Choatle
- 2008-03-06
It doe's not surprise me, since Americans are so ill treated here by Chinese that after a while they simply say "Now I will be the one doing the ill treating of others. After a while some people get tired of abuse, and either become the abuser, or advocate against it. I am guessing this Black fellow from TN was ill used, and decided to join them rather then try to beat them. I can't say I blame him too much really, look at how corrupt this country is after all.
Now the part that really bothers me is the taking half of one's salary. These folks already get paid a fat sum by the school, some as much as 5,000 RMB. There was a time recruiters could get even more than that. This guy taking money from you is in effect charging you for his services, something a good recruiter, (if there is such a thing) never doe's. He has cleverly found a slightly more acceptable way of making you pay him, and he's in essence double dipping. Now he's just getting greedy, hardly shocking in this country. I guess he must be getting away with it, likely with newbies to China or folks who have not been here long but want that higher paying job badly enough.
I have also seen his ad's, offering the ungodly, much higher then normal salaries. Those are just BS, he has no such jobs. Simple bait and switch, oldest con job in the book. You say he is not a scammer, I beg to differ, of course he is. Just because he is getting you a job, if it's not the one you were promised, then it's a scam, duh. Why advocate for him in the least and say he isn't what he clearly is?
Perlanda's is just another white collar criminal in a long line of white collar criminals here in China who need to be shut down, just like Frank Zhang. Their names have become synonymous with dirty underhanded dealings, and all you need do is look at how much they attack their detractors to see the veracity of my words. They will stop at nothing to shut up people like me, and others. Frank threatens to put you in jail if you would just be kind enough to give him your address, or have you deported, how nice of him. Obvisouly a man who lost control long ago, and feels he is above the law, and in turn can do whatever he wants.
Please folks, avoid recruiters period. I suppose they serve a purpose for some, but as a whole they are liars and cheats, of unkind nature and unsavory reputation. Perlanda's is a scammer just like Frank Zhang or miss Liu of Royal English, now AKA KiKi of Changchun. Best advice, stay away from them all.
Edward
- 2008-02-27
After crossing paths with some of the recruiters over here in China, i.e., Frank Zhang & co., I would rather be a recruiter than a teacher. I wouldn't respect myself as a human being but at least I wouldn't be treated like used toilet paper.
Raoul Duke
- 2008-02-27
I'm with Jerome...I've been screwed over by American management, and also had problems with Canadian, Australian, and UK managers in some places. Weaseltry knows no borders. Some schools, especially certain chain English mills, will tout their Western ownership or management as making them more trustworthy. In reality, these places are quite often worse to work for than the purely Chinese affairs.
I also agree in that TEFL in China is one of the relatively few industries where experience can actually make it harder to find a job. Too many schools will pass over people who might teach a better class but know enough to know when they're getting abused, in favor of newbies who will quietly take whatever they're dished out.
Meanwhile, yeah, Perlandas is pretty bad news. Second only to Frank Zhang in the China EFL Dishonor Roll.
And it can't be said enough: never never never NEVER pay anyone, regardless of passport, to find you a teaching job in China. One of the worst possible mistakes one could ever make in coming here.
Jerome
- 2008-02-27
Americans didn't invent chicanery; they just picked up the ball and ran with it. Moreover, it may be wise for us to think on the following when considering the EFL scene in China:
"What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
True enough, though, things do often get worse before they get better. I've been witness to the slow erosion of ethics at the college where I work due to the lure of riches and the leaders being unable to resist lining their pockets to the detriment of quality education for our students. The current and general attitude that permeates this EFL business is a foul odor that wafts down the academic corridors with the blessing of those of us who willingly accept it even though we can easily sniff it out. My own ability to do so is quickly waning as I observe the Dean of our college adapt a policy of selctive appeasement - anything to keep us Westerners happy as long as we don't address the critical issues at hand. On the other hand, there seems to be a policy of weeding out the professional teachers - a form of "dissing" that makes it uncomfortable to continue so that they will have a more easily controlled faculty.
Yes, they love the Western sheep in this business.
cynic
- 2008-02-27
I was really dissappointed to discover that a fellow American was taking advantage of teachers in this way.
I see no surprise in this, it has long been the American model to take advantage of those who produce the goods. Unfortunately, it has now been adopted as the business model for the 'get rich quick merchants' in all parts of the globe, especially it seems, China.
Things will only get worse.
If this is posted twice then I apoligize but I wanted to make sure I got this story out...
This week I went to visit Fenny and Perlandas at their office in Shenzhen. It seemed like their names were all over the internet and they seem to have control of the best jobs. In fact, many of the ESL boards are flooded with their postings. I was optimistic because I assumed that I could come away with a decent job.
For the first twenty minutes, everything seemed great. I sat down with Fenny and Perlandas and we made small chat about America and China. Perlandas is an African American from Tenessee and he is friendly enough. He seems to have had a lot of success with his education and business. I kept waiting for him to bring up the subject of the job and it almost seemed like they were trying to make me feel too comfortable.
Finally, Perlandas grabbed his laptop, opened a window and let me have a look. They were offering me a job with some "unnamed" school that offered a fairly low salary and "negotiable" benefits. When I asked about the negotiable benefits he kind of shrugged and said I could ask for anything I wanted but most likely I wouldn't get it. Apparently, negotiable benefits was a meaningless word.
The job that they offered me was not exactly what I had hoped for so I made reference to the literally dozens if not hundreds of other jobs that I had seen posted under their agency name. He mumbled something about those jobs already having been "filled up" because of the lateness of the month. Of course, I realized then that something wasn't quite right as there was no way that ALL of those jobs could have been filled so quickly. I have recruited teachers myself (as a favor for an old school that I worked for in China) and I know that there had to be other jobs available. Right then, I knew this wasn't going to be a good situation for me but I was a little bit curious about the rest of the process so I went ahead and said that I was interested in the job.
Almost immediately I was handed a piece of paper which contained two STARTLING demands.
1. I would have to promise to allow the SCHOOL to give PERLANDAS 50 PERCENT of my earning in the first month. I was really shocked by this. No where in any of Perlandas listings was there ever a hint that I would have to pay for any of this. I assumed that the school's would pay the recruiters. And 50% of my first month's earnings? That would have been well over 400 US!
2. Equally shocking to me was the stipulation that if I wanted to continue with this school after a year, I would have to PAY ANOTHER 400 US again! In other words, Perlandas would OWN me until I stopped working for that school.
Needless to say, I got up and said "thanks but not thanks." I was sorry that I had wasted my time.
Look, I don't think that Perlandas is running a scam. I am sure that there was a school out there somewhere that would have hired me but I was really dissappointed to discover that a fellow American was taking advantage of teachers in this way. I can only sincerely hope that not too many teachers have fallen for this business...but by the looks of his office and his optimism about expanding into other provinces, I am guessing that business is pretty good.
Please, if you are a newbie foreign English teacher, be careful with these kind of agencies. You can do a lot better just to go and find a position YOURSELF! Do the research and find out what others are saying about schools. Don't PAY MONEY to recruiters because it isn't necessary and I have a feeling it may be more trouble than good.
I would really like to find out what schools are associated with Perlandas because truth be told, I can't imagine any legitimate ones wanting to have anything to do with this type of business..
Alright, that's my little story. It was a good learning experience...
Cam