Recruiters v Schools v Entitlement Greed

[John V55]

What are Recruiters and the Role they Play

Recruiters exist in every country and in every profession. Sometime termed an ‘agency’, they are the link between the employer and employee. There is nothing sinister about them, they are a business and will always make a profit, the same as any other business. For many, it appears to come as a shock to discover that the add-ons in the contract have to be paid for by someone and are an addition to a salary and not some sort of entitlement right that magically happens.

Let’s take a walk through the process and explain why there is little difference between a school and a recruiter, but more a question of good v bad, based on a correlation with that of personal greed.

The Recruiter

A recruiter will begin by assessing the going rate for employment. For this example, we’ll say a monthly 20,000 to the employee. Now we start to add-on the extras. We’ll begin with an accommodation allowance of say 3,000. Then include paid holidays, national and internal and there are lots of them which is going to be expensive at say 1,000. We’re now at 24,000 and climbing. The inclusion of the annual holiday air fare at another 700 and the paper work processing, plus insurance at 500. Still climbing at 25,200. The end of contract return air fare? Another 1,000 and they’re certainly not going to run round after you all year sorting out your problems for a measly 10,000 one off placement fee, so we’ll add on a monthly 7,000 for that. We’re now at 33,200.

Now what you need to ask yourself is, are you worth an annual 33,200 Yuan ($60,000, or 44,800 GBP) and why do you think, "I’m worth more than that."

"[...]both the recruiters and the schools already know you’re not even worth half that and try to claw it back."

The recruiter will now either recommend you to a school they have a contract with, or more likely send your resume out to possibly hundreds of schools and try to sell you for the monthly 33,200, plus something like a one off 10,000 ‘placement fee’. This is where the, "We have hundreds of vacancies all over China" stems from. As the greed begins to worsen into the 30 and 40 monthly salaries, the 30 becomes 43,200 and the 40 becomes 53,200 and the scams kick in with a vengeance.
Thirty three thousand two hundred Yuan a month is an annual $60,000 or 44,800 GBP for being able to speak English and is where the scams start to come into it, as the gullible and/or clueless blame the recruiters, but both the recruiters and the schools already know you’re not even worth half that and both try to claw some of it back with sub-standard shared accommodation, a gruelling schedule, extra hours without pay, etc.

"[…] the bottom line is you’ve just volunteered for the scam market from either one and it’s where all the hard luck stories come from."

The School

If you bypass the recruiters and go directly to the schools themselves, you obviously subtract the placement fee and the recruiters 7000 a month profit, leaving yourself valued at 26,200. The question here is, are you worth an annual $47,000 or 35,000 GBP back home? Probably not and this is why you’re getting scammed, because both the schools and the recruiters also know it.

The employees final salary has little to do with the actual cost of employment. Thirty three thousand two hundred with a recruiter, or 26,200 as a DIY effort, it doesn’t matter. You could have a good recruiter and a bad school, or a bad school and a good recruiter, the bottom line is you’ve just volunteered for the scam market from either one and it’s where all the hard luck stories come from.

[Murphy]

John is pretty accurate in his assessment except for one item. Although recruiting is an honorable profession when we talk about professional headhunting firms like Hays, Mercer, or Marsh, the vast majority of the China TEFL job recruiters are unlicensed virtual recruiters with no office, no business license, and many use fictitious names and multiple disposable free emails like gmail, yahoo, 163, 126, hotmail, etc. So if they do screw you or sell your personal information to an identity thief, you and the police have no real way to identify or track them down.

And yes, some of them are indeed honest but the veteran TEFL teachers in China go by
"90% rule"... 90% of all China employers are honest, ethical, and fair, but 90% of the China job recruiters are not."

https://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com/2 ... -tell-you/

Every school has a "FAO" (Foreign Affairs Officer) whose job is to recruit foreign teachers. They speak English and are not likely to cheat you. Contact them directly and you are guaranteed to earn at least $10,000 more a year. Here are the contacts to go the DIY route. https://www.reddit.com/r/TEFLScams/comm ... sing_your/

If you still want to use a recruiter, I suggest you read this before contacting one http://opnlttr.com/letter/china-esl-tef ... am-artists. Good luck to you no matter how you find your China teaching job. Make sure you come with a real university degree and a Z visa in your passport or you have a 50% chance of getting arrested, jailed, fined, and deported.

[Murphy]

P.S. If you think the chances of becoming a victim of identity theft is slim, guess again. Almost 20% of TEFL teachers working abroad get hit with this costly scam..

http://opnlttr.com/letter/fraud-warning ... g-teaching

http://chinascamwatch.wordpress.com

[John V55]

I don't know why I bother. OK, I give up and leave it to the spammers.

[Murphy]

What are you complaining about John - I agreed with your major points of view? I am supporting 90% of what you said. Do you demand 100% agreement from everyone who reads your posts? Also you should have mentioned the true worth of all the fake wannabe teachers who the recruiters flood the China education market with that artificially suppresses the salaries of all but the very best REAL teachers who are native English speakers with education degrees. It is the fake teachers that keep most of the unlicensed black market recruiters in business. Do you really disagree and if so, why John?