SeriousTeachers.com – crooks sitting pretty somewhere on the Pacific Timeline, probably California (according to their email script).
Very sloppy course material, not fit for teaching ESL at all. The topics are scattered in a non-sensical way, are ridled with mistakes and typos; just very unsatisfactory.
When I reached my midterm exam (after lots of inner pain), I could not write. Saw the first 5 questions, then it bombed out. Many times.

Meanwhile, they accused me of not enabling cookies on my browsers. Eventually, they admitted, "The cause of this problem was due to a minor error in our system which was only triggered during a high server traffic period." System, my butt! They are money-collectors who sit pretty somewhere, untouchable – with a so-called International Alliance of Teachers and Employers (fake) behind them. Why didn't I first Google them properly? I hate myself for that. Lost $170 there. And I can't touch them.
And watch out, they will eagerly give you a scholarship discount of $75 on the course. The big peanut in the packet there is a Simon D[edited].
Beware! Scam!
Bey.

You can fake for China! You can fake locally, or in Bangkok, or use the net. No need for study. That's what their unjustifiable arrogance, deceit, and racism deserves. Sock it to them, man
Their document verification is as crap as their English! Westerners can oufox them, no problem at all.

You are funny!!!
:o)

There are so many comments that are posted online and in the absence of other information they often pass as 'factoids' that readers will recall for many years to come. Many of the comments are spurious, specious or otherwise kind of lame. Very little of the original comment appears to be true or based upon anything other than the results of 'dummy applicants' from a dude that quite possibly couldn't put together a feasible [in Asian terms] resume/CV in the first place. [Low-key and respectful is the Asian way...]

There is a system in place in Asia re: preferred methods of dealing with numerous strange foreigners seeking entry. We have something called TOEFL® to provide the 'first screen'.

I have received several personal replies from schools in Asia after submitting my resume to [edited]. There are plenty of places to locate a job, but if the employer will recognize the certificate it is part of the battle. That seems to be the modus operandi of [edited], and it is a big plus in my experience if the school is working with the certificate provider at some level. The certification itself is inherently useless for competent teachers almost ubiquitously...but it is necessary if you only have a BA in most cases. CELTA is another planet: although more widely accepted than other certifications, the training is very unrealistic in relation to genuine 'on ground' conditions throughout Asia. EVERYWHERE is a different situation when you teach, so any effort to provide a uniform approach is 'silly'. Nonetheless, overseas companies need to deal with online applications in modern terms.

It isn't difficult to detect whether or not someone is educated and a native English speaker. Please try to keep that in mind re: future submission of 'crap commentary', please.

I actually hired a few teachers from seriousteachers.com, of the three that I did 2 of them worked out alright. I had also contacted a few in America, Canada and Australia. We were not able to work out a proper timeline but they were real people looking for jobs and as I have kept in touch with some of them I know they found what they were looking for. I have had no experience with any of the other sites you have mentioned so I will not comment on them.
What would you suggest to be the best sites to use if wanting to find a job here in china?

This is also a nice news story from Fox News today. I like the heading....

U.S. Offers Foreign Aid to Countries Holding Billions in Treasury Securities

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/02/us-offers-foreign-aid-to-countries-holding-billions-in-treasury-securities/#ixzz1OBm6Qj8X

and if you like that, check out this poor SOB just enjoying his hobby of video taping trains until then police roll up on his ass and label him a "terrorist"....

Taking photos of planes? Terrorist.
Ordering Muslim cuisine? Terrorist.
Don't like Obama? Terrorist.
Protesting one of many wars that the USA is illegally engaged in these days? Terrorist.
Overdue library books or taxes? Terrorist!

3 words.

OUT OF CONTROL

This is the typical entitlement mentality of the chinese government. They believe that they own you if your ethnic background happens to be chinese, no matter where you go in this world and no matter which country you have already become naturalized in. God forbid you have someone who immigrated when they were very young, NOPE you're still one of us and we give you the orders. In fact you MUST be gracious and grateful for no other reason because our government exists.

If you're Asian, chinese or not you better have loads of money if you expect to get treated like a human being. Otherwise you might as well not exist in their eyes. If you want to see walking dustballs just visit a government building. I remember I once had to teach an official how to write a simple chinese character when I was in a Foreign Experts Bureau since they forgot (too much baijiu)?

In the end, it's all about being in control. There isn't enough left of chinese "culture" in mainland china for any to see where one can actually experience something civilized on a consistent basis. All that's left is avarice and power.

Agreed. Let's not forget Watergate and the JFK assassination.

Jesse has got it right with love my country, not my government...

Dragon, get access to a Veee Peeee Nnnnnn and log into YouTube (dot) com sometime and watch an interview with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura about how the CIA sent 23 CIA spooks to interrogate him after he won the election as an independent there. He is an ex-Navy Seal and he has been discussing how the CIA, in blatant violation of US law and their own charter inserts agents into state level government as operatives that spy on state government operations.

Here is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIzfXOfpFcA

This is from NRP and you can see it in China:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/03/jessecia/

By the way...Lee Harvey Oswald's 1962 US tax return is still classified...No other year, just 1962....The only possible reason that it could possibly still be classified is that he was a government agent.

There is a lot going on out there and your government, if you are an American, wants to know EXACTLY what you are doing in China. Oddly enough they don't seem to mind borrowing more than 2 trillion dollars from communists while also asking new military recruits if they have ever had dealings with the communist party...

Hi there Dragon,

I could write for hours on this but I will keep it short, or as short as possible. I don't know where you are from, and it is NOT true for ALL countries but in the the case of the US and their citizens the answer is HOMELAND SECURITY and TAXES. One of the reasons that the US embassy staff wants Americans to "register" abroad is to keep track of who is paying taxes and where the money is. This is why you see new enforcement efforts with money sniffing dogs at US airports literally standing on the gate leading into the aircraft now. That is called enforcing capital controls. This year the US government will also BLOCK any US passport applications for citizens owing back taxes, EVEN IF it is an error. As you might know, anytime there is a major disaster the only thing that the US embassy staff tell their citizens is to stay in doors, don't look conspicuous, and avoid conflicts and large gatherings. They offer no assistance and most of the staff in most of those dumps are all local hires that can barely speak English anyway and so they cannot help you anyway and in fact they have absolutely no motivation to do so anyway. The "registration" is a complete waste of time but what it does do is help them,(the US government), keep track of you.

Back Taxes?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/12/study-suggests-feds-recoup-billions-unpaid-taxes-withholding-passports/

Homeland Security has agents all over the world working in US embassies and in US consulates and a large part of what they do is keep an eye on Americans. They are looking for most anyone that does not agree with their latest witch hunts and who can easily be labeled as being extremist in nature. The senior staff at the Pentagon this year stated that war protesters are now deemed to be "low-level terrorists". You will find the maggots of the Homeland Security crew loitering around at American ex-pat hangouts, joining American clubs, events, etc., and of course, they are out collecting what is commonly referred to as open source intelligence. In fact, you cannot even go to the embassy if you are an American anymore without first logging onto the embassy Web site and giving them all of your life story and then getting an appointment. Of course, that data is immediately fed into big brother's data bases and with the US Consular section now getting police powers in order to share and access expanded data bases, it is a total police state scenario.

If you happen to be a Muslim and you travel overseas...that's also getting very interesting as the airlines now share all of your personal data and that would include meal preferences which of course flags you as a Jew or as a Muslim. With the recently updated Patriot Act the FBI can go pull your American library records to see what you are reading and if you happen to be studying Middle East politics, or Muslim studies and then maybe check out a book on America's nuclear power plants, you'll be getting a visit at your home, and the same is true for big box retailers that now hand over credit card data concerning purchases of food that tend to be associated with Muslims. Let's call that ETHNIC SHOPPER SNOOP.

Here is an interesting article or two, and just a few of the many that are available by credible 3rd party independent sources...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13739_3-9812473-46.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59262,00.html

FBI Snooping into Your Books???

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/politics/26patriot.html

If you are ever over at the Kerry Center in Beijing sometime take a look at the business listings downstairs in the lobby. As I recall you will see the IRS, DEA, Homeland Security and a few other federal agencies there. That's a bit far from their otherwise routine and regular jurisdiction. You don't actually think those agencies are here watching Chinese people do you? Here is the telephone number for the DEA field office in Beijing.
8610-8529-6880

Most Americans simply have no idea what is going on around them.

Look up Rex 84, NSDP51, and HSDP20, powers of FEMA, Operation Garden Plot, Operation Trojan Horse, Operation Cable Splicer, and FEMA prisons, Gunderson Steel, I could go on. You can Google all of them. The new RFID chips in the US passports are also a lovely edition to track US citizens. They of course claim that it is for security but if that were true all they really need to do is take the fingerprints of all Americans applying for passports and simply conduct a hand scan on exit and re-entry into the USA like they do for millions of tourists every month. Of course that would become a privacy issue, but most Americans in the interest of the "war on terror" would bow down and let that Bill be passed into law too.

While all of that insanity is going on, the US keeps handing over billions of dollars to nations that hate the USA.

I think that is enough band width to give some people a few clues and to answer your question.

Network ESL is a scam. SeriousTeachers.com, and [edited] are all scams. What they are trying to do is cash in on teachers and they are all trying to make money. Making money is fine but making money unethically is fraud. SeriousTeachers.com sells packages to teachers to be "featured" in a list of low wage jobs for China, most of which are a joke. Their TESOL program is an utter embarrassment an that is in fact pure fraud. [edited] is another scam and again, these scams are trying to essentially cash in on common teachers looking for a valid job. Network ESL tries to use cover emails and cover URL's as well a creating fake emails on various jobs so that you write to the supposed "employer" at GMail.com as an example thinking that you are writing the school directly, when in fact, it goes back to Network ESL. Angelina's Cafe is also a huge scam at they repeatedly CLAIM they offer jobs with wages up to 37,500 RMB per month . When pressed to produce information on that job it is supposedly a Montessori school in Shanghai. A quick call to some people I know in Shanghai that teach Montessori program and have done so for years, confirm that no one in Shanghai running any Montessori school anywhere is paying 37,500 RMB per month. KAPLAN is also running several scams out of Qingdao lately under the guise of a supposed international school. Those jobs are being offered via Aubrey at Tiger ESL.

In the case of Web sites like Network ESL offering "Direct Contact" with the school you want....Yeah, exactly. DIRECT CONTACT is always best and you don't need them to call, fax, or email any school yourself DIRECTLY.

As for the whole "Verified Email" bit...concerning recruiters...

This forum needs to post VERIFIED credentials from recruiters so that anyone can click and see their names, staff, address, phone, fax, Web site, email and business licenses and tax certificates.

Most recruiters are SCUM. MANY recruiters sell your personal data or trade it after you give it to them.

ESL VOICE is another SCAM to watch out for too. Again, more theft, fraud, lying, cheating, and stealing.

I am half tempted to run my own damn Web site for teachers and make it FREE and SECURE. The idea is that teachers can list their valid credentials and before schools can have access (PAID), they will submit all of their documents and the same is true for recruiters.

No tickee, no shirtee.

Getting into direct contact wit any school in China is easy. It is not hard, secret, or magic. You look it up online, you find a number and you make a call. Most colleges have people that can speak English. If you really want a job at college X, have a translator call them for you and get the specific department you want.

Or just post a question here and someone will help you for free.

FYI: I currently have 3 fake teachers looking for a job on SeriousTeachers.com and for more than 1-year none of the 3 have been given any valid offers from anyone other than the usual auto bot notifications of new postings.

I have two fake teachers seeking jobs with Angelina's Cafe....again nothing.

I have one fake teacher seeking a job with Horizon and although that fake teacher did get a few hits, they were all well under 6000 RMB per month and in shite schools.

With Network ESL I went all out and I have created 12 fake teacher profiles and none of those yielded any valid results in over 1 year.

I also find that if you are not a newbie, they won't touch you. If you have been in China and if you know the deal, the real deal, many of the recruiters drop you like a hot potato because they don't want to waste time trying to fill you with shite about how great it is to live and work in China.

Please use decoy resumes (fake resumes) when looking for a job. I don't mean you lie about you and your experience, I mean to test the waters of a potential employer first. Let them talk to your "character" and see where it goes and if it is a scam, so what? On the other hand, if it is real, then you write them directly and apply after it looks good and everything checks out.

You have no damn idea who is on the other end of the email. It could be some nut in Nigeria, Ghana, a North Korean, or even embassies spying on their citizens abroad. It could also be a marketing company.

Speaking of that there is also a large scale SCAM going on in Beijing now with a company claiming to be part of Microsoft and the female there uses an English name of "Veronica". I believe the company name is something like Wirosoft or something similar.

When I use fake characters I even get the same HR agent to lying to all of my characters. One person is told the wage is X and for another person they are told the wage is Y, and so forth. One character is told that they have a fully furnished apartment and for the other character they are told it is shared housing and again, WTF?

In China, in education, it is impossible to be honest, kind and forthcoming because the employers sure as hell will not be. Kindness in China is a sign of weakness and the Chinese feel that they can play your for a bitch.

Reverse that process. Screw onto them before they screw you.

As for Network ESL and any of them....

Please log on, post your credentials in plain view and let the world see them, or STFU-ASAP. Stop trying to screw some poor bastard trying to earn a living.