skin this cat that don't involve posting personal info in public sites.
But this is a general suggestion.
You, Squirrel-boy, should be pasting your photo and all kinds of personal information all over the internet. This goes double for sites based in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
There are good EF schools. It depends on your circumstances, experience, personality etc.
Absolutely. And most rivers have gold nuggets somewhere on the bottom, too. However, the odds of you actually
finding either of these are incredibly remote. And in the case of EF, the consequences of NOT finding one of those rare decent schools are so dire that I recommend simply giving the whole thing a miss. As you yourself point out, there's an abundance of options that don't involve EF at all...or AES/Aston, Kids Castle, or any other of these bottom-of-the-barrel McEnglish mills.
I'd also submit that one's experience at an EF school probably has a lot more to do with the integrity of the management than with one's own personal qualities. If you're a flake, you're probably going to have problems anywhere you work...but you can be a perfectly nice person and still get badly burned at these places.
Meanwhile, I totally agree with TLD on "weekend excursions" to Japan. It's just not going to be feasible very often, no matter where in China you locate. Even if you can find reasonably-priced transport, you're likely to find that a Chinese teacher's salary may not even get you out of the airport in Japan. You wanna see Japan? Work there and hope to get a salary that will let you keep up with the cost of living there. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure you'll find more than plenty of see-and-do opportunities in China. You can also visit a lot of Southeast Asian countries quite cheaply from China.
But Japan, the land of the US $30 tomato? No way. A save-for-months excursion at best.
Also...well, you'd better hurry, but you can probably still get some university jobs for this academic year. There's bound to be a few schools out there with unfilled slots or no-shows. However, on this basis you probably won't be able to pick and choose locations...and again, you really need to hurry to have a shot at anything reasonable.
