How to Get the Contract Terms You Want

Whether you are applying for a job, buying a car or trying to agree on what movie to see with your significant other Saturday night, negotiation skills are of vital importance. Before meeting a potential employer, it is a good idea to read up on negotiation skills and practice them in real or conceptual situations.

An extra bonus is that this helps broaden your teaching opportunities. Business English courses make up a big chunk of the English-teaching pie. And one of the most often requested topics is negotiations. The more you learn about the topic (and the better you are at its implementation), the better your employment prospects will become.

Contract Negotiation DOs and DON’Ts

Here are some tips on how to get the contract you want and avoid agreeing to terms you will later regret…

Read up!

There are countless books on negotiating, but few are worth the paper they’re printed on. Not so with Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher. By focusing on interests—not positions as most other texts do—the book will teach you how to reach win-win agreements that please both you and your school.

Tell your employer what you want in the beginning

In an effort to build rapport, most new employees tend to be quite humble and accepting when it comes to contract terms. They say to themselves, “I can always ask for more days off or higher pay later once I’ve proven myself.” The sad truth is that even star performers are rarely rewarded with higher pay or extra leave in Taiwan. Unless you are promoted to a management position (which often entails more work at less pay when calculated on a per-hour basis), your contract terms will most likely stay put ad infinitum. If you need Tuesday and Thursday evenings free for kung fu, make sure that it is in your contract from the beginning!

If the pay is not up to snuff, ask for more. Justify your request by citing your experience and how much you have been paid in the past for similar work (if it was more). If you have received better offers from other schools, speak up. At the very least, try to get your employer to add a performance based compensation clause in your contract. Pegging pay to performance is all the rage these days in the corporate world, and for good reason: it allows employers to pay a lower base salary to non-performers and reward those who go above and beyond.

If you do end up signing a contract, you will be working with these people for at least a year. Make sure to balance getting what you want with developing a good relationship. Getting 50 NT more an hour is not worth souring your work relationships.

Walk away if they’re unwilling to negotiate

If your potential boss is completely unwilling to negotiate, take it as an omen of bad things to come. Just think: if they are unwilling to give an inch during the recruitment phase, how flexible will they be after the honeymoon is over?

Before you Sign the Contract

Some schools are notorious for screwing over their employees, while others have impeccable reputations. Before signing a contract, make sure to complete the following steps:

Find out if the school has an instructional supervisor

If so, will they provide training and feedback on your performance? Do they have teaching experience themselves or are they just an administrator trying to manage a part of the business they know nothing about? If not, who will be assessing your performance? What criteria will they use? Will they use student surveys or classroom observations?

Interview at least 2 current employees

Former employees can also help shed some light on things, but they are often overly pessimistic or optimistic depending on why they no longer work there and how long ago they left the school.

Read the contract thoroughly and ask questions

While you risk seeming distrusting, it may be a good idea to get a copy of the Mandarin contract and have a Taiwanese friend check it for disparities from the English version.

Find out the rules regarding travel expenses

Most employers require you to pay upfront for taxis to and from outside classes and then reimburse you at the end of each month. Others will simply provide a fixed stipend each month for estimated travel fees. The latter way is more convenient but you may end up paying more. Either way, find out what the situation is so you can budget ahead. If you are really tight on funds, ask them if they can provide an advance to cover your travel expenses to and from classes.