Hi there: I am planning on coming to Taipei in August and was wondering what people think of recruiters?? Are there any that somone would recommend? Specifically Reach to Teach and John De-wey, has anyone heard much of these two and what do you think?
From most of the posts, the advice seems to be to go there and look. So then, how do you negotiate and how do you assess the school, maybe the top 4/5 questions to ask?
Thanks for any responses in advance and the info on this site is great!
meme,
Recruiters are useful for some folks coming to Taiwan, in particular those that don’t fit the preferred profile of an English teacher. Do you have any teaching experience, or qualifications? Are you black, overweight, or ugly?
I have no idea about recruiters, but I’m sure some of them are okay.
However, I would suggest coming here and searching on your own. There are job postings everywhere on the internet & local newspapers. The advantage of this is, you have more choice. You can check out the schools in person, and see if you like the facilities, staff, and atmosphere. You can learn a lot just by going on-site and looking. You probably don’t want to get stuck in a contract at a school that might be terrible.
If you have problems finding a school when you’re here, then get a recruiter.
I advise against recruiters. I’d recommend going with a large chain school like Hess, Kojen, or Joy if you wanted a safe bet for your first year rather than going through are recruiter.
I agree with the consensus here that going through a recruiter is not worth the money you are going to have to pay out. I would suggest coming here on your own to job search. Actually, you can job search from abroad over the internet these days. Before I came back this time I around I had found 3 schools who were wanting to hire me even before I landed. All you need to do is scan your diploma, transcripts maybe, some letters of rec, and maybe your passport photo page, have a nice picture of yourself you can email, and prepare some good cover letters. Then, check out the job postings on this site and www.buxiban.com or this site for info on the schools. Then, after you land and you are shacked up with your friend here, a hostel, or hotel call the schools that expressed interest in you and tell them you are in the country and set up interviews. After that it is all like any other job interview. Look for a school with a philiosophy that fits your own. For the rest there is lots of advise on this site and others like it, do a simple search. That is about it, but let me only say, that if you are planning to move to Taipei make sure you are taking in at least 60,000 a month, because cost of living quite high here compared to the rest of the island.
Good luck, and feel free to ask more questions or pm me, because we were all newbies once and needed our share of help. Good luck.
I agree with the consensus here that going through a recruiter is not worth the money you are going to have to pay out. I would suggest coming here on your own to job search. Actually, you can job search from abroad over the internet these days. Before I came back this time I around I had found 3 schools who were wanting to hire me even before I landed. All you need to do is scan your diploma, transcripts maybe, some letters of rec, and maybe your passport photo page, have a nice picture of yourself you can email, and prepare some good cover letters. Then, check out the job postings on this site and www.buxiban.com or this site for info on the schools. Then, after you land and you are shacked up with your friend here, a hostel, or hotel call the schools that expressed interest in you and tell them you are in the country and set up interviews. After that it is all like any other job interview. Look for a school with a philiosophy that fits your own. For the rest there is lots of advise on this site and others like it, do a simple search. That is about it, but let me only say, that if you are planning to move to Taipei make sure you are taking in at least 60,000 a month, because cost of living quite high here compared to the rest of the island.
Good luck, and feel free to ask more questions or pm me, because we were all newbies once and needed our share of help. Good luck.[/quote]
What did you have to pay your recruiter? That is wrong, so like anything you have to watch out.
Yes you could find a job on your own but many people do more than fine using a recruiter, depending on the recruiter you may be joining a big social network as well, I used a recruiter when I got here, and when my friends come here I also suggest them as well as they make a transition here easier, yes you could do the next one on your own in another country, but that first time is tougher
Bottom line, first time I would use a recruiter and you can always ask questions here to see if you are on the right path.
[quote=“meme”]Hi there: I am planning on coming to Taipei in August and was wondering what people think of recruiters?? Are there any that somone would recommend? Specifically Reach to Teach and John De-wey, has anyone heard much of these two and what do you think?
From most of the posts, the advice seems to be to go there and look. So then, how do you negotiate and how do you assess the school, maybe the top 4/5 questions to ask?
Thanks for any responses in advance and the info on this site is great![/quote]
Reach to Teach is good they have helped some of my friends get good jobs here,
Dewey I have heard of but I dont think they have any jobs in Taipei, at least the posts I have seen have been for more rural and southern areas, so it depends on where you want to be.
As top 4/5 questions, once you see the contract you may have questions that pop up, and go with that, and you can always post here for help.