Pros
A very steep learning curve throughout your entire career with the company - this is a job you often walk into having very basic skills under your belt, but you are given adequate support and training to be able to hit the ground running. These are skills which are transferrable to different industries and which are achievements that can be looked upon as positive personal milestones. The company is very well-organised in terms of making you feel at home and giving you the right support where support is needed - China is not an easy place to live for a foreigner, but with the right support and assistance, which EF Tianjin provides, your life here can be very comfortable. You are given the opportunity to teach students from a culture so different from your own - I find that I learn as much from my students as they learn from me. Management understand that we will not be in China for the rest of our lives as foreigners, and provide us with skills that not only apply to current work situations, but also can be used for various other industries beyond the scope of our current employment. Management work hard to make our working environment as comfortable as possible. Managers don't only manage the school, they manage the teachers on a different level - they turn up at the hospital in an emergency, they help their staff member move house if there is nobody else to give a hand, they give travel advice! But this isn't it. As a manager myself, I am unequivocally supported by senior management, whether this be on a personal or a business level. Senior (and Regional!!!!) Management take the time to coach not only on current business practice, but ALSO on personal growth and development - it is comforting not only for me, but for my family as well, to know that I will have the support I need during any crisis I might face. YES I need to provide care to my own team, but sometimes I need that support as well, and I can tell you now, that support is there, no matter what.
Cons
Work hours can be long at times, but are generally balanced in the long-term. Sometimes we need to work holidays/festivals (Halloween etc) but management are always quick to jump in and buy us dinner when this happens. There are "extras" we need to do, which are often viewed as a drag, but in the long-run, it depends on what attitude we spin - these are actually good team-building opportunities to get to know the other people we work with on a different level, rather than seeing it in a negative light. The job and the expectations are made clear at the beginning. Unfortunately the ESL industry attracts a lot of people who just want an easy year living in China as opposed to viewing the opportunity as a time to work hard and contribute to a team, to learn and to GROW as an individual, so the attitude of colleagues who feel hard-done by as a result of the company requiring them to fulfil their end of the bargain is a little bit draining. As with any job, you're far away from home so it can be a little lonely at times - you do have a good support network of teachers in the city. This is the advantage of working in a city like Tianjin where there are six EF schools - the foreign teacher network is populous and reliable.