Any info on the Hess phone interview?

Hello, I was just wondering if anybody has information about the Hess phone interview. What do they ask? Do they ask many grammar questions? Any info would be much appreciated, Erick

Why on earth would you want to work for Hess? Believe me, there are plenty of better jobs with better pay & working conditions in Taiwan. Especially now, with the SARS fallout, it’s a teacher’s market. Don’t work for the big chain schools.

I am well aware that many people have made numerous complaints about working conditions at Hess but I am also well aware that you are probably taking a much greater risk working for a smaller school. It is common knowledge that a number of small schools do not pay their teachers properly and are totally unprofessional in the way their business is organised. I would definitely prefer to work for a school that conducts regular training of its teachers and I would also like to not have to worry about whether I am going to get paid on time. I have also checked the salaries at several schools and although Hess doesn’t pay as much as some schools its pay structure is not as low as some schools. Although I have never taught in Taiwan before I have had experience teaching in Japan. Whilst I was living in Japan I taught at both a very big chain school and a very small private school. I definitely preferred working in the big school because I found the smaller school required a lot more work on my part for less gain and I don’t mean financially. I actually earnt about twice the amount per hour at the smaller school but I didn’t gain the same satisfaction as I did at the bigger school. Basically it was a very dissorganised business where basically I had to create the curriculum without being provided with the necessary materials. I ended up having to resort to sneaking out books and games from the bigger school just so I could teach my students at the smaller school something meaningful. So basically I can’t be f…ed taking the risk of having to work in this sort of environment again. Sure if I join Hess I will probably find it far from perfect but I believe there is a better chance I won’t have to deal with quite as many obstacles as I might at smaller schools. I have a Taiwanese girlfriend now and that is why I have decided to teach in Taiwan. I went to Taiwan last July for about a month so I am 'kind of 'aware of what to expect from english schools in Taiwan. I called a number of schools while I was in Taichung to make enquires and quite honestly a number of the schools did not impress me. Most of the people who were responsible for hiring english teachers did not even speak english very well. I can’t understand how they are supposed to hire good teachers if they can’t even speak the language. The only school that impressed me was Hess because they were very friendly and professional. They were interested in my enquiries and took the time to answer my questions unlike a number of other schools who seemed to just want to get off the phone. Anyway I think I have said enough but in the end job satisfaction is gained from alot more than salaries and working hours. Getting back to my original question, if anyone has any information on the Hess phone interview it would be greatly appreciated. Erick

I did some work for Hess - employed by Head Office - a while back.

If their schedule hadn’t clashed with other obligations I would probably still be with them. I found them to be very professional and well-organised, compared to most of the other wankers that were trying to hire me at the same time.

I’m doing better-paid work these days, but was earning less for the time required by the people I worked for previously. Hess pays at the higher end of the ‘average’ jobs, and I know a few people who have worked for them and consider them to be a good way to start a career in Taiwan.

No idea about this ‘phone interview’ business though. To me a phone call is just a preliminary to sitting down with someone to see if you can work together. I would say relax, and not to worry.

Taiwan is full of people who are keen to tell you about how they got a better job than the one you are contemplating or doing already. Why listen? If you’re happy with what you’re doing then who cares what any one else thinks?

Don’t even waste your time getting into an argument.

It seems to me someone asked this exact question before when awaiting a phone interview from Hess, and my answer was something along the lines that they’re probably more or less just checking that in fact you do speak English fluently and that you speak with a standard, comprehensible accent. I had one of those phone interviews with Hess, years and years back. It seems they asked pretty predictable questions - what experience and skills would prepare to be a good teacher? how would you handle a particular discipline problem? As long as you don’t give any incredibly off answers or speak non-standard English, I imagine you’re as good hired and the interview is a technicality. After all, they use standardized materials and train all new teachers in their methods.

I would just like to thank ckvw and tmwc for their advice. When I went for one of the teching jobs in Japan the school made me sit two rather tricky grammar tests and even though they gave me the job I did get a few questions wrong. It has been about 3 years since I was teaching in Japan and I know my grammar knowledge is not as good as it probably was before. I guess I should try to find my old english grammar textbook and brush up on all those unusual grammatical terms which I always seem to forget the name of.

Never happened to me anywhere. This is Taiwan mate. Are you white? Or suitably dark that you won’t be mistaken for a Philippino? Are you sober and breathing at the interview? When can you start?

Actually I think Hess is a bit more discerning than that, but many aren’t.

Welcome to the community, old boy.

Post yourself on TeaLit and you’ll get calls to teach like crazy. Go interview with the buxibans and check them out, you don’t have to accept the position. Talk with the teachers there to get a feel for the place.

I started teaching here recently with no/nil/nada/zippo experience. My school provides me with 8 hours a week, 600NT/hour , health insurance, arc. The rest of my time I do private tutoring getting cold hard ca$h.

Give HESS a go if you want, but I think they start under 500NT/h… I figure the only thing HESS is good for is a reference afterwards since they are a well-known chain school.

They paid me as much as you’re getting, but I wasn’t working as many hours as they were paying me for, so I did quite nicely. The travel money helped too.

Thanks for the feedback guys. If the website is telling the truth Hess teachers start on 530hr with raises after I think about six months or a year. It may not be the highest salary compared to some english schools in Taiwan but I think it is not too bad. I am from Australia and 530NT works out to be about 23 Australian dollars. When one considers that quite alot of university graduates in Australia earn less than this in various graduate level positions I consider that 530NT is not all that bad. When you also take into account the fact that living costs in Taiwan are significantly lower than Australia I find it quite hard to understand why so many spoilt english teachers complain about their salaries. In the Australian city I am from, the typical cost of renting a room in a shared apartment in a reasonable area would be at least $500 Australian a week. In Taichung my girlfriend has a decent room in a two bedroom apartment for about $220 a week. You can eat out in Taichung and have a decent meal for about $3 or $4, in Australia this is impossible. The taxes are also much lower in Taiwan which makes quite a difference. My Taiwanese girlfriend who is a university graduate and has studied in Australia only earns about 35,000Nt per month working full-time six days per week. When I consider the fact that we both have similar university degrees and I am able to earn almost twice her salary in her country I feel very lucky but I also feel sorry my girlfriend. When I was in Japan teachers would also complain about their salaries not being high enough, working long hours and not having enough holidays. I actually thought my jobs in Japan were really very easy compared to other employment I have had in Australia. I can’t believe I got paid that well to just sit on my arse talking to Japanese teenagers all day. It may be slightly different in Taiwan but I suspect it won’t be all that diificult . I look forward to hearing from anybody that has anything to say about my ranting and raving. Erick

You have obviously been through the interview process by now and therefore I assume that you know the answer to your initial question, but for those that may have missed it please find the following.

The phone interview is indeed a mere formality in the process. It is a technique used by the larger schools to cut through the large number of applications that they receive. Generally speaking it isnt a test of any sort, merely an opportunity for the school to verify that you are indeed a native English speaker and that you dont have a thick accent or any speech impediment that may make it difficult for the kids to understand you. Aside from this, the phone interview offers a good opportunity for you to become familiar with someone from the school that you are looking at working for, as well as giving you an opportunity to ask questions.

I agree totally with your comments regarding the positives of working for a chain school. There are far too many recommendations on this board for people to look for high paying work at small schools - but these are indeed the ones that are most likely to be the cause of problems. Many cannot offer ARC’s etc, or dont know the tax process for foreigners etc. Some require teachers to find their own substitutes for time off. Finally, whilst they may offer a high hourly rate, the lack of any training or materials can make the teaching process more difficult than it need be. Also worth consideration is the number of hours that these smaller schools can offer. There is no point getting a job that pays NTD800 per hour if the school can only offer you two hours a day (10 hours a week). You would probably be better off working for a chain school offering NTD550 but twenty-five hours a week or so.

I’m not knocking small schools, but I am trying to support your point of view that the larger schools have more to offer than just an hourly wage. Finding a job with a small school is probably best left to your third or fourth year here.

All the best with HESS

Thanks Brian, your comments regarding the phone interview were quite correct. It wasn’t a particularly challenging interview. I was asked a number of quite general questions but thankfully no english grammar questions. She did , however, give me a few possible classroom scenarios and ask me to tell her what I would do in a particular situation. It wasn’t too bad but you can never really tell if you gave the best possible answer or not, I guess there are a number of alternatives depending on particular situations. One question I was asked and have been asked at a number of previous interviews for different jobs was “What are your weaknesses?” I have always found this a difficult question to answer. I usually stall on this question because I can’t think of any obvious weaknesses that I might have. Of course I am not trying to sound arrogant but it is difficult to recognise my own weaknesses. I think I am far from perfect but I have trouble recognising what is or are my weaknesses. I once said as a joke in a previous interview when asked this question that my weakness is that I am not a very good liar. The girl who was interviewing me at the time thought it was a very funny answer and couldn’t stop laughing. I thought at the time that it was quite risky thing to say to a prospective employer. I wasn’t really surprised that I didn’t receive that job. Anyway I was just wondering what others say when they are asked this question. What is your weakness or weaknesses? Thanks, Erick

Tell them some weakness that can be turn into a good thing / strength. I would usually said that I talk TOO much, but it is a good thing when you are doing a group project. Or you can say that you like to ask a lot of questions, that means that you are a detail person which can be a positive thing. Once I said that I like to work and learn new things that might not be in my area / expertise. Once I’ve started that job, my REALLY funny boss made me clean his office as a prank!!! :unamused:

Erick, Yes NT$530 an hour is a great salary rate and that’s what they paid me when I was working at Hess last year; HOWEVER, that rate only applied to classroom teaching hours…you are not paid anything for class prep time, grading homework, staff meeting, giving make up tests and basically anything else other than teaching. So let’s see, I taught roughly 200 students a week…averaging 3 minutes for each one’s homework…that’s 600 minutes or 10 hours of unpaid labor. So my 24 hour work week quickly became 34 hours and the NT$530 an hour ended up being NT$374 or less. Now NT$374 isn’t that bad considering the cost of living in Taiwan but I wouldn’t move here just for the money. It will take at least a year at Hess before you break even and start to realize a profit. Naturally, if you want to teach kindy in addition to the bushiban you’ll make more money…but the prep time (and meetings) also increase…good luck :smiley:

I wouldnt go as far as to say that it is a great salary, being on the lower end of the scale of possbilities, but it is pretty reasonable for a recent graduate, with no teaching experience and who has just arrived here in Taiwan. There is a lot of talk here on these boards about jobs that offer NTD800 and more an hour, but you have to ask why they would do this. Is it likely that a boss will be overgenerous when deciding on a pay rate? I think not. Of course any astute employer will be willing to negotiate a wage with someone who has something unique to offer. Unfortunately for most, just being a native English speaker doesnt entitle one to God like status anymore. Such suggestions, especially from newcomers to Taiwan, always bring a smile to my face :smiley: . Were I conducting an interview where someone was asking for NTD800 or more per hour as a starting wage I would simply ask, ‘Our starting wage for new teachers is NTDXXX. What is it that feel you are able to offer our school that other applicants cant, that would justify any decision to pay you that much?’ Whilst those fluent in Chinese, with years of teaching experience or willing to do obscure work in obscure places may stand a chance of justifying a higher wage, I doubt that the majority would.

You raise an interesting point that all new teachers would be wise to consider. That is - How much unpaid time are you expected to be at your school outside of teaching time? Extensive commitments outside of the classroom can substantially reduce the worth of any wage that you receive, as would lengthy break times between classes or travel times between schools. Often the schools that offer higher wages do so with these extra committments in mind - and therefore the actual amount that you earn for your teaching time may be comparable to other schools that have offered less for teaching hours. I personally would prefer to get the lower wage on the understanding that I have no further committents to the school the moment I step out of the classroom. I can then find some privates for the extra hours or just take a breather. Those accepting work on a monthly salary should be particularly careful of this.

Regardless of which school you end up working for or how much you end up getting paid, please remember that you are almost certainly going to be earning more than your Chinese counterparts. I have lost count of the number of times that I have been in a school only to hear a newly arrived foreign teacher complaining loudly and openly about their wages, in full earshot of Chinese colleagues who have been working at the school for a number of years and still earn far less than what the new arrived foreigner in being paid. I can only imagine what these Chinese staff must be thinking :cry:

I wouldnt go as far as to say that it is a great salary, being on the lower end of the scale of possbilities, but it is pretty reasonable for a recent graduate, with no teaching experience and who has just arrived here in Taiwan. There is a lot of talk here on these boards about jobs that offer NTD800 and more an hour, but you have to ask why they would do this. Is it likely that a boss will be overgenerous when deciding on a pay rate? I think not. Of course any astute employer will be willing to negotiate a wage with someone who has something unique to offer. Unfortunately for most, just being a native English speaker doesnt entitle one to God like status anymore. Such suggestions, especially from newcomers to Taiwan, always bring a smile to my face :smiley: . Were I conducting an interview where someone was asking for NTD800 or more per hour as a starting wage I would simply ask, ‘Our starting wage for new teachers is NTDXXX. What is it that feel you are able to offer our school that other applicants cant, that would justify any decision to pay you that much?’ Whilst those fluent in Chinese, with years of teaching experience or willing to do obscure work in obscure places may stand a chance of justifying a higher wage, I doubt that the majority would.

You raise an interesting point that all new teachers would be wise to consider. That is - How much unpaid time are you expected to be at your school outside of teaching time? Extensive commitments outside of the classroom can substantially reduce the worth of any wage that you receive, as would lengthy break times between classes or travel times between schools. Often the schools that offer higher wages do so with these extra committments in mind - and therefore the actual amount that you earn for your teaching time may be comparable to other schools that have offered less for teaching hours. I personally would prefer to get the lower wage on the understanding that I have no further committents to the school the moment I step out of the classroom. I can then find some privates for the extra hours or just take a breather. Those accepting work on a monthly salary should be particularly careful of this.

Regardless of which school you end up working for or how much you end up getting paid, please remember that you are almost certainly going to be earning more than your Chinese counterparts. I have lost count of the number of times that I have been in a school only to hear a newly arrived foreign teacher complaining loudly and openly about their wages, in full earshot of Chinese colleagues who have been working at the school for a number of years and still earn far less than what the new arrived foreigner in being paid. I can only imagine what these Chinese staff must be thinking :cry:

Brian, I definitely agree with your post; however, in your last paragraph you stated ‘earning more than your Chinese counterparts.’ Well yes, foreigners earn more than their Chinese coworkers but this is because their Chinese coworkers do not have the same skills - they are not native speakers. And although being a native speaker doesn’t guarantee your English abilities will be perfect, it does mean that 9 times out of 10 they will be better than ANY non-native speaker working with you.
My college loan debts and credit card debts are based on a U.S. standard of living and are still a big chunk of my ‘higher’ salary here in Taiwan. Now if I didn’t have any of these debts I would really be living the high life but as it is - I pretty much spend my time at home, drink cheap beer, see one first run movie every two or three months, eat at the night markets, and take public transportation. But all in all, I do enjoy my time in Taiwan and I think it was a great choice for me to come here. It is a wonderful experience for anyone, but on the other hand is it a good career choice? I am not sure.

Here’s a rule of thumb…assuming that a school is completely honest or has people that you can ask who don’t have an incentive to lie, find out how long the school has been around and what the average teacher-turnover rate is. A good school tends to have two qualities: 1) that’s been in operation for at least 5 years and 2) the foreigner teacher turnover is about every two years. That means they not only kept their teachers satisfied for that long, but that they hire people who are serious about being in Taiwan rather than people who are coming just to make as much money as they can and then leave. Also if they have pictures up, see how many of them actually feature the children rather than just show off the foreign teachers for the parents’ benefit. A school that cares about the children will more often than not show the children enjoying themselves rather than just propaganda of how many caucasians are on their staff.

Just my NT$0.67…

Vannyel I am sorry but I have to agree with Brian because I believe foreigners are still very fortunate to receive the wages that they do. My Taiwanese girlfriend who is a qualified nurse earns around NT$35, 000 working full-time six days a week. She has also worked as an assistant english teacher in a private chain school working six days full-time and earned around NT$35,000. Her english is actually very good and I think she would make a better teacher than myself. So my point is that most Taiwanese university graduates regardless of their particular field of expertise earn less than english teachers from overseas. In Australia nurses and teachers are paid rather similar salaries and I am pretty sure that is also the case in England. We are paid more in Taiwan not necessarily because we have skills that Taiwanese do not have but more significantly we are a marketing tool for ignorant Taiwanese parents who believe that all Westerners are able to teach english better than Taiwanese. Even those Taiwanese who have studied english abroad and may even have a Masters or Phd in Linguistics. Of course there are probably not that many Taiwanese with Masters or Phds in English but I am quite sure those that do have those sorts of qualifications still struggle to keep up with the salaries of Westerners who may not necessarily have the skills to do a better job. I am from Australia and I know of quite a number of successful Australians who are teachers of foreign languages in Australia. I know of native Australians who have taught Spanish and Japanese and still earn the same salaries as foreign teachers from Spain and Japan who are teaching in Australia. I learnt Japanese in Australia with an Australian teacher for two semesters and quite honestly I thought she was a better teacher than some of my other Japanese teachers. At first I thought it was a bit strange learning Japanese from an Australian but her teaching ability and her obvious talent made me quickly appreciate her skills. I think perhaps although this is certainly not always the case but a gifted teacher from your own country may be able to explain the intricacies of a foreign language better than some foreign teachers who don’t understand how difficult it is to actually master the language. Anyway I think I have said enough. I look forward to hearing from anyone who wants to agree or disagree with what I have written. Thanks Erick.

If you want to teach by rote like a parrot then work for HESS.
p.s. The phone interview is a joke as they are desperate for new faces.