 Hello everybody. So Lizzy is here and I'm super happy to welcome you to this ITTT live session. It's a bit unusual time to meet because my sessions are usually on Tuesdays and today is Saturday. Anyway, I'm super happy that you could make it and I could make it as well. So today's session is going to be slightly different because we are going to talk with my good old friend on the point of China. And I know that many people are interested about this topic. So stay tuned because just in a moment he will join me to talk about work in China and stuff like that. And if you guys have any questions, feel free to ask them via the comments section. And as for the timing for today, we are going to talk around 60 minutes approximately. And I hope that we will be able to discuss all of the main points and then have a short Q&A session. And I can see that more people are joining us. So today's topic is devoted to work in China as a non-native speaker. And my friend is just about to join me to discuss it. Just before that, let me know guys, where are you from and at what stage of your teaching career are you? Hello guys, yeah, good morning. It's actually early in my place, it's about 9 a.m. at where I am. What about you? So at what time zone are you? I am in Yekaterinburg, Russia. As many of you might know, because we've been meeting since last year and we got to know each other pretty well. But my friend is located in Tianjin, China. And he has been teaching there since 2015, I believe. So he's been pretty experienced in all of the things related to China and teaching as well. So just stay tuned. If you have any questions on the topic of China, feel free to ask. And yeah, just let's ask my friend to come in and he'll introduce himself better. Okay, so hi Eugene, nice to see you. Yeah, so I want to go to the questions. Go ahead. Just straight away and let's see what's the first one. So we all want to know your story. And yeah, the question is, when did you first come to China and how did you get a job there? So I flew in 2015, so it's been six years since I landed in China. And I spent a couple of weeks in Beijing, the capital of China, got a couple of job offers from there. But I found Beijing a little overwhelming, like it's a massive city, 20 million population, so it was a little too much. I got a second job offer from a little town in the province of Tianjin, which is called Echo City. It's a project developed by Singapore and China, so Green Place, I love the atmosphere there. I had some friends in China prior getting to China. I actually had my brother working in China before I landed in, so that's how I got my first job. Yeah, it was word of mouth, I got my job by referral. So it actually depends on your networking, right? So is it easier to get a job if you have friends there or it's not? The ideal scenario will be, as you said, like through your network. Yeah, if you have a chance to get a contract directly with school, bypassing the agents or any third party, that will be ideal scenario for sure. So right now, like I'm referring my friends, my friends constantly contacting me like, hey Eugene, do you know anyone? Like we have the opening here, opening there. So we created the community where as teachers, we help each other trying to avoid agents. That's what we do. Oh, that's so awesome. Then, okay, who are the agents and why are they so bad? I'm not here to judge, right? But I want to be as nice as possible. Like they're not my friends, not the nicest people. I can appreciate what they do. Like we're all out there to make some money, right? But I guess there's ethical ways to make money and unethical ways to make money. So I will put them in the box where they're trying to make money, trying to pretty much like walking all over your face, all over your head. Like they have no moral obligations. So are they trying to make money? That's it. So what's their part of job? Like you are going to be a teacher and what are they going to do? What's happening with the agents? For example, they are in contact with different institutions. For example, kindergarten, schools, high school, training centers. And let's say they hear about the opening. So they contact the school or the school contacts them asking for a teacher. If there is one. Next thing the agent does, it's okay. The agent says, okay, it's cool. Like I'll find you a teacher, I'll take care of your documents. I'll take care of the visas. And pretty much you will be paying the salary to me. So agent gets the salary of a teacher. So school pays agent, then agent pays the teacher. So that's how most of the agents operate. All right. So well, is it easier for teachers, especially for non-native teachers to get to China through an agency? 100%. Yeah, it's easy to get through an agency. 100%. That's why a lot of people choose to go through the agents, right? Because the application process in order to get the proper legitimate visa, it's not easy, right? So there is a stack of documents like that you have to submit. Like online, you have to verify documents. And hands down, like the agents do a great job taking care of the documents. That's what they do. That's why they, that's why they're so pricey at the end of the day. Yeah. So if your first time, if your first time visitor to China, if you have no experience in how to deal with the documents and the immigration process, agents do help. Yeah. Okay. So that's good to know actually. Yeah. Here's where we move on to the next question. So what are the requirements to get a work visa and all other documents to get into China legally, preferably? Well, I like that you say legally, right? So let's, like we're not going to discuss like the ways to get here illegally, I guess, right? So let's talk about the legal process. China is huge, right? There are like many different provinces. And the fact is that every province has its own regulations and rules when it comes to hiring foreigners, right? For example, the province of Beijing will have these regulations. The province of Tianjin, where I'm at right now, they will have some other regulations, right? The general rule, like the rule of thumb, you need to have at least bachelor degree. It doesn't have to be with languages or like literature. It can be economics. It has to be BA at least, right? Two years of experience in the field of teaching and any teaching certificate such as Stafford, that's all with 220 hours plus on it at least, right? All right. So that's for Stafford. That's for Stafford. They increase the amount of hours, right? Because when I went to China, the requirement was like 120 hours. Well, it's still 120. So when I say 120 plus, it means that 120 at least, right? Like the more the better, obviously, yeah. And again, so the aging loss, like China is well known for changing the immigration laws like quarterly, right? So they have the party gathering like, I think it was like three times a year, right? And immigration law gets updated all the time. For example, a couple of years ago, having a bachelor and two years of experience was enough to apply for a visa. Right now, TEFL is a must have. You cannot apply, again, legally, you cannot apply legally for a job if you don't have TAO, BA and two years of experience. All right. So that's super important to know because many people want to go to China without any experience, without any education. And they still expect that they are going to get a lot of money and do not that much, yeah. I'll be honest with you, what was the case? It was the case, let's say five years ago when I first got there. Five years ago, you were able to get to China at the age of 19, right? Without a degree, without any experience, without any TEFL or Tesla certificates, like pretty much speaking a decent English because the demand was there, right? The demand was there just pretty much for any foreign nationality to be in the classroom in front of the kids and deliver the class. That was the case five years ago. But I mean, every year, gradually, they filter, they filter the stream of foreigners that flows into China and they're making rules more strict. And so for, again, so we're talking about legal stuff, right? As I said before, like degree, TEFL and experience, if anyone says otherwise, like they're lying to you, right? They're lying to somebody who says, hey, no worries, like no experience, no TEFL, welcome, we'll hook you up, right? Like, I mean, it will be illegitimate, it will not be legal. So I think we need to have some advice. Like if you need to know, if you need to know, like what are the requirements, go to the government website. That's the only resource you need to have in order to get like the full picture, the big picture of the documents that you need to be having upon entering. So government websites. I think we will link to, we will have like some links later on, right? Yeah, yeah, I think that we will do that after the session in the comments Facebook and YouTube because, yeah, we just didn't think about it ahead. And yeah, we will just give you all of the links because just simply because all different provinces in China have different rules, all right? I'll give you an example, like for example, just the last week, I'm in this group chat, right? And these two individuals are having an argument, right? So one individual is saying, well, it's impossible to get a visa, a teaching visa in China. Another individual is saying, well, I'm in China and I'm on the work visa right now. The other one is saying, well, I'm in China also, but I cannot get one. It's against the law. And then I'm looking at the resumes and profiles and I realize that, you know what, she's from Shanghai and she's from, what was that, Changchun, right? Two provinces, South and North, right? So they are arguing about things that it's not even a thing, right? So they have different regulations, different laws, right? Both are right. The one is saying that it's impossible to get a teaching visa, correct, in Shanghai you cannot do that. The one who is from Harbin, Changchun, yeah, she can get the visa. So that's what I'm trying to explain. And are you talking about non-native speakers or native speakers? I'm talking about everyone. So it actually doesn't depend on the origin, like native speakers and non-native speakers have equal rights, right? 100%, 100%. Okay, so that's interesting to know. Sorry, sorry, before moving any further, native and non-native, like school will have, school will have it written on their website, like natives only, right? The province where you're applying for a job will have it on their government website. For example, natives only. If you want to obtain like English teaching position, you have to be native. You have to be like from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, US or UK, right? That's the case a lot. Like for example, but many, many provinces, right? In order to become an English teacher, let's say in early childhood education. So I'm talking about kindergarten, I'm talking about primary school, maybe. It's not a requirement right now. It's not a requirement. So again, you have to go to the government website and you have to read into that, right? Okay, so work visas are possible for non-native speakers. 100%, yeah, I'm on one here. All right, so that's the most important point, I believe, because many people still can't find a solution how to get to China just because they are not native speakers or they don't hold those passports from native speaking countries. But it's actually not like that. So as I said before, do your research. China has, sorry, I'm bad with geography. I'm not sure how many provinces are in China, but there are many, right? Each province will have its own regulation. In some provinces, like for example, I know that places like Beijing since it's a capital, right, it will be challenging to get a work visa for a non-native speaker. But again, it will be challenging to get a visa that will say English teacher. It doesn't mean that you cannot get a visa that will say teacher. That's a difference. That's a difference too, right? That's right, yeah, that's true. So guys, number one rule about going to China is just do your research before you apply for jobs there and make sure you go to governmental websites and check all of the requirements related to provinces you consider because there are a lot of them. And if you choose like the biggest ones, like Shanghai or Beijing, it can be challenging. That's correct, yeah, that's correct. Again, for example, if you're dealing with the agent, right? And agent says, hey, don't worry, you know what? We'll get your visa, no problem in two weeks. You want to ask your agent, can I please see some proof? Can I please see some government articles to support what you're talking about, right? Can I please send me some links, right? And then if the agent ends up sending you some article from WeChat, blurry from 2015, ignore that. You have to let that person go. They just want to make money. Or if they're saying, oh, you know what? I can't find this article right now, but I'll send that to you tomorrow. I have to double check it with my friend. If you're hearing any of that noise, you don't want to be a part of this, yeah. That's ridiculous, yeah. And for example, if you still want to go to China, you ignore the rules and you don't get this work visa. And you find yourself being in China illegally. Then what might happen? Well, the range of penalties they have for working in China illegally or being in China illegally, it goes anywhere from fine. Fine can be anywhere from, I think you're paying 500 per day RMB for over staying. It's not important. So pretty much you can go anywhere from fine to deportation to incarceration. They can lock you up for 30 days. You can actually end up in Chinese jail. Gosh. So guys, just make sure... My friends are involved in all these scenarios, yeah. All right. Yeah, so let's move on to the next question, which is pretty close to the first ones. So as a non-native speaker, what were some obstacles you faced during your first year in China? And actually not just first year, but all of the rest years. I would say I can't recall any teaching wise. Like when I got my job, everyone knows that I'm not a native speaker, right? So I didn't lie to them and say, hey, listen, I know this, I've been there, like I have this diploma, I have all of that. So I was pretty honest about my experience, about my resume. So I didn't have to prove that I was native or non-native, so that wasn't the thing. I think the only obstacle, not even an obstacle, but it gets a little dicey when it comes to communication with parents, right? Unfortunately, a lot of parents are not as educated as we wish they were. And they have this presumption, oh my God, like my English teacher needs to be from America or needs to be from Canada, right? Which is far from truth because as non-native speakers, so pretty much we learned English from the age of seven, maybe or eight or six, going from ABC. So we know how English works. We know the challenges that my experience while learning the language. So in many, many cases, there's studies done by respected scientists, respected theologists, saying that non-native speaker actually is better in introducing language to a child on the pro-state because that's what it is, right? That's what it is. And again, other than that, other than talking to the parents, it doesn't really exist. Do I need to prove myself that I'm a good teacher but I'm not a native? I'm not sure where the room is coming from. And as far as I remember, some schools, they try to make you lie about your origin. Is that right? Oh, that's right. That's right. Please don't do that. Yeah, please don't do that. So again, let's say the school tells you, oh, wow, okay, like you get a job, right? You get a job. You start on Monday, but when you get, let's say when you get approached by the parents, please make sure it's telling that your name is John and you're from Kentucky. You ask, right, something like that. I say, whoa, what's going on, right? So don't do that. Be honest, right? Now, my advice to like be honest in China, be honest. They don't like lies. They can see right through you. They appear to be silly. Oh, really? Like it's... Oh, something is wrong with the connection. Oh, sorry. You've just come for a second. Yeah. Yeah. So could you just repeat what you've said? Like if you lie, so what happened? Yeah, so please, yeah. Like I avoid lying, right? Because I mean, lying is something that they have no appreciation for. They have no tolerance for that. And sooner or later, like it will come up, right? I mean, because it's obvious and there is a lot of educated Chinese, they see right through you, right? You tell them, hey, from the US, like where it was in the US? Like, you know, what street you lived on, right? It just doesn't make any sense. It does not make any sense. Yeah. Be proud of where you come from. Be proud of your nationality. And prove them that your hard workers show them the results of your work. That's it. That's what you have to do. All right. So the most important thing is to prove that you are educated, not that you are a native speaker. Yes. That's what's most important. And just moving on to the next point, how did you prove that your English was good? Because that's actually what parents and schools look for. Yeah. Like, not a native speaker, but a person who can speak well and whose pronunciation is like neutral. Right. So pretty much what you want to do is, let's say you got a job at the training center or at the kindergarten or the primary school. Once you have that job, once you have that one-year contract, work hard. You know what I mean? Like, you show up early, live late, make sure parents see that, make sure directors see that, support, provide extra resources for the parents. Right. Like, at the end of the week, hey, you know, there is some like PDF books for you to read at home. Have a great week. You know, work hard. Like, show that you care. At the end of the day, you have to prove to a child that you are a good teacher. The best proof that you're a good teacher is the child coming home and saying, hey, mommy, you know, teacher Eugene. Like, oh, I love that teacher. He's great. We're having fun. And then child says some words, speaks some sentences. That's the proof. Right. That's the proof. Work is your proof. That's the only thing you can do. Yeah. So this is just the best approach probably. And this is the kind of attitude every non-native and native speaker should have. Because in my, just judging from my experience, I met so many native speakers who just came into a classroom just doing some stupid things, like swinging, twinkle, twinkle, little star during the day. Yeah. Yeah. And that was just nothing. And, but still, because they were native, they were judged slightly different. Well, the problem is, so China overlooked that case, right? For example, they let natives in without having to have a degree, right? For example, a few years back, if you have a blue passport from, let's say, U.S. or Canada, you are welcome. And nobody said, hey, have you been involved in education? Have you taught at all? No one asked those questions, right? So when a teacher shows up in the classroom, has no clue how to classroom management, none of that, right? So the classes are terrible. The kids understand nothing. The pace of this needs, right? They cannot slow it down. They cannot make themselves clear. So kids make no progress. Parents can see that, like, whoa, what's going on? I understand that John is from states, but, like, my child learns nothing. It doesn't understand what's going on. Now, so Chinese parents, Chinese schools, they do understand it now. So that being from native speaking country, it's not enough. Like, you need to be an educator. You need to have a training. You know what I mean? You need to have a training in order to be in the classroom. That's what it comes down to. Yeah, just a quick remark. Guys, if you are native speakers, don't think we just blame you for that. It's just great. But the point is everyone must be educated and experienced in the field because it's just not enough to be from somewhere. It's also about your qualifications and experience. All right? I mean, if any natives, like, I want to address you guys, I mean, it's not like we're trying to, you know, underestimate your capabilities or whatever. What I was saying, like, we have people from non-native countries, just embarrassing, right? Just embarrassed, you know, the entire nation or whatever. It happens to all of us. And I guess what I'm trying to say is that in China, they do value the formal education before you enter the classroom. So being involved in early childhood or primary, they need that training. They need that training regardless of where you come from. All right. Just also want to say that there are many people from different places around the world, like from Pakistan right now, Illinois, California, and Haiti. It's so cool to know that we are global. And thank you guys for coming to this session. We just appreciate it. And we hope that this life is going to be valuable and you'll find it helpful somehow. So thanks a lot for joining us. And as for myself and Eugene, we are in different places right now. I'm like in Russia and Eugene is in China. And by the way, if you have just joined us, we are talking about China and all stuff related to it. Eugene has been working there since 2015. So if you're interested in this country and in working there, just stay with us and you'll find everything you need. Okay. All right. So let's move on to the next question. So I believe that we've already discussed how Chinese companies understand your qualified. But let's just quickly talk about salaries. So what is an approximate salary range in China? I've seen ranges anywhere from 5,000 RMB per month to like 50,000. The range is wild. And if we just transfer it into the US currency or something, so how much is it approximately? We go anywhere from 1,000 and up to 5,000, 6,000 easily. So just simply speaking, salaries are quite the same like all over the world. But sometimes you can get paid higher. Right. And what does it depend on? So again, back to the conversation about the agents. When you're working for an agent, chances are you're only getting like 50% of what should be getting pretty high. Right. Because as I said before, working through an agency, an agent ends up collecting your money first and then agent pays you a percentage. For example, agent gets 100% of your paycheck and then decides, okay, Lisa, you deserve 60%. Here you are. Have a good day. Right. That's what's happening. So again, try to work directly with school. With no agents, you'll be getting direct paychecks. If you're working directly with school, let's say the first year, if it's your first year, you should be getting anywhere from at least, I would say, 2,500 US. So it's anywhere from 15,000, 17,000. That should be your bottom line if you're working directly with school. If it's less than that, I will reconsider. Okay. Thank you. So that's also important to know. You can actually find better conditions. What about some benefits? Are there any benefits provided by employers? Quite a few. Again, depends on the school, so we can negotiate the benefits or sometimes it will be like in your contract. In my case, I do get a round-trip airfare like paid for once a year. So pretty much school covers, they're covering almost $1,500. So I can get like a $1,500 reimbursed, paid vacation, medical care. Anyway, in the world, I guess you can negotiate the package. Yeah. So does it mean that your employer is interested in you staying there longer? Absolutely, yeah. Any school, any employer, because Chinese parents do not like when school changes teachers every once in a while. They don't like that. They want consistency. They want to make sure that, okay, so my child goes to school. I want to make sure that teacher staying with the kid for years and years and years, because as we said before, when it comes to changing teachers, let's say the child gets used to a teacher, then for some reason the teacher ends up leaving. There's a new teacher, so the child needs to adjust himself. What's happening? New accent, new attitude, nobody wants that, right? Nobody wants that. So definitely the employer is trying to make sure that teachers are staying. Yeah, that's right. So it's actually also about building trust and relationship. So just one year is not enough, definitely. No. Yeah. Okay, thank you. And what's next? And yeah, let's get to the most interesting topic of pandemic. So did the situation change compared, like if we compare the time before pandemic and just past pandemic periods? Yeah, things have changed for sure. Yeah, it's been quite a journey. So it depends. What do you want to know? A lot of things changed, obviously. Like the way we teach changed, right? The amount of teachers in the school changed, right? A lot of things changed. Like what do you want to know? Like what? Yeah, for example, when the pandemic started, did you stay there or you went back to Russia? Oh, actually, no. I went to Thailand for 10 days, right? And then so I'm on the beach having some beers. And I'm hearing some news that, hey, you know what? Like it sounds like there's a pandemic happening. So I thought for a minute that I canceled my flights. I canceled my hotel. I rebooked my flights, I'm sorry, and canceled my hotel. And I flew back to China on the second day, right? So I canceled my entire trip, came back to China. And a couple weeks later, they shut down the borders. Yeah. And a lot of my friends end up staying at the beach. Like, you know, all the different places in the world. They could make it back. They could make it back. So what happened is for almost five months, I was the only teacher in my school. Like we used to have nine foreign teachers. Nine foreign teachers. So, yeah, for almost five months, it was just me. Like, and we obviously would need the online teaching. So like my house became like a studio, right? Like, you know, microphones and lights and cameras. Like, yeah, yeah, it was a different experience for sure. Yeah. And what about those who couldn't come back? Excuse me? What about those who couldn't come back? Well, they're still not here. Okay. So the school just stopped the contract with them. So what happened is like, for example, everyone was supposed to be back by the end of February 2020, right? Now, the school is not open, obviously, right? So it goes like February, April, March, May, everyone is getting paid regardless, right? Everyone is getting the full paycheck, right? So the school is encouraging them. Hey, you know what? Like, can you please send like a video in the group, like five minutes, something, right? Like, we understand that you're outside of China, whatever you are. But yeah, everyone was getting paid. And then when China realized that borders won't be open anytime soon. And it doesn't make sense to keep waiting for these teachers to come back and say, hey, you know, listen, like we asked you like a billion times. Please come back. We kept asking and asking and asking, but you decided not to. Like, you know, I sort of say that, you know, we, we just stop paying you and the contract is done. So your, your employer actually acted really professional. And there was one to make sure that everyone come back, comes, comes back. But yeah, just all right. So that's, that's really interesting. Excuse me. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, just really interesting. It depends. So my school, my school's been around for almost 17 years, right? Like we have campuses, we have like 12 campuses across China, right? So it's a good school, right? So they do take care of their teachers. And as I said, like they were like four months in a row, they were paying like full salaries to teachers who not even here, right? You're getting direct deposit like you in Africa or like in UK, in Canada, you're getting your money deposited regardless, right? So yeah, they were pretty good here. But again, it's not, I'm not saying that it's a norm. I also had teachers working for some agents. Well, let's go back to the agents scenario. And agents says, hey, sorry, no work. Bye. That's it, right? I had teachers, you know, they had like zero money. They couldn't go back home. They weren't making like zero income. They were suffering, right? They were suffering because again, if you're working for the agent, if you're working for some training centers, the training center is getting paid when students are in class, right? They're collecting money every month, right? So they collected, you know, 100,000. Here's your card, like here's your 10%. And that's how you're getting paid, right? So that's the difference. And again, so there is an agent, right? He wants his card, right? So again, you end up having no money. Yeah. Yeah, so that's really sad actually. So many people just suffered during that time. Yeah. I'm talking about teachers. Like I have teachers, like they, you know, they're married, right? They have kids. I'm talking about this kind of teachers too, right? It was, it was ugly. Yeah. And again, the same situation for both natives and non-natives, right? Oh, it doesn't matter. We all live under the same sun. Yeah. Yeah. All right. And the next question is like, what is the demand right now? Obviously, before the pandemic, it was pretty high. Yeah. And just anybody could find a job there. But what about now? The demand has been high for years, right? It's high. Like it's still there. The demand is still there. But as I said, like, I mean, China still need all these establishments, like the training centers, schools, high schools, kindergartens, they, they're crying for teachers. They desperately need teachers. But the problem is the educational sector and the government and the immigration, they're not necessarily on the same page in terms of, you know, how many, how many people will want to let in? What are the regulations for letting people in, in times of pandemic, right? So that makes it a little bit challenging because right now, I just read it like last week, the government issued the documents saying that if you want to reapply, if you want to get a work visa, the first thing you need to do, get a vaccine, Chinese vaccine only. So if you decide to go to China, if you want to apply for Chinese documents, only with Chinese vaccine. All right. I'm in China, if I want to go see my parents in Russia, if I want to go see my friends in Canada, if I want to fly back, having the residence permit, having the work visa, and let's say I forgot to get myself vaccinated with Chinese vaccine, say, hey, sorry, Eugene, bye. That's it. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Yeah. And there is no way around it, right? When it comes to China, like if there is a law, the law enforcement, they will take care, you know, we abide by that law. Yeah. Yeah, you should follow it. Yeah, please. Yeah. This is the way they regulate everything. And China actually functions this effectively. Yeah. Yeah, like, you know what, I have friends all over the world and, you know, since last February, you know, we're catching up constantly, hey, what's happening? So I have friends like in US, in Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Europe. And so I'm just following how the countries deal with pandemic and what are the rules in terms of the quarantining themselves and stuff like that. China has impressed me a lot, like real advanced strategies in order to fight that. And again, so a lot of people argue, well, there is no privacy because of your WeChat and you already know, there's a thousand cameras. Well, you know what? I'm okay with that. Like, I'm not breaking the law. I don't mind if my face is on a thousand cameras at the same time. It's pretty safe, pretty safe in here. Yeah. All right. So thank you for this information as well. And the last question I would like to ask you is, what are the ways to find jobs there right now? Like the most outdated services and the most efficient ways to find a position? There are websites, government websites, private websites, WeChat groups, like WeChat is huge in China, right? So pretty much that's your social media platform where jobs get posted, where people exchange news. And LinkedIn will be a great way to find a job, right? Because LinkedIn is the source where it's legitimate, right? I mean, if you find a job in LinkedIn, you can trade the contacts. You can see what job is coming from. So again, I would suggest like, and again, so for example, do your research, right? Like for example, you feel like flying into Nanjing, whatever, right? So go to Nanjing, find the list of kindergartens, find the list of primary school universities, go to their websites, right? And they will have like HR email or HR try that, right? I mean, do some work, right? Because I know what everyone else is looking for. Okay, like I need to find a job fair where I just show up with my resume and I have like five job offers. Yeah, sure. So it's still important to be proactive and if you want to find a solid position, the best approach would be to create your perfect resume and then write a cover letter and then send it directly to HR managers at a particular school. Try to get as close as possible as you can to the school itself, right? By passing any third parties or fourth parties because you have to understand that if you're dealing with agents or like hiring agents, right? You have to realize that they're getting like stacks of resumes from all over the world, especially now when no one is flying. Everyone is pretty much like in the travel mode, right? Like I'm just waiting for the borders to open up. I already packed my suitcase, my passport, like I'm good to go, right? It's all over the world right now. So they get blasted right now with the resumes and cover letters. So you want to bypass that, right? You want to bypass that and try to get as, for example, if you find the school that you want to be involved with, so you found the school, you found the province, try to find the community of teachers who belong to that city, say, hey, you know what, I'm not going to there, but is anyone working there? Do you guys have any connections with the management, right? Start there. Yeah, by the way... Right, yeah. By the way, on our website, like teppulcourse.net, usually we try to post, we try to keep it updated and we have a job section where job offers are posted constantly and they are posted by direct employers sometimes. So some of the job offers are from agencies, some of them are from real schools and you have this opportunity. So make sure you go to the ITTT website and check out that section. How to get there? So right now you guys can see this QR code here somewhere on the right corner. Yeah. Right corner on my screen. Yeah, that's right. So if you scan it with your cell phone, you can get directly to the ITTT website. With this QR code, you also can get a 30% discount of any ITTT teppul courses. Yeah, you can try it on. And also, you will be able to see the whole website, all of the sections, job section particularly. And yeah, I just want to send the direct links there as well. So you can see it on the comments section right now. So if you want to see the job sections on our website, just go follow this link and you will find everything you need. Okay. And I think that is all for... Excuse me. I just wanted to add something. Back to the agents, right? So I used to deal with two types of agents. And the most common is when agent decides to take care of you and then pretty much you sign a contract with the agent for a year then you sign another contract with the school for a year and then so the agent ends up collecting your salary, right? So that's one type. There is another type that's not very common but that's the one you want to have in case you want to go to the agent. So some agents, they will collect one-time fee, one-time payment. For example, agent might say, hey, you know what, Lisa, are you looking for a job? Yes, I am. Well, there is a job. So what's going to happen is I'll hook you up with that job but I will need, let's say, 50% of your salary, let's say you're applying for a job and that pays like 20,000 a month, right? And then the agent will say, you know what, I'll get you the job, I'll help with the documents maybe, I'm not sure about that, but I will need one-time payment of 10,000 RMB once you get that job. That is not too bad. So 50% from the first salary, right? It might be 50%, it might be 100%, it might be 30%, it depends on the agent, but it's a one-time thing, right? Then once you pay that money, there is no obligations, right? You know, thanks for finding me the job, I'll talk to you later, let's be in touch, right? And then you get split ways. That's the agent you want to have, right? That's normal practice, right? It might sound, oh, wow, like 100% of my salary will go to the agent, but you know, it happened once, right? And it's normal, you know, agent did the job, right? But then you will never see him again, right? So maybe if you're dealing with the agent, ask the conditions, right? Because different agents, different conditions, like, are you gonna be with me for a year or I just have to pay you one salary and I will see you again? So try to distinguish that, like what's happening in terms of your long-term relationship, yeah. All right, so thank you, thanks a lot. And let's just move on to the Q&A section. This is where you guys can ask Eugene any questions you have. So make sure you type them into the chat box right now. I could see several questions there. And let's, yeah, let's address this one. Can this person apply for jobs in China? What do you think? So again, as I said, like when you, let's say you see a job description, right? You see a job description, minimum experience required, minimum that required, minimum this required, send a letter, say, hey, my name is this, you know, I do not have that experience, but I have this qualification, would you consider? Again, it says be honest, right? Because I mean, every employer is looking for ideal content. Oh, I want to have like masters with five years experience. The, you know, the reality is it's never the case, right? Every employee is flexible. Everyone is flexible, right? Like if you prove that, I mean, if you, if the employer will say, you know what, I think I want to work with that girl or with that gentleman, right? It's possible. Approach, like if you see that you're not meeting, what I'm trying to say is if you're not meeting the requirements listed on the website or job description, still contact the employer as if there, is there a flexibility? Ask about that. Ask about that. And from your point of view, what's the best type of a resume? Um, they, they want to see experience. They want to see experience. Anything related to current position, right? And because you read, like, for example, if you read job description, job description, before you apply, get some of that job description in your resume, right? Yeah, that's right. So you just need to make sure that your resume is, um, following the requirements from the job description. Uh, that's a job description as, you know, are you good with kids? You know, um, can you sing songs? And let's say you don't want to write to UK. I've been doing some plumbing for the last couple of years. I'm a great plumber. Like, well, my range is like, uh, don't do that, of course. Right. So yeah. So just relevant experience. That's it. Stay close to the job description. Yeah. Steal from the job description in your resume, if you have to, right? But as I said before, don't lie, right? Be realistic, right? Be realistic. And what's the way they interview? Like, uh, you, uh, you meet your, uh, you meet your employer, your prospective employer for the first time. And what would be the way, uh, they interview you? It depends on the company. So when I got here, I had, uh, I had a three stage interview. So, um, I had, um, I had two phone calls and say, Hey, like, you know, this is like Sally from HR. Like, do you have five minutes? Oh, yes I do. So we had a quick chat, right? Then two days later say, Hey, is John from HR? So I just talked to Sally a couple of days. Oh, yeah, no, that's another John. So there's like, department, different stages, right? So they, um, depends on the company, right? So, um, this day and age, like, most likely it will be like a zoom or we chat or like some kind of conference call. Yeah. Very standard. Just right. If you pass one stage, go to another. Yeah. Oh, and that's, you ready? Like, uh, to record, record one minute self-intro. One minute self-intro. And if you can record like a demo class, like five minutes, four minutes demo class, where they can see you interacting with kids, that helps. If you say like, Oh, my name is Eugene. I've been working with kids for 10 years. Words don't matter as much. Right. But I mean, you say, you know what, instead of wasting your time, I have a video handy. Do you have a minute? I'll send it right to you. And, uh, for example, if someone doesn't have this experience, like of working with kids, what would be the best way to approach this job application process? Oh, that's me right there. Like five years ago, and I came down and I'm a translator by trade. Like I'm a Russian English translator. And, um, you know, so I flew to China from Canada. And, um, so what I said is, listen, I never work with kids. My job was to translate. So my job was to make people understand each other. And I believe that, you know, I can, I can make it happen in the classroom. Yeah. It's like, whoa, you know, that sounds great. Yeah. So I just showed up like full of enthusiasm, say, yeah, you know what, I think I love kids. I don't have much experience. I don't have much experience of the day at the moment. Right. But I said, you know, listen, it excites me. Like give me a chance. I said, okay, whatever. Yeah. And I'll try to show them care. I guess show them that you have some passion for the industry. Yeah. Did you get any training, any specific courses or whatever? Um, one set before I got the job or? Well, before or in the process. So since, since I, you know, since I landed in China, I finished, I don't know, five different courses all about like early childhood education. Yeah. I'm constantly trying to like look for something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. By the way, Eugene is also our alumnus. He finished 120 hours tuple course. I did. Yeah. It was like three years ago, I think. Yeah. Something like that. Um, that, that's actually also helpful. And one more time. It's a super important for the visa application. If you guys want to get a visa. Yeah. Yeah. So I can tell a little story about that. So the reason, um, the reason I needed that, um, the certificate, because I did have one that I did online like years ago, right? But the, uh, the immigration bureau, they wouldn't accept it. So listen, like we need a paper. We need a paper. We need something that we can hold in our hands. Right. So the one I had online just simply didn't work. So say, listen, I do have it. Like, I mean, I, I've done that before. Say, yeah, no. Sure. We need something else. So yeah. I end up, uh, you know, working with these guys like I, I TT and then that's what I submitted to the application center in, uh, in Beijing and it worked. Yeah. No problem. Yeah. I just want quickly to show you the way our certificate looks like. And it actually has a special number. Uh, this number is super important, uh, for the job application process because employers and embassies would probably want to check if it's valid, if it's real, because many people want to, uh, just, uh, make a fake copy, uh, using some pictures from the internet. Uh, so for this, for the sake of avoiding it, they, yeah, our certificate. So let me tell us something about like fake copies. Right. Again. So when, um, six, seven years ago, you go to China, if you want to get like a work visa, yeah, you buy a printer, computer, and you just print. Okay. I have masters from New Zealand, right? No problem. Right. It works. You know, I'm a, I'm a doctor from Kentucky, whatever, you know, anything works. Anything flies. Right. Right now, um, every application online. So you submitting your documents online. So if you decide to submit something fake, like do not do that. No, the times have changed. Right. If somebody says, oh, China, they know nothing like you there. No, no one is silly. Like the immigration officers, they, they do their job. The cops, they take care of that. Uh, make sure you have the legit documents for sure. Don't, don't play games with Chinese government. And here is the next question. Uh, what, what were the questions asked in the interview? Uh, did you get any specific questions? They want to know, like, they want to know if you're right fit for the job, right? Because they're really concerned. Like, will you be able to work with kids? Do you know how to work with kids? Are you patient? Do you know how to play with them? Do you know how to, uh, calm them down? Do you know how to solve problems? Do you know how to be safe, how to make sure that your classroom is safe? Right. Cause you have to understand that, um, the industry made one of the major concern, like forget about the English, the, the first concern everyone has in China, like when it comes to early childhood education is safety, right? Safety is number one, right? So when parents send the kids to training center or to grade one or to kindergarten, they want to make sure that the child is safe. That's it, right? So they do ask a lot of questions about, um, how are you with kids? Like, what do you do? Like, so be prepared, be prepared to tell them story. Yeah, you know what? I actually, uh, you know, I was, uh, cheering like 15 kids back home, you know, they would come to my house every Friday, you know, we played games, like did this puzzle, did some crafts, something like that. Yeah. Okay. And, um, what's the age of the kids you've been working with? Since I've been here, um, I went anywhere from like toddlers, two years to like eight, nine, 10, I, I did kindergarten. I did primary school. I did middle school. I still combine both, right? Like my primary job right now, um, is, uh, kindergarten. So I'm teaching five, six, but I also do, uh, grade one, grade two, grade three on the part-time basis. Yeah. I did some, I did, I did some, uh, I did some training for, um, would it, um, for Air China? It was like a temporal thing. So we did like, uh, flight attendants and, uh, stewards did that to adults. Okay. So, um, it's, it's actually possible to work with, uh, adults as well, not, not only. You can work like oil, gas, uh, like the, the air, um, you know, the, the airlines, that's a huge industry. Yeah. And what about some online opportunities? Are there any online, uh, teaching jobs, uh, in China, like available for people who actually stay somewhere else? There, there is, but, uh, I think, uh, this market is a bit overcrowded, right? Cause right now, like, no, obviously there is, um, not too many in-class teachers. So in a lot of it, the market was overcrowded before the pandemic, right? Cause you will have a lot of partners from across the globe, right? You have some, I had some friends from states doing that, like, you know, at nighttime. I had some friends from Italy doing that. And, um, uh, to be honest with you, like I'm not really interested in online teaching. Like I didn't do a lot of research, but from what I've heard, um, the wages are not that great, right? And, uh, but I'm sure there's still opportunities there. But I'm not, I'm not the right. And by the way, guys, uh, before, before this session, we had, uh, a lot of, um, other, uh, life, um, sessions related to online teaching. Uh, and that's actually my, uh, huge interest. And I created many, um, videos related to teaching online. And, uh, if you're interested in this opportunity as well, uh, you'd better check out the previous videos because, uh, there are actually, um, a lot of opportunities to, um, get this experience and just, um, again, be proactive. That's all. Okay. So, um, if you guys don't have any further questions to Eugene, uh, we, we will probably wrap up this session, uh, because it's, it's been like one hour already. And, uh, I think that we all are pretty busy. Uh, and it's time to move on and do our regular, um, weekend stuff. Uh, that was super interesting, uh, to chat with you. Thanks a lot, Eugene. Um, and, uh, once again, if you guys have any further questions, uh, it's, there is actually an option. You, uh, can, uh, address your questions, uh, in this chat box. And, uh, I'll go back to them later. Uh, and we can actually create, uh, a blog post, uh, with, uh, some other questions related to, uh, uh, China and working there. So just feel free to ask. And, um, yeah, that's it. Sounds good. Yeah. If you guys have any questions, like if we are something else who needs some coverage on, like we'll, uh, we'll certainly be willing to help for sure. Cause I mean, I've been here for years and, uh, I know there's a lot of like misinformation, all of like misleading, um, misleading things coming from China where people just get confused. Like, what am I hearing? Like, is that true? Is that true? So yeah, like if you have any questions, we'll try to help as much as we can. Yeah. So there is the last question I would like to address too. Uh, so yeah, um, as for online TEFL certificate and, uh, in class TEFL certificate, uh, there is actually no difference because you, you get the same amount of hours. Um, the same amount of training. Uh, so just if your certificate, uh, has this, um, 120 hours thing, that's enough. Um, and if the certificate actually doesn't state that you took it like online. Uh, so you just, uh, prove with this certificate, you just prove that, uh, you finished that training and you, uh, have it. That's all. I think what she's trying to, uh, I think like the answer she's looking for is, uh, like you want to have a hard copy, right? Like if you finish the course, like you want to have a hard copy in your hands that you can take to immigration office. So that's what you want. Yeah, that's right. It doesn't matter like where you spend your hours at, uh, as long as you have the, uh, the paper itself in your hands. Yeah, that's right. And I know that many, uh, providers, uh, don't issue these hard copies right now, but we have this opportunity. We have this option and that's actually, um, really important. So make sure you, uh, get this one. I just had a friend like, so my friend decided to, uh, to obtain one of those wine things, right? And then so when it came to getting like the actual paper, so the, um, so the company says, well, you know what, like we, uh, we go green right now. There's your link, right? Like download, like free downloads. Yeah, that's right. He goes to the office, right? Uh, to, uh, Chinese immigration. He wants to extend his visa and he's trying to say, well, you know what? The guy told me to go green. Like, you know, they didn't understand that there. So yeah, go green. Like, okay. It's actually a great strategy. And, uh, I believe that, uh, Tefl providers, uh, save a lot of money, um, avoiding issuing those hard papers, certificates, but, uh, that's something just, uh, not applicable to job markets, uh, not in China markets. Yeah. Maybe it's okay in Korea, maybe in Japan, but in China you need to have, like China is very old school, right? They love the papers. They love the stamps. Like you show up with a suitcase of documents. Like you're good. Yeah. There is no going green. So no going green. Yeah. No going green. Okay. So that was super, super exciting. And thanks a lot for this, um, huge interview. Uh, Yeah. It's been fun. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. So thanks a lot again. And guys, thanks so much for coming to this session. Uh, in some places, it's still early morning, somewhere it's late night. Uh, thanks a lot for spending this hour with us. And I hope to see you soon next time again. Uh, just to remind you that I go live, uh, every, uh, Tuesday, usually normally, uh, today was a bit different. Uh, and yeah, just to see you next time, guys, and have a good day. Uh, if you still have any further questions, feel free to ask them in the comments to this video. And, uh, I'll go back to them later and try to address, uh, every single question and I'll ask, uh, Eugene for help. So thanks a lot. And just see you next time. Bye.