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Duckling - 2010-05-08

If anybody wants to work for a "bait and switch" organisation then that's their choice

Angelina's Cafe is one of those agencies that tries to collect a one-off introduction fee from Chinese educational institutions it introduces its client foreign teachers to. So, you'd not actually employed by said agent, which is a good thing, coz if you were, Angie would be feeding off you every month you were working. Angie is by no means the worst kind of agent here. That said, agents are agents, and, as we all now, they exist in all fields of employment.
"Bait and switch" is a dishonest practice that many Chinese agencies resort to in order to attract more foreign clients. They advertise some posts with fictitiously high salaries, and then introduce other posts with much lower salaries to their new clients. That annoys those of her FT's who are after big bucks.
No doubt, agencies have a role to play in the Chinese education sector. They can help fill teaching vacancies in the Chinese hinterlands and in other parts of China unpopu;ar among foreigners, or fill sudden and unexpected teaching vacancies that do arise for various reasons, such as midnight runs by dissatisfied FT's, or sudden serious illness of foreign teaching job encumbents. Generally speaking, they operate at the bottom end of the education system here, and serve mainly FT's with lesser credentials who find it hard to get teaching posts by direct application to Chinese employers. I doubt very much that you would need Angie's services at this time. However, you might well need to resort to using her agency if you intend to continue teaching in China post 60 years of age. A recent development is that many old codgers are turning to Angie and her like to get teaching jobs, as well as the preiosly and still steady stream of foreigners without at least a bachelor's degree!
Of course, we cannot countenance degree forgeries, as members of a noble profession, although I wouldn't put it past some agents to go down that route to help their clients obtain FEC's. From my experience with Chinese agents, I can say that some of them would even stoop so low as to sell their granny for a fiver! That said, they are not all uscrupulous.

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Re: Angelina's ESL Cafe? - Teachers Discussion -- Duckling -- 2010-05-08
View Thread · Previous · Next Return to Index › Re: Angelina's ESL Cafe? - Teachers Discussion





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