Dodgy, Or Just a Rotten Deal?

This one comes courtesy of our old friend Birddog! (Sorry it's taken so long...) Commentary also by Birddog.

Song Ren County, Fu Zhou city (150km to Nan Chang) Jiang Xi province
- English job offered *Link*

Posted By Abbie Normal university, Jiang Xi province <dont_email_them@126.com>
Date 26 August 2007

   Abbie Normal university, Jiang Xi province

    School: A. normal university

    Location: Song Ren County, Fu Zhou city (150km to Nan Chang)
Jiang Xi province

    Contracted time: one year from Sept, 2007

    Work hours and Schedule:
    20-25 teaching hours / week

    Students: age 18-22

    What to teach: Spoken English books provided by school

    Salary: 4000/m
    You have to make your own visa

    Requirement:
    Foreign teacher
    Experienced in teaching

    How to apply
    Please mail dont_email_them@126.com, dont_email_him_either@126.com with your
resume (with mobile number and email address) / photo / passport /
visa / certificate / reference;
    Don't Call 867-5309 or Pennsylvania 6-5000 for more inquiries
    Also don't check Website: www.hire_me-im_stupid.com

- - - - - - - - - -

The two most disturbing entries are "You have to make your own visa,"
(RUN!!!) and the fact that the salary (4000RMB) is for "up to 25
teaching houes" which could actually mean more than 25 classes, if
they are less than 60 minutes long! Sounds like a nightmare situation
that should be avoided at all costs! Agree???

I'm not entirely sure this is a dodgy ad...as in an ad that's deceptive or misleading or laden with traps.

It may well be the absolute worst deal I've ever seen in my life, though.

4000 RMB per month isn't exactly generous or luxurious under ANY circumstances.
For 25 college hours a week it's outright unconscionable. An outrage.

But the real rub is the visa. As BD said, RUN do not walk away from any full-time job that will not provide you a fully-paid residence permit. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

In addition, a job like this should come with at least some basic benefits...housing, travel/completion/airfare bonus, maybe more. If any of these are provided under this job, they certainly aren't mentioned in the ad.

I think what keeps me up at night is that out there somewhere in that dark night, there's some foreigner goofy enough to take this dogmeat job...

As always, Sir Duke, thanks much for sounding the alarm! Yes, this place is definitely Eye-gor's alma mater, "Abbie Normal U!" 

The fact that it's in a county is also pretty grim

Certainly it is a rotten deal, but it MIGHT not be entirely dodgy.

IF "you have to make your own visa" only means you have to pay for it, but they are authorised to employee foreigners and will get the residence permit for you AND "up to 25 teaching hours a week" means 25 45-minute class AND they provide housing and an airfare allowance but just didn't mention them because those are routine in China ... then it is just yet another badly paid job, similar to dozens of others. If you don't have enough qualifications and experience to get something better and you want to live in a rural area to "experience the real China", it might even be the job for you.

If any one of those is false -- especially if they don't give you a visa (utterly dodgy, sure sign you should run!) but also if they really expect 25 class hours or don't provide housing and airfare (forget them; you can easily do better) -- then the ad is truly dodgy; avoid at all costs.

Yes...I do want to make a distinction in this board between ads for jobs that are simply not good, and ads that could, intended or not, be misleading...ie "dodgy". I also think this ad falls into the first category.

I must interpret the words "you have to make your own visa" to mean that you have to do it all yourself; the school will not help you (and, in fact, is probably not legally licensed to hire foreigners). I will concede that this could just be a language problem, but usually the Chinese have no trouble with the phrase "you must pay".

I also feel that if a school offers major benefits, they are usually very anxious for you to know about them up front. Their omission here might be innocent...and might not. I wish things like housing and airfare and residence permits really could be called "routine" in China...they are indeed common, but it would be a terrible mistake to assume that all full-time jobs provide these things.

Finally, I don't really subscribe to the logic that it's OK to get screwed over on your first teaching job if you're underqualified or inexperienced. I DO feel that experience does matter, and proven veteran teachers should be able to get better jobs and higher pay than newbies. I DO feel that if you're underqualified, it SHOULD be tougher to find a job as a teacher. But I DON'T believe that anyone should ever have to take one up the ol' wazoo just to be an English teacher in China. Being cheated or abused is NEVER OK.

This job simply sucks. No way around it. As a theatre director I once worked with liked to say, "If you start off with , you can slice it and you can dice it...it still comes up ."