Shanghai Or Bust

My experience was a little unusual in that I was already in country when I first contacted Teaching Nomad about teaching opportunities in Shanghai. At the time I was a travelling spouse. That is, my wife had the job that allowed us to arrive in China in August of 2016. Within a couple of weeks of arriving in Shanghai, I signed up to Teaching Nomad and had my first interview in early October for a History/ESL post at a Chinese international school in the south west of the city. The interview went well and I was offered a contract which I accepted. Throughout the process, Teaching Nomad were supportive and clearly had a firm grasp of the ins and outs of finding a job in China generally and in Shanghai in particular.

I had cause to use Teaching Nomad a second time when my first school decided to relocate its campus to a neighboring province at the end of my second year at the school. I was not able to go with the school and once again my advisor at TN was very helpful in providing job information re: other schools in Shanghai. And once again TN helped me find a school and a job, this time teaching Humanities at a bilingual school.

Two years later, I am on the move again. My wife has been head hunted by an international school in Suzhou and when she accepted its offer, it became clear I would need to find another school. On this occasion, TN were not able to place me in a school but it wasn't for lack of effort. Suzhou is something of a niche market for international teachers in that the turnover rate of staff in schools in the city is very low and thus jobs are not easy to find. This did not stop TN from trying, and once again potential job opportunities appeared in my inbox as and when they opened up. Covid-19 has made finding a job even more challenging this time around but TN has adapted and adjusted to the crisis well. Online/Virtual Job Fairs have been particularly successful in this regard.

I have no hesitation in recommending Teaching Nomad to anyone thinking about living and working in China. Either from another country or (like me) someone already in country. It is a very competent organization with advisors who know their market and who are relentless in trying to find suitable positions for their clients.