Foreign English Teacher Recruiting

Agency Letter:

 

I have read many user complaints about IACC located in Taiwan. I would like to give my comments about the IACC recruiting company.

One thing I will say is that NO recruiting company anywhere in Asia is perfect. There are many pitfalls of using a recruiting company but please do not mistake the actions of one recruiter for the actions of others.

When I first came to Taiwan, I was provided with free accomodations and was sent to work at a school in Dungshir. They had work available from the get go. There was no waiting for work as I arrived in mid summer which is the best time to come over. My experiences with them was good. Read the following carefully!

First, IACC is a business and as they are a business, will incur some costs for which they will need to get paid for. Would you do work and not get paid for it! I don't think so. Get REAL!

The commission they get is approximately the same as what other recruiters are getting. The only difference is that they get it monthly instead of all at once from a school. While you may say, you should get this amount added to your pay, that is bullsh*t on your part. How do you expect a company to survive if they do not get paid for the work...??? They are providing you with a service and are incuring expenses in searching for schools to place you at. Those services cost IACC money!

Second, many of you out there complaining are saying that you have been cheated in your paycheck. As I was employed with IACC from October 2001 to July 2002 in their office as the Network Administrator / Recruiter, I do know the truth regarding the lies of the complainers. If you don't show up on time for work, you get dinged! If you take time off, you get dinged! If the school says you did not teach the full class and they have it recorded on a time card, it is your fault and not IACC. You signed a contract with IACC to teach at their client schools and it is up to you to do as contracted. You can always call IACC to complain about a school and try to get transfered.

Third, IACC does show you prospective schools that you can teach at. If you don't like the first school, check for other locations. Depending on the time of the year, there may be many openings while at other times, nothing. The best times is June, July, August, September, January, February and March. All other months are not guaranteed months of getting employed.

Fourth, if you say you have degree, prove it. Don't just say you will have it when you don't... To get a work permit, (IACC IS LEGALLY ALLOWED TO GET WORK PERMITS), you will need a four year university degree from an accredited universty. Fake degrees will get you into trouble with the law if they find you are trying to get work with a fake degree. College degrees are not acceptable for work permits. IACC has not been doing the student visa teaching arrangement for quite some time now as it is illegal and too time consuming.

Five, the only reason that I quit was that I was working too many long hours for the same salary... It is hard to be a network administrator and recruiter at the same time. Recruiter during the day and admin at night... no fun and tiring... 60 hours a week is too much... It had nothing to do with pay problems as I only had one in the whole year that I was there and it was not something that was their fault... it was a miscalculation on my side.

Six, if you are just getting to Taiwan, IACC is a good start to getting to know how the ESL scene is in Taiwan...

Ed Carriere, previous staff of IACC.
September 5, 2003