Looking for Information About Employment Agents

[xpatmatt]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Matt Gibson. I'm a journalist working on an article about teaching agents in different countries around Asia.

In Taiwan (where I live) agents traditionally have had a bad reputation for being untrustworthy, greedy, dishonest, etc. However, it seems that this has been changing in recent years.

Since I have little experience with agents, I am looking for teachers' opinions about agents so that I can find out what the general attitude towards them is in different countries.

I'd like to know:

1) Do you feel that most agents are honest?

2) Do you feel that agents work in the best interest of teachers?

3) Do you feel that agents contribute to lower overall teaching wages by trying to convince teachers to accept less pay (so that they can make more money)?

Also, I'd really like to hear about anyone's personal experiences with agents, or anything else that anyone has to say on the topic. My article will be based mainly on the opinions of the teachers who respond to my post.

If you would like your opinion included in the article (although I can't guarantee it will be) please include the following information about yourself:
Name (just a first name is OK)
Home country
Country you teach in.
This is just so that I can attribute quotes to people, for example, Beth, a British English teacher living in Japan said, ....

If you would like to contact me privately about this, I can be reached at ‪xpatmatt[@]gmail.com‬.

Thanks very much for reading!

Best,
Matt

[Stemplar]

Hi Matt

I live and work in Thailand, here's some brief answers to your questions.

1) I have only met 2 agents here in Thailand the first one arranged an excellent job for me, and yes I felt he was honest and above board. The second I didn't realise was an agent until he asked for a fee!! After I had got the job of course! I won't describe my conversation with him but I never paid up! And no I don't feel most agents here are honest.

2) No, agents are in business looking after their own interests.

3) I think agents here in Thailand at least contribute very little to the overall low salaries of teachers. Two factors here result in low wages, A) many people want to live and work in Thailand, B) Teachers continue to come and work for low salaries or often volunteer.

Regards

Simon T