Hong Kong (ESF Schools)

[Spawnboy99]

Have an interview coming up with the above company. Have done my research and looked on their website and at their schools etc. Seems all ok and enough information on it. But as a company what are they like and what are their schools like.
Any inside knowledge would be appreciated on the company. Understand HK is crazy expensive.
Thanks

[wrldtrvlr123]

Hi. I've interviewed with them several times (and was offered a job by them once a upon a time).

They are a very solid and respectable organization that runs 20+ schools in Hong Kong. Their schools are well run and very professional by most reports and offer more SPED/SEN services than most international schools (one specialized SPED school and then inclusion programs at every level in certain key schools). They switched from the English NC to the IB around 5 years ago or so. The package is very good for HK although like many schools there, the housing allowance is not expected to fully cover your rental costs but merely offset it to some degree.

The worst complaint I have heard is that class sizes can be very large as they have waiting lists for virtually every grade/school. You could expect to work hard and be challenged but also be well rewarded/well resourced and have opportunities for leadership and advancement. HK is reported to be expensive but that is often what you make of it. We have a friend who is there at a smaller school on a much weaker package and seems to be doing just fine. Just my two cents from mostly 2nd hand sources.

[Spawnboy99]

Thats great thanks for the information does help.
Cheers

[PsyGuy]

Its a corporate chain school. The coin is good, but its a corporate environment (on the mainland China you can compare them to Dipont). Its for profit and run very much like a corporate business, which isnt as much a problem in HK, as thats pretty much what everyone in HK does is work in a mega corporation or a local branch office. ESF makes no illusions though in that they own you, and they act like it. Admin/Management are brutal, not in an abusive way but they have extremely high expectations and expect you to perform, get the job done well, and your best is really only a start. However good you are you will be required to be better or you will be let go. They have a lot of turnover because the performance and work commitment expectations lead to burn out pretty quickly. ESF sees its faculty as resources and your either goal to consumed or your a diamond to be cut and polished, which one is up to you. A lot of ITS are consumed in the fire. The rewards though are there, most ESF admin.management is recruited internally, and even starting teachers make good coin for HK. Housing is and has been an issue, its enough if your lucky to get you a dump, most ITS pay out of pocket for western standards of housing quality, though like Japan space is an expensive premium. Many ITS supplement their income with tutoring, private lessons or ESOL, and while officially prohibited outside of approved ASP activities, many ITs do it anyway. TOEFL/IELTS and other university prep work is easily and readily available, and most HK residents work 2 or more jobs.

They are an IB world school but a lot of the curriculum is still very British. They do offer more LS/SEN support than MANY other ISs in HK and China but they are a competitive IS, they measure a lot of their success by scores and LS/SEN students generally dont help scores, as such they are very selective and cautious regarding students they admit with LS/SEN needs, they will provide the resources and opportunities for students to maximize their potential. They do have waiting lists but there are "reserved" places for specific entities and organizations.

HK is very expensive much like living in Tokyo, and while its very easy to spend a lot of money very quickly, its not impossible to live a comfortable life reasonably. Housing, fine dining, night life, and shopping are the big expenses, a lot of the HK lifestyle is "impressing" people, which can be very expensive if you want it to be.

[Spawnboy99]

PsyGuy wrote:
> Its a corporate chain school. Very top third tier, can probably squeak into second
> tier. The coin is good, but its a corporate environment (on the mainland China you
> can compare them to Dipont). Its for profit and run very much like a corporate
> business, which isnt as much a problem in HK, as thats pretty much what everyone
> in HK does is work in a mega corporation or a local branch office. ESF makes no
> illusions though in that they own you, and they act like it. Admin/Management are
> brutal, not in an abusive way but they have extremely high expectations and expect
> you to perform, get the job done well, and your best is really only a start. However
> good you are you will be required to be better or you will be let go. They have
> a lot of turnover because the performance and work commitment expectations lead
> to burn out pretty quickly. ESF sees its faculty as resources and your either goal
> to consumed or your a diamond to be cut and polished, which one is up to you. A
> lot of ITS are consumed in the fire. The rewards though are there, most ESF admin.management
> is recruited internally, and even starting teachers make good coin for HK. Housing
> is and has been an issue, its enough if your lucky to get you a dump, most ITS pay
> out of pocket for western standards of housing quality, though like Japan space
> is an expensive premium. Many ITS supplement their income with tutoring, private
> lessons or ESOL, and while officially prohibited outside of approved ASP activities,
> many ITs do it anyway. TOEFL/IELTS and other university prep work is easily and
> readily available, and most HK residents work 2 or more jobs.
>
> They are an IB world school but a lot of the curriculum is still very British. They
> do offer more LS/SEN support than MANY other ISs in HK and China but they are a
> competitive IS, they measure a lot of their success by scores and LS/SEN students
> generally dont help scores, as such they are very selective and cautious regarding
> students they admit with LS/SEN needs, they will provide the resources and opportunities
> for students to maximize their potential. They do have waiting lists but there
> are "reserved" places for specific entities and organizations.
>
> HK is very expensive much like living in Tokyo, and while its very easy to spend
> a lot of money very quickly, its not impossible to live a comfortable life reasonably.
> Housing, fine dining, night life, and shopping are the big expenses, a lot of the
> HK lifestyle is "impressing" people, which can be very expensive if you want it
> to be.


Nice one PsyGuy Cheers !!!

[Spawnboy99]

30min Skype interview is that the norm, they did say before that they where busy and needed to keep it to that time

[PsyGuy]

@spawnboy99

Its normalish:

1) 15 minutes or less means they arent interested
2) 30 minutes is a perfunctory "went through the check list" interview and they need to interview more candidates, see what develops, etc.
3) 45 minutes shows interest., and they liked what they heard.
4) 60 minutes is a strong indication of interest. They like your presentation and you appear to fit with their organization.
5) More than an hour, and your moving into contract negotiations.

[wrldtrvlr123]

spawnboy99 wrote:
> 30min Skype interview is that the norm, they did say before that they where
> busy and needed to keep it to that time
--------------------------------
That's pretty much normal for them. I've interviewed with them several times I recall them all (including the one that led to an offer) being around 30 minutes (give or take). The nice thing with them is they generally let you know their decision in a timely manner.

Good luck!

[Spawnboy99]

@wrldtrvlr123 Thanks they are already contacting my reference, the next day so seem to be quick. But early days yet not getting my hopes up

[PsyGuy]

@spawnboy99

I interviewed with them twice both interviews were around 35 minutes.