People who've worked at Hess, please feel free to post your stories here. I will also sort through my inbox and post some letters I've gotten over the months from friends who've worked at Hess.
Please feel free to post whether you've had a good or bad experience, I won't delete comments with good experiences =)
Here's a letter I recently got, pasted here with permission:
Hi Cami
Was just reading a couple of your comments on the FB HESS Feedback page, as well as a some excerpts from your Blog. Just wondering when you started with HESS as I first took it that you commenced in 2008, but some of your Blog posts are dated during 2000. Just curious to know how recent some of the information is as I'm also working for HESS and having THE WORST time of it. I commenced in XXXXXX 2008 and am still working for HESS at the XXXXXX Kindy. I absolutely hate my job and never in my life before have I ever said that about any employment I've undertaken. Would love to hear back from you as I'm seriously thinking of packing it in - sooooooon. Any advice would be muchly appreciated.
(PS I put some of the posts as 2000 because I wanted them to show up at the end of the blog- I worked at Hess in 2008 and 2009.)
Some letters from another friend, posted here with permission:
April 27 at 11:22am
.... As for how I am, kinda miserable, I hate working at hess and I want to leave as soon as possible... I'm looking in to other avenues of employment and preparing for if or when they fire me...
April 27 at 11:22am
... Oh also i know many other NSTs that aren't continuing with hess and just leaving...
April 28 at 3:09pm
Hey Cami, I'm applying for other jobs, I haven't been in to HESS this week as I just can't face it, they've been driving me crazy! Bugging me to write a script for a class of 24 SA5 low level English kids, I'm not a playwright or master director, especially to children who don't understand much of what I'm saying to them!
I came here to teach a little English and I didn't think I'd be as stressed and depressed as this, doing this kind of work! Shouldn't learning be a slightly more fun thing than listen, repeat, listen, repeat... I wanted to do many more practical things with the kids but kept on getting told no, stick to the formula. Also I've been reading up on all immersion language learning and this practice was generally considered not the best way to learn a language aqnd that was over 40 years ago!
Anyways let me know how your job search is going!?
All the best!
x
October 4 at 10:07pm
Hey xxx,
can I post some of your old leetters on my site, minus name and identifying info? I've got some retard telling me that I hated hess so much cause I'm spoiled and immature (which is probably true) but I want to show that other people hate hess too
October 5 at 2:02pm
Hey cami, yeah sure that's fine. How's you? I got two way better jobs and i'm now making much more than I was making at hess :) i'm far happier! X
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Ahoy hoy. I'm "Melissa". Cami asked me to talk about my own experience working for Hess, so I
ReplyDeletesummed it up in a few paragraphs. Honestly I could say quite a bit more... but hey, I don't
have Cami's tenacity!
Anyway, props to you Cami. This blog is awesome... eloquently written, brilliant commentary intertwined with humour and prose. Love it.
The only complaint I have is your analysis of why you reacted differently to the joys of Hess than I did.
I need to disagree with your conclusion that this was because you possess more extensive job experience. I've also been working since I was 16 in a variety of *cough*awesome*cough*
positions such as golf course maintainance person, slinging drinks at a redneck bar, and
internet support technician. :-p
I come from the bustling Nova Scotia town of Wolfville, population 3000. In a province whose economy has been crap for decades, there aren't an abundance of decent jobs. It's easy to find yourself in a position of "take it up the ass or be unemployed." Being accustomed to the mentality of "Go ahead, quit. There are 100 people waiting to take your place" I may have been a bit more complacent about a crappy employment situation.
BUT I digress...
*****
I started for Hess in July 2008 and finished my contract August 15th 2009. I did work until the end of my contract; but I didn't renew a second year. In September of this year I started working for a much smaller school, Maple Leaf Education Center, which thus far, I absolutely adore.
ReplyDeleteHess is a large company and everyone who works for them has a different experience (largely branch dependent). Many of the foreign teachers I know spit blood when talking about Hess; whether they’ve actually worked for them or not. To be honest, for me Hess was a lot like any other job–it had great ups and serious downs.
I absolutely love my kids and co-teachers; I could not have asked for better people to work
with. On that note, I disagree that Hess doesn’t care about their students. Every branch is different–and I’ve heard some awful stories from others; but when I think about my own co-workers (foreign teachers, Chinese teachers, management) I cannot think of a single individual who, at the end of the day, didn’t have the kids’ best interests at heart.
My experience at Hess began as a rocky one. I was placed in a tumultuous branch that was known for their foreign teachers pulling midnight “runners” and that had an awful reputation among the local foreign crew. Within about a week I understood why.
While the contract I signed promised me 16 hours a week for the first month, bumped up to 26 after that; I was IMMEDIATELY forced to work 36 hours with split shifts. Keep in mind that’s 36 hours of teaching time. Hess only pays for time they schedule you in the classroom. There is *a lot* of extra work; be it preparing lessons, grading homework, writing weekly communication books, preparing crafts, writing performances, attending trainings or meetings, the list goes on and on. Bottom line was that I found myself in a country where I didn’t know a soul and didn’t speak a word of the native tongue working anywhere from 10-13 hours a day while getting
paid for 6 of that if I was lucky.
To add insult to injury, the branch scheduled events almost every other weekend which were more or less compulsory, and that you may or may not get paid for.
When I voiced my concerns; they fell on deaf ears. I will be honest; a lot of this is inherent in Taiwanese culture, and not exclusively Hess. The Taiwanese as a whole are notoriously hard workers–-working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day is not uncommon in this country. Regardless, this did little to soothe my anger/exhaustion when nearly all my friends teaching at other schools were putting in half the time I was and making an equal amount of money.
ReplyDeleteThings got progressively worse until they came to a climax in December. A co-worker threatened to quit for pretty much the same reasons I described; and I hinted that I would be exploring my options as well if things didn’t change. Fortunately, Hess finally got the message. They hired two new foreign teachers and, 5 months later, I finally got the schedule I had been promised when I first came to Taiwan.
I will admit, I’ve had some complaints since then… but they’ve been more muted. I come from a long line of teachers (on both sides of the family) so I’m aware that teaching inherently
involves unpaid work. As you become more experienced, the time it takes to prepare lessons, etc. goes down. When I’m working a normal 8:30-4 or 8:30-6:30 shift I’m willing to put in 2 hours at lunch to be a better teacher for my kids.
My Head NST (foreign manager) has been pretty good about hearing concerns and trying to sort
things out. I think some of my co-teachers didn’t realize quite how much he did on our behalf because he played the perfect diplomat when dealing with Taiwanese management… but he had my back on several occasions. Things could have been a lot worse if he wasn’t around.
In fact things were going pretty well for a while. There were a solid three months were I
didn't have anything negative to say about Hess. I even told the branch manager if they could guarantee me the same schedule I would resign.
typo: if they could guarantee me the same schedule **I would re-SIGN**
ReplyDeleteThen... they told me to plan a year end performance. To make a long story short, my class was Da Ban (K3--the graduating class) so I was expected to produce a musical of Andrew Lloyd Webber quality with no budget or time to accomplish such a feat.
I decided to ammend Frank Baum's classic "The Wizard of Oz" for 21 six year olds. Dorothy had a siter, Daisy; there were Toto the dog AND Tintin the cat, 2 scarecrows, 2 lions, and 3 tinmen.
As usual, the two managers were in a state of panic at the prospect of presenting the parents with anything less than a 5 star performance worthy of a Broadway stage.
For two months I busted my ass pulling this show together... that's in addition to judging speech competitions and hosting Saturday open houses. Yet despite this, for two months all I got was grief. I was told how terrible my performance was. I was told it wasn't good enough for the stage they rented. I was told to put in free time to make soundtracks and props, only to them scratched in favour of a powerpoint show. Worse still, management came down equally hard on my Chinese co-teacher and the students themselves. I started to dread getting up every morning because the work environment had become so high strung.
And the thing was, I actually had a really *good* performance. A manager from a neighbouring branch told me it was the best graduation show she'd seen in 3 years.
After all was said and done, on the day of the performance things went really well. Everybody loved the show, the kids had a blast performing, and even my managers admitted it was a solid show. The outpouring of gratitude and love from the parents was almost worth everything.
Since then I started my new job and have been working there for just over a month. Thus far I love it. Hess has pros (you'll always get paid on time, are never lacking in hours); but I can honestly say I'm far happier now that I'm working for a smaller school. My boss is wikkid supportive, the hours are better and the environment is far more relaxed.
Don't get me wrong, I had good times working at Hess and miss my old students and co-teachers dearly. My experience with Hess helped train me into an awesome teacher.
But now that I've changed employers I have time to seriously pursue my life goals--goals which fell to the wayside the year I was employed by Hess.
If you're not willing to work hard then Hess is not for you. I've been here five months working contract B the whole time anywhere from 26-36 teaching hours a week and I still find myself headed into work with a smile on my face. I guess I'm lucky that I truly believe my managers are saints and have my best interests at heart. At the same time, I work hard for them, make sacrifices (please note I work 9am every Saturday, as well as doing performances and open houses when needed) and find that if they have a chance to accomodate me they try their hardest to make it happen. It really depends branch by branch what kind of experience you have with Hess. I know several trainee friends who hate their branches, hours and managers and definitely did not get what they were promised. However, I know just as many other friends from traning that are just as content with the situation as I am. I think coming from New York City, where everyone works 12 hour days and can barely pay the rent, I don't think Hess is much worse than that many other employers. If you're looking for a teaching career and you're strolling over here with a Masters Degree, you can def do better than Hess and will want to work for a company with less pre-set structure. If you're like me and just here to learn Chinese (which I make time for lessons 2 times a week, even when teaching 30hrs a week) and enjoy the experience of traveling, then Hess is great. They train you to fit their curriculum and as you become comfortable with your own teaching style you can really add a lot to their lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteIf you're just looking for a fun experience and are willing to work hard, take the ups and downs that come with any job with a grain of salt and go with the flow, then Hess is a good place for you. Don't come into it thinking it'll be easy because it won't and if you don't like kids for god sake don't become a teacher! I know so many fellow teachers who hate kids hugging and touching them and are miserable at work.
Hope that helps anyone interested in coming to Taiwan!
Hey Shan and =)
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate both of your comments, and I have to say I really admire both of your attitude, especially Shannon, who, though she was at the same branch as me and arguably had a worse situation, still took it all like a champ.
Shan is at a different job now and loves it. Smiley face guy, I really do admire your attitude- I certainly went into Hess wanting to do as little work as possible while still feeling like a good teacher, which is NOT an option when you are a teacher. Teaching is a job of the heart, and it requires a lot of energy and care to make it work.
I do have to say though, I LOVE my new job (Shannon can vouch for me on this one, I rave about it every time I see her) and feel that I can make a living, be a good teacher, AND pursue my personal goals all at the same time, which wasn't possible for me at Hess. I'm certainly looking for the best deal for myself (the most money for the least amount of time and stress)and that wasn't available at Hess for me. but for anyone who is stoked at Hess, I'm happy for you and I'm glad you posted here.
Hello Cami and all those that posted,
ReplyDeleteI have just recently applied to join Hess and I'm really glad I found this site because I don't know what I'm getting myself into. I've recently just graduted...Masters in Teaching and want to teach abroad. I've taught English in Thailand before but it was very informal which is not what Hess sounds like. I really just want experience teaching in Asia and get the chance to save and pay off my student loans. My question to you guys that have worked at Hess is...will I be able to save some money or would I be better off teaching at a different school and if so can you suggest some school I can look up in Taiwan? I'm really glad to have found this site because clearly the staff at Hess would not provide all this information that you have Cami.
Cheers,
Pippi
Cool blog. I worked at Hess from Aug 2008 - June 2009 as well. I read some of your blog and the post about the dismissed teacher was funny cuz I remember that guy Rick, he was nuts and probably deserved to be dismissed. Anyways I was very lucky to be placed at a solid Hess branch. I've heard horror stories from friends who work at other branches but overall my experience with Hess was not too bad. I didn't finish my contract because of pay. The pay is so low in Taiwan especially starting off, and not to mention those annoying performance days, and grading homework. A friend hooked me up with a job paying 50% more of what I was making at Hess with the same hours. On top of that the avg class size at Hess was 16 for me, at my new school its 5. And no more grading homework, only 1 big performance every year, and no grading tests.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I am grateful for the training and structure provided by Hess. Without that I don't think I could of walked into a classroom and actually taught a class. So your experience with Hess will vary depending on the branch you are posted at. Hope my post helps those thinking of working for the hippo.
I started out at HESS with all the best intentions, but a few months in to working for them it became very clear that they didn’t care about anything other than making money. They most certainly didn’t care about learning outcomes for the children and they made that perfectly clear when they ask you to give students a ‘fair’ grade (e.g. 85+ preferably in the 90’s) even if they didn’t deserve it. In other words fake the grade to make it look good to the parents. Also they will pass students when they’ve failed a level and outright lie to their parents about their academic performance, therefore fleecing the parents for all their hard earned cash, this most certainly isn’t something I felt comfortable about being part of.
ReplyDeleteHess’s teaching materials are very rigid and don’t allow for any deviation in terms of how you teach. The materials are very uninspired and don’t allow the children to see what they’re learning in a greater context. At the end of the Hess curriculum, the children I came across, could barely read, write or speak English with any fluency, even after about 8 years of ‘learning’ with Hess. For example, I did a telephone test with some students who were at the end of the Hess curriculum and they couldn’t understand even simple questions.
ReplyDeleteNow on to Hess's training (or lack of)... They didn’t provide me with any feedback on my teaching for several months and their training was pathetic, it’s really short (you don’t get much useful information) and if you don’t ‘pass’ it then they’ll say tough luck we’re revoking our offer of employment. Generally that revocation could be if they don’t like the look of you or for any reason really (and that’s after you’ve paid for your plane ticket). I also felt that their follow up 'TEFL' trainings were less about training us and more about getting feedback on their materials and getting our ideas for games etc so that they could make use of them and use our ideas to make their materials better. They didn’t care too much about making us better teachers. Also their TEFL isn’t worth anything as it isn’t accredited by anyone, it’s just a ploy to get teachers to sign up with them.
Another thing about Hess is their clever marketing and PR fluff. Most of their videos on the web are very cleverly executed to draw you in and make you think they’re a reputable and trustworthy organization, but lets face it, they blatantly flout the law here, they have an incredibly high turnover rate not only for the native speakers but also for Taiwanese staff members too (that's why they're always recruiting), overall not a great company.
ReplyDeleteIf you see comments on websites where ’someone’ is bleating on about how good Hess are and how they offer a TEFL, start up loan and about how helpful they are, be aware that they have people whose job it is to write that stuff. You’ll see it on their website and you'll see it all over the place where their organization is mentioned. The reason they do this is to try and keep their image sweet so that they can hire as many teachers as they possibly can, because they have such a high turnover, which makes you think that perhaps if they treated their staff better and paid them better, then they wouldn’t have such a high turnover.
Also, be aware that they’ll expect you to work 40+ hours for 20 hours pay and they won’t pay you for national holidays. So be prepared to be very tired and run down and to have very little cash over Chinese New Year, and if you’re sick, don’t expect any support, financial or otherwise because they just won’t give a damn.
Overall I was not impressed with Hess’s conduct towards me, they provided little support, they were quite critical right from the start, and when I left the company, the management took me into a room and 'ganged up' on me and tried to belittled me, saying (sorry shouting at me) 'what's your problem?', 'you're pathetic' and 'you're such a let down', things like this. I've NEVER experience such unprofessional conduct in my entire life! I had a good job before I came to Taiwan, a professional job (working in the media), and the only reason I came to Taiwan was because of my Taiwanese partner, who had family issues, and couldn't leave Taiwan to come back to the UK. I know that I'm not 'pathetic', and I know I don't have any 'problems' because I now work at one of Taiwan's most reputable and expensive private schools, and I love working there, it's great!
I would say that if you’re going to come to Taiwan to teach English that Hess IS NOT the best place to go. I think the best thing to do would be to come over on an extended visa and look for a good job, as Hess cannot be trusted, also if you’re not ‘white’ then Hess may not hire you or pass you through their initial training programme, because if they have their teacher quota for that period in time then they’d rather have a ‘white’ face in the classroom and in front of the parents, if you’re from a different ethnic background they’ll most likely wait-list you.
Do your research and shop around for a job in Taiwan as there are much better prospects than Hess out there.
Can someone please tell me what these other companies are that are better than Hess?! You're killing me with the suspense. Alternatives please?
ReplyDeleteYes, please do tell, what better options are there? I was thinking about applying to Hess as well, but now that I've seen all the negative feedback....
ReplyDeleteSo to help us clueless people from falling into Hess, what are good, reputable ESL schools in Taiwan?
Wow I almost never look at this anymore and I just randomly looked the day after you guys wrote those comments.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of good schools in Taiwan, but I really only know about the schools that I've worked for.
Anyone who wants to recommend a good school that may be needing a teacher, please feel free to do so here.
And my recommendation is that if you want to work in TAiwan, just save up some money, come out and check the schools out yourself. It's hard to get a clear picture of a school when you're half a world away (in your own country).
Good luck! And it can be difficult finding a job and living abroad but it's worth it!
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ReplyDeleteThe above deleted comments were a series of messages from a disgruntled Hess teacher that I posted here with her permission. Apparently her superiors at Hess found out she was communicating with me because she sent me a rather tense message saying she was "not at liberty to speak to me further" and asked me not to "post anything that I wrote" so I deleted what I'd previously posted. It's too bad because she had quite a story and it's also too bad because apparently she was not able to escape the job that made her want to kill herself every day (her own words).
ReplyDeletewow.
I have my own Hess story. But before going into that, take my survey to rate your school. Let other teachers know, before it's too late!
ReplyDeletehttp://top100.pebblefoot.com/
Thanks!