Searching for a job in any industry is bound to raise your stress levels, never mind the added factor of moving to a whole new country with whole new language and culture. With the higher stakes, everything must be right before you accept a position, sign on the dotted line, and purchase your flight tickets. Especially for newbie TEFL teachers or first-timers in China, there’s plenty of good reasons to use a recruiter as they know the industry like the back of their hand. Today we are going to explore just why you should consider using a recruiter for your ESL job search.  Best Practices Firstly, before we go any further, you might be wondering why we are asking the question that forms the title of this article. Well unfortunately like in any industry, there are a few bad apples that give everyone a bad rep. When considering using a recruiter, here’s what to watch out for.               *How long has the recruitment company been in business?      *Are their emails and messages professionally written?      *Are they using generic email addresses or a company email e.g. our emails use the suffix @teachdiscoverchina.com      *How well do they treat you or their teachers?      *Do they provide good testimonials from their previous teachers? Find ours here     *Never pay any upfront fee – Most recruiters will not charge this     *Do their job listings provide legal work (Z) visa? All ESL jobs in China should come with a legal work visa  5 Reasons Why you Should Use a Recruiter to find your dream TEFL Job!    1.) Strong Network of Schools  Recruiters have dedicated their time and effort into making strong connections with many different types of schools. TeachDiscoverChina is no different. An integral part of the Sichuan Education Association for International Exchange (SEAIE), run under the leadership and guidance of the Education Department of the Province - we have access to and have created a strong network of public and private schools from kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, colleges to universities. We keep connected with our schools each day to make sure we have the most up-to-date positions and are always looking for new schools to help too. For any TEFL job seekers, our trusted resources are definitely worth making use of.  2.) Let Recruiters do the all the work  Instead of spending hours finding vacancies which might be a good fit, researching the company/school, and submitting you CV and materials for multiple jobs, let recruiters handle the whole process whilst you sit back with a cocktail in hand and wait for the email notification to pop up. All we require from you is your latest CV, a short introduction video, and your job preferences, then our industry experts will do the rest and try to find the most suitable vacancy for you.  3.) Schools don’t have time to advertise Some TEFL job seekers prefer to be hired directly by the school, however most often the case is that the schools just don’t have the time to advertise themselves and don’t know the best channels where to advertise. That’s why many schools rely on recruiters like us. Many of the open TEFL job vacancies are only available via recruiters because recruiters are providing a service and assistance to the schools. So potentially if you consider not using a recruiter there would be many great options you’d be missing out on. You just need to know which recruiters are safe to use.  4.) Advice and Support As well as matching you to the most suitable school vacancies and setting up interviews, recruiters can provide a lot of assistance and advice. Here at TeachDiscoverChina especially, we’ve been helping place and manage international teachers for nearly three decades, so our expert consultants know the TEFL industry inside and out. We know moving to the other side of the world is a big deal, so we’ll be there to offer support and guidance. Not to mention we will also assist you throughout the visa process, so you know exactly what materials you need, what you need to do, and when you need to do it. Generally, if you are hired directly with school, you’ll be one of a few foreign teachers there, or maybe even by yourself – but as we have many foreign teachers each intake, we organise meetups for our teachers once or twice every semester so they can get to know one another and share their experiences.  5.) No fees – free service  Most trusted or reputable recruitment companies don’t charge their teachers any fees at all, and we are the same. Many recruitment companies will charge a fee from the school instead. This means you get our service, expertise and knowledge all for free. Therefore, it is absolutely in our best interest to make sure you find the job that you want and ultimately that our schools are happy with hiring you. Nothing makes us more pleased than seeing both our teachers and schools satisfied.  Conclusion So that’s It from us today. If you’ve ever been against using or hesitated to use a recruiter, we hope that this is article has given you some food for thought. Just follow the best practices to find a secure and reliable one. Better still TeachDiscoverChina is right in front of you, apply for your dream TEFL job today, send your CV and short introduction video to [email protected]. One of our consultants will be in touch get to know more about your job preferences. In the meantime, if you do have any questions, feel free to get in touch by email.