Possible job opportunity in Beijing--seeking advice

[bigtops]

Hi, thanks in advance for those who take a look at this.

I recently interviewed for a teaching position in Beijing. Not sure if I'm going to get it but if I do I'm going to have to make up my mind on it very quickly as there'll only be a few days between finding out and their term starting.

This is an American-run school that holds a weekend program, and it sounds like its for fairly driven and near-fluent high school students in subjects other than straight-up English. I'd have 5 classroom hours Saturday and Sunday each, with an additional hour of prep time each day. To top it off, that 5 hours would be spent in the same room with the same students (small group) helping them work on individual projects. The rest of the week would be all mine, no obligation to do anything else or maintain a presence anywhere. I spoke at length about this sort of thing with the interviewer, who was in the US and seemed on the up and up, so I don't expect surprise "you need to be in the office all Wednesday and coach the volleyball team" announcements.

The thing that makes me raise an eyebrow here is that the wages come out to only about 68rmb per hour. The total monthly salary, in a month with four weekends, is around 3250. There is a 1000rmb per month housing allowance and they will pay half of an insurance package that costs about $80 US. They also provide round trip flights. Paid vacation time is only one half of one month. Figuring in all of their contributions to the salary, it still doesn't come near 100rmb/hour. All in all, this seems to be fairly meager rations compared to just about every other Beijing teaching position I've seen listed. However, I really like the hours that'll let me study all week, and the school sounds interesting. Plus, I have a number of reasons to prefer Beijing over other cities.

Winter/Spring semester of this year I taught in Guizhou for 3000rmb a month and it was no problem--I managed to save enough money to travel and even offset some overseas debt. I live pretty simply and travel as bare-bones as one can ('cept I do like a good meal now and then). However, I've heard that the cost of living in Beijing is immensely more than what you find in Guizhou so I'd really appreciate some advice from some of those who've lived there.

Basically, my concern is, will this salary give me enough money to...

-Enroll in a private Chinese academy like Global Village for a couple hours a weekday

-Take martial arts classes

-Possibly live alone in a simple studio that's not in a far-flung burg but nowhere fancy, either

-Not have to cook for myself too often (I don't mind eating in holes in the wall and noodle stalls... if they exist in Beijing--I hear health code is much stricter)

-Have a nice night out once or twice a month (I drink very little)

-Save a least $1500 US

Also, if not, would a small supplementary income from tutoring or what have you push me into the green?

Now, not to turn this email into another of my endless personal statements buuuuuutttttt here's my other option... If I don't take this job right now I can stay in the US in close proximity to Yale where I can probably spend the next five months building potentially influential reference-writer connections for the next round of the CSC Scholarship applications, save a good financial cushion, hopefully find a student who will exchange tutoring time, and walk around in the woods a lot. All of those things would be very good for me but I'm worried: after those five months, in early Winter 2009, will I be able to find a Beijing job with similar time commitments and as good or better pay? (Qualification-wise, I have six months teaching experience in China, no TEFL/TESOL, tutoring experience in the US, and a BA from a top-10 US university.)

Well, I know that's a lot and don't know if anybody'll have the time to read through and answer. I've got a few days 'fore I know if they'll hire me so we'll see. I just don't wanna step off a plane into a situation where I'm so worried about scrimping and saving, or lodged in a six-bedroom apt with kids who are still in their wilding-out and partying years, that I don't have the time and peace of mind to study Mandarin.

Many, many, many thanks for any help.

[gato]

The total monthly salary, in a month with four weekends, is around 3250. There is a 1000rmb per month housing allowance and they will pay half of an insurance package that costs about $80 US.

Basically, my concern is, will this salary give me enough money to...

-Enroll in a private Chinese academy like Global Village for a couple hours a weekday

-Take martial arts classes

-Possibly live alone in a simple studio that's not in a far-flung burg but nowhere fancy, either

-Not have to cook for myself too often (I don't mind eating in holes in the wall and noodle stalls... if they exist in Beijing--I hear health code is much stricter)

-Have a nice night out once or twice a month (I drink very little)

-Save a least $1500 US

You might be able to do it if you leave off that "save at least $1500 US."

Rent for a reasonable studio apartment in Beijing would probably be at least RMB1500 per month within the 5th ring.

[bigtops]

Hmm. Thanks. Do jobs with similar hours pop up often... And with organizations that'll provide a visa?

[roddy]

Where is it? 'Beijing' can sometimes include pretty remote areas with poor transport links, or satellite towns. Cost of living could be very cheap, but you could be hours away from Chinese schools, etc.

[trevelyan]

The pay is quite poor for the market and will leave you without much spending cash. You can easily find more lucrative work and if this school is going to stiff you on $40 in insurance they will stiff you on other things as well.

Not intended to be a negative post, but I'll say it if no-one else will. There are lots of opportunities out there. This package might be workable in a third-tier city with much lower costs. You will pay around 3000 RMB for a decent place to live in Beijing.

Anyone who tries to put the hard sell on you with deadlines is trying to play off your lack of knowledge about the market, and get you to commit without figuring out what else is out there.

[bigtops]

Trevelyan... No such thing as a negative post, to me, if you're speaking what you hold to be the truth to help me keep food on my plate! I really appreciate your forthrightness here as I'm not trying to step off a plane into ugly economic straits. I posted this because I suspected what you said might be true. I'm curious as to why a school with American backing is paying so little to begin with, anyway. Something to ask if they offer me the job.

Roddy... The school's in Chaoyang, though I'm not sure if that's Chaoyangmen or Chaoyangqu, nor if that distinction means much. Seems to me that that's a pretty central location, no?

Gato... Living within the fifth ring, how long will it take to get into town near Chinese schools?

Who knows, maybe they're reading this getting ready to yank my application out of the pile. Biggest question that remains (and which I can't figure out from trips to eslcafe.com and so forth) is whether one can commonly find jobs with 10/12 hour commitments and visa + rent stipend assistance in Beijing. Any idea if there are more options out there?

[trevelyan]

The problem is really the housing situation. You shouldn't have much difficulty finding places that will give you an apartment to stay in and a monthly salary of 5-6k and expect around 16 hours of teaching a week in return (four hours, likely all in the morning).

The attractive thing about this job would be if the work was really only on the weekends, since you could do whatever you wanted during the week, and 5 days is enough to make decent trips to other parts of China. Or you can pick up another job or even internship during the week. If I were you I'd look for a school not too far beyond the 4th ring road that can give you a place to live on campus.

If you don't need to pay rent, you can save a bit of money even on a lower salary.

[bigtops]

Many thanks. Well, I'll check back in when I hear back from the company. In the meantime, the Beijinger classifieds are more full of opportunities than I thought they'd be after schools have gone back into session. Perhaps I won't even need to wait till winter for another, more lucrative option if this one doesn't pan out.

[cdn_in_bj]

Roddy... The school's in Chaoyang, though I'm not sure if that's Chaoyangmen or Chaoyangqu, nor if that distinction means much. Seems to me that that's a pretty central location, no?

Chaoyang is pretty huge. It's on the eastern side of the city, and extends past the east 5th ring road. Depending on where your school is located, you may want to consider finding a place further east in TongZhou.

Gato... Living within the fifth ring, how long will it take to get into town near Chinese schools?

This really depends on where you're going and how you'll be getting there (bike, bus, subway, taxi...).

[bigtops]

Thanks! I actually decided not to take this job. The people did seem very honest and were happy to make every contract change I suggested, but they couldn't budge on the money so I figured I'll stay Stateside a little while longer to get my TESOL cert and emerge from my hibernation debt free. Please don't laugh at me, I know the economy sucks but I'll do it, I swear.

Also, funny enough I just landed a job being that dude, ie the number one contact in the phone books of ten visiting Chinese scholars in America! Need to go to the doctor--call me! Need to go shopping--call me! Squatty toilet just backed up all over the place--call me!

Well, it ain't quite that bad but pretty hilarious to go from being foreign teacher guy in China to guy who takes care of foreign Chinese teachers in America in the span of a single year.