Chinese job interviews

Tomorrow I have yet another job interview. It will be the 6th one since I arrived in China a month and a half ago. I'm looking forward to the interview tomorrow because the centre intrigues me, and once you've had five interviews in six weeks, one more is hardly intimidating. 

Yesterday afternoon I went for an interview at an English Training Centre here in Shenzhen. It was my second interview there. I was asked to come back to meet the boss and to give a 15-minute demo class for 5-year olds. It is standard practise to give a demo class, so they can see your teaching style and ability. Fair enough. First I met with the boss, who asked me some standard interview questions. Then I was lead into a classroom where I was to give my 15 minute demo. Expecting to have up to five little kids sitting in front of me, I was surprised when seven Chinese employees entered the room and sat before me. "We'll be your students," they said. A retired university professor friend of mine once told me that to be a teacher you have to be an actor. I can't agree more. I began my demo by introducing myself to the seven "children" who claimed to be 7, 8, or 10 years old rather than 5. The book I brought was "Sammy the Seal" so I began by asking about their favourite animals and whether they had seen them at the zoo, etcetera, etcetera. Then I spent ten minutes talking about the pictures in the book, doing my best to engage the kids, while also reading aloud to them. It went fairly well, or so I thought. Following the demo, the group of seven proceeded to discuss my performance in great length…. in Chinese. I couldn't understand a word. I was on display, and I felt frustrated and aggravated. I wished so badly that I could understand Chinese. Once in a while they would stop, turn to me, and tell me their concerns. The best one was, "We are concerned because your voice is very low and soft and it makes us want to fall asleep." I responded by saying that I can change my voice to be more lively and energetic, and that this is something I'm more likely to do in a classroom of real kids, rather than in front seven adults pretending to be kids. They also expressed their concern about whether I can make a class fun enough. "Would your classes be fun?" they asked. "What a stupid question," I thought to myself, but gave a confident answer about my teaching technique and how I plan my lessons to be educational, accompanied by games and activities that compliment the subject matter and enhance their understanding. They then asked if I could wait around for 50 minutes and then give another demo to a class of real students aged 7. By this point, I was done. They had been discussing me in front of me for probably fifteen minutes. I just wanted to get out of there! So I told them it was a lot of time to expect from me and that doing two demos is a bit much to ask, so, basically, no. They accepted that. I mean, if they wanted to see me teach real kids, they should've let me do that in the first place. My aggravation was soaring at this point. They kept talking amongst themselves, and I tried to end the interview by suggesting that they discuss it together and get back to me. This didn't work. They just went on and on and on. In the end, they offered me a part-time position and said that they liked me very much! My impression was that they didn't fully believe in me, but they were intrigued and interested, so offering me a part-time position allows them to have me on a trial basis, without having to commit to a year of full-time, which would also require them to provide a work visa for me. Luckily, this works better for me, too. I can try working there and see if I like it. If it's a good fit, I'll stay and they'll eventually hire me on as full-time. If not, well, I can fall back on the full-time job I got that starts in February.

I walked out of there feeling frustrated and pissed off. Why do I have to teach English in order to make a living? This is how I feel sometimes. It's hard starting out with virtually no experience, and with very little confidence. As I walked away I thought of how much I loved working as a graphic designer because I knew how to do it and I believed I was good at it.

So that's my long-winded tale of a Chinese job interview. Now I have four jobs in China, although two of them haven't started yet. The full-time job I got was supposed to start on January 7th but it has been postponed to February 4th because the work visa won't be done in time for the January start date. In the meantime, I figure I may as well keep job hunting, in case something better comes along and I can start earning money now instead of waiting six more weeks. I hope to land a job where I feel confident, capable and happy to be there. Wish me luck!