Teaching Nomad - Teaching Opportunities in China

After a few months of stress and just being unhappy in the UAE (my first abroad teaching experience), I signed up with TeachingNomad to explore teaching in China. I have friends who have been in China for years, and have only heard good things. That being said, I was still sceptical about taking just any job after the terrible experience in the UAE.

Sophia has been an absolute star- from start to finish. After our initial conversation, she regularly sought out jobs that was suitable and always checked in to see whether or not I had interviewed with the school. She forwarded much needed resources and information in preparation for my interview as well.

After a successful interview, I let Sophia know that I have been sent an offer letter. She still continued to keep in touch and make sure I was getting all the documentation sorted etc.

It has really been an absolute pleasure working with Teaching Nomad, and Sophia specifically. I cannot thank her enough for taking the time to check in and give advice. Even now, almost 2 months since arriving in China she is still checking in that we've settled and that the school is great.

I am having such a great time in China, and loving teaching once again. The school is great and everyone is extremely helpful and friendly. I am so hapoy we made the decision to leave the UAE and continue our overseas adventures in China.

Looking over reviews of Teaching Nomad on here, it seemed like this company knew what they were doing, yay!

However, my personal experience wasn't so great. A job I was placed at backed out of our contract last minute, and my consultant at TN was suddenly unresponsive. After multiple emails, I finally got a response from the owners, and they picked up the ball again. I was able to secure another position at a different location.

Once I arrived to China, though, TN didn't seem to care that the school-provided housing was much different from the pictures and website they'd sent. It was atrocious-- urine and mold and cockroaches and pungent smoke for the first two weeks. Then the "free accommodation" that was in my contract turned out to be untrue: I had to pay about $1200 USD per month, though the school reimbursed about half of this each month later, and I had to take out a loan from the school for the housing deposit (about $3,000 USD)-- another unexpected and unpleasant surprise.

I had a more serious issue as well, which I won't go into detail here, but was shocked at the lack of compassion in the reply from my TN contact: "I am sorry to hear that it seems you are in a bad situation." Then never followed up.

After this experience, I realized why professional educators pay other (reputable) companies. It's because they vet the schools and work for you. TN works for the school to place you and then they're done. If you've never taught before and aren't a career educator, maybe it won't be as bad, but, especially if you're a woman, I would not recommend this company.

This agency is AMAZING! Amazing is even an understatement I think. I can't thank thank this agency enough, and now I know exactly why it has such a high review online. My recruiter Jayne Donabie has got to be the sweetest person in the world. She was caring, understanding, and determined to help me get my dream job. She's amazing at what she does and always immediately provided me with every answer I need. Not only that, she was constantly checking up on me, informing me about schools that were trying to get in contact with me. She made the entire process as smooth as butter. In less than 3 days, I'd already secured 3 interviews from different schools. In addition, the schools are legitimate schools with reputable names and generous salaries. Unlike other agencies, Teaching Nomads never throws random jobs at you to apply for, only those they believe best suit your preference. They will ask you for your preferences and before they send your applications to schools, they will ask you for your permission. For those of you who are trying to get an ESL job in China, or anywhere else in the world, I highly recommend Teaching Nomads!

From start to finish Teaching Nomad was there for me, responsive, and kept me up to date with all of the work they were doing to get me linked with a great school. They were great advocates for me and matched me with a school that fit me well. Really enjoyed the service provided and could not recommend them more for all the tireless work they did. The process took roughly 2 months, first with a screening interview, and then a number of interviews with hiring managers, and finally an offer. Throughout the process the recruiters at Teaching Nomad made sure to keep talking with the school on my behalf and make sure my application was moving forward to an offer.

I was initially leery about using an agency to help place me in China but the support and resources I received were excellent. In the end, "your success is their success". The advice and feedback was very helpful. Also, the TEFL option I used through the provider was easy to use and progress to completion. It has also proven very useful in my new environment. The follow-up support after placement has also been very appreciated.

Since making my decision to teach abroad the recruiter that has been assigned to me worked diligently to answer my questions and also locate positions that would align with my skill sets. Ali which is my recruiter name did not have problem with me constantly calling or emailing her to help me with my nervousness and confusion that dealt with picking the right positions to apply for and also helping me prep for an interview. I am really excited that I decided to work through them for this process.

I just want to say I am very happy with the school that I have joined. Teaching Nomad also need to be mentioned here and they helped to make the move out her as painless as possible. I would recommend them to anyone thinking of taking up work in China. Sophia has been very helpful and has checked in on a number of occasions to see how things are going. They also provided some useful tips on life in China and what to expect. Reliable people and nothing dodgy at all. Top service guys keep up there good work.

I am extremely pleased with the level and type of support provided from start to finish from my Teaching Nomad recruiter Ali Jaramillo. She was exceptional and I immediately felt comfortable and motivated from the first interaction and interview. She set everything up for me after listening to my preferences, explained everything, provided resources, answered every question I had along the way, and continued to follow up in a friendly and encouraging manner throughout the entire recruiting process while I interviewed from overseas. I received an offer within a month from a company, and I am very grateful to start a new adventure. I am forever thankful I found the link to the Teaching Nomad site on the Peace Corps RPCV job portal, it honestly changed the course of my life. No strings attached, free support but service that is priceless. Some things that are too good are most definitely true. Thanks again!