The International Schools Review Forum

My wife and I have lived in one city in southern China for seven years. I've taught English and basketball classes for years, but I don't have experience in a K-12 classroom. We are both almost finished with our teaching certificate from New Hampshire. We would love to remain in our current city, as we love the lifestyle here. I am about to transfer out of the city to another city in China for my current job, and my wife and kids will follow a few months later. My goal is to find a job at one of the many schools in our current city and come back as an overseas hire. However, my question is, to be considered an overseas hire instead of local hire, is it necessary to be living in a different country instead of city? I will be in a city in a completely different area of China, and I'm considering signing up with Search and going to a job fair. I just hate to have these expectations and then still be hired as local hire because I'm in country (even though it's a quite large country). Thanks for your opinions!

And just as a follow up, we are interested in being hired in one of the cities in this area in southern China, not necessarily just this one city.

It's a tough question to answer definitively, as schools will do what schools do.
Your best bet to achieve recruited status is to apply the way recruited teachers apply, through an agency and or at a fair. Avoid, to the extent possible, applying directly without an agency, and avoid at all costs turning up at a school in person to say "I'm here to apply. "
Make sure the school is clear with you, once you get to the offer stage, which status you will have.
One challenge you may face is your lack of post-certification experience. Most reputable schools will count only experience after you get the certificate, and some have rules that only allow them to offer recruited status to teachers with x amount of experience. Despite the fact that you've been teaching for a while, it might not help you get a job right away. You may have to teach as a local hire for two to three years first.
Good luck.

That really is up to the individual school. My school, along with a number of others, did away with the concept of "local hires" a few years ago. It has been nothing but a positive decision in terms of team, unity, morale, etc... Hopefully more and more will follow suit.

Are you a Chinese national? Perhaps not. If that's the case, then you are an overseas hire.

Depends on the school. In my location, if you live in a country and are there for a reason other than being employed by an IS, then you are considered a local hire regardless of nationality.

I concur with the previous contributors. Upper tier ISs are likely to consider you an OSH while lower tier ISs will consider you a local hire. It is very important any contract you sign clearly stipulates your classification as an OSH hire. Many lower tier ISs will just describe the benefits of OSH and not include in your contract if you are one only to find out later that you arent classified as an OSH.

It is not necessary to obtain your appointment through an agency, you only need to ensure that the IS is classifying you as an OSH. However, there is a general principal recognized that you are considered an OSH regardless of location if you are recruited at a fair. Some ISs have different definitions of this, and thee is no standard means of enforcement. Some ISs will define fair recruitment as signing a contract at a fair, others if you were interviewed at a fair.

Many ISs only count post certification experience, as such most of your experience will not count, and you dont even have the necessary 2 years to enter IT, you are basically an ESOL instructor, and in China many of the lower tier ISs will consider you a local hire.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Your replies have really solidified in my mind the decision that we should be going through a recruiting agency (I'm leaning towards Search). We will try our best to get an invite to a fair.