Getting Paid by Recruitment Company Rather than School

[CJ Johnston]

Hello, I've been offered a job in Wenzhou starting in October teaching English at a Polytechnic.

The recruitment company says that I will be paid by them rather than by the school itself.
I wasn't aware that this was a thing in China so I'm wondering if this is a red flag and I should turn down the offer.

I would appreciate any advice or feedback on this.

[vellocet]

Hahaha, smells like a scam.

Your contract will be with the school, not the recruitment company.  They're probably planning to skim your wages.  Don't feel any sympathy towards the recruiter at all.  They get paid by the client, not you, so to Hades with them.  Don't be afraid to be forceful with them.  If they threaten you or try to tell you off, they were nothing but trouble  in the first place.  

[ChristianCC]

Big red flag. They will 100% be getting a percentage cut from your wages. Do not go through recruitment agencies for teaching jobs as they will skim money from you. A lot of schools get approached by companies/individuals claiming they can hire foreign talent for them, in reality you can just message the school itself and cut out the middleman.

[vellocet]

yeah, these companies get used for a reason, though.  just message the school directly?  For someone who doesn't speak Chinese?  And who's the contact at the school?  Sen an email to the mailbox on the website that nobody has checked since the  site went up in 2015 and the person whose desktop they set it up on left the company?    And how do you even know they're hiring, and for what position? 

Recruiters are fine but just don't let them rip you off.   The beauty is that the client pays for everything.   All you have to do is show up.