STAY AWAY!!! - ESL Teacher HESS International Educational Group Employee Review

Being a large company, there are opportunities for professional development beyond teaching after you finish your first contract. There are opportunities to become a head teacher and manage fellow teachers and have a direct impact impact in your school; or work in teacher training and professional development, the English human resources department, or the English curricula writing department. There are opportunities for a stable future in Taiwan, whether it be teaching or beyond that.

Being a multi-cultural working environment, you need to be flexible and put time into developing relationships and communication skills. Many managers work longer hours, and you often get messages after work from your teachers who need help due to the nature of living abroad.

-Training/Help for first year teachers: Very helpful if you've never taught or lived abroad before -Flexible Hours: This can be convenient if you want to take care of things that can only be done during daytime hours -1 Month Leave Every Year: Good if you want to travel on a long trip or spend a good amount of time home -Yearly Contract Completion Bonuses, Return Rate Bonuses -Opportunities for experienced NST to take on other positions: Ex: Head teacher, area or main office training, curriculum development, interviews, admin, etc.

-Private education = business first, education second. You'll find that certain decisions are made so the parents can remain pleased as opposed to making the decision that makes the most sense -Being Head NST means you're expected to help out with certain events on the weekends (open house, speech competition) at least you'll be paid for it though -Because there's an emphasis on testing well, the students just memorize what they need to know for the quizzes/tests, which doesn't necessarily mean their English will improve a lot. -vacations and holidays are unpaid, unless you're a seasoned HESS employee (7+ years employed) -you don't have much say on your hours and what you'll teach, especially if your branch is understaffed -Some branches will have you working 6 days a week -Your branch location will largely dictate your experience with Hess. My experience was mostly positive at my branch while friends at other branches had very negative experiences with theirs.