First Future
Reviews for First Future
First Future’s website is offline and the company appears to be out of business.
First Future is dedicated to providing high-quality online education through engaging content, advanced language learning technology, and highly-skilled and courteous employees. We work with clients across China through 600 partnering organizations, covering 26 provinces in 180 cities. We provide online language services for 6000 campuses and reach over 1 million students.
Company Website: https://firstfutureedu.net/
Job Summary
The available positions we have are for tutors to teach customized online English classes to Chinese students of various ages, ranging from young learners to mature professionals. We provide the virtual classrooms & materials and arrange the scheduling. Generally, our classes run for 25 to 45 minutes, on evenings and weekends (China time). For the flexible schedule, it’s up to you how many hours you work and on what days. Under the fixed schedule, the booking rate is 100% guaranteed during your working hours.
Qualifications:
-Native-level English speaker
-At least 1 year of relevant experience in teaching (TEFL / TESOL / CELTA certificate preferred)
– A bachelor’s degree in any discipline
– Laptop or desktop PC with good internet connection
– USB headset and webcam
Compensation and Benefits:
- We provide all the teaching materials.
- High chances of getting promoted in a rapidly growing company.
- A fixed schedule with 100% booking rate will provide you with a steady income and job security.
Salary:
$15~$20 per hour
Incentives/bonuses apply
Company website: https://firstfutureedu.net/
You can apply by email: effie.jiang@cn.feiboedu.com (Please tell them that you heard about the job on GoodAirLanguage.com)
Please leave us your comments and review of First Future.
23 Comments
Lucy
they are no longer in operation
Mr. Ploppy
Basically, if you’re not from USA, UK, Australia, or New Zealand, don’t waste your time and effort here.
I am a native speaker from South Africa who got transferred to FF from IUS last year when IUS was apparently bought out by FF.
I now get paid $10 per hour, even though I hold a Master’s degree and have over five years’ ESL experience in physical and virtual classrooms.
I’m down from about 50 plus classes a week to 50 classes a month (if I’m lucky). And this is almost six months down the line… (started working there October 2020).
The hiring process was unnecessarily drawn-out and complicated, and no one in recruitment seemed to understand that I was basically being transferred from another school (i.e. that I wasn’t new to the industry). A month ago they were STILL having issues “activating” my profile because of “missing documents” (that weren’t mentioned in the initial application). And this happened a few times since getting hired. Every time, I would wait for my bookings to increase (after being told my profile was now “active”), only to be told that they still needed one more thing… When I expressed my disappointment with this whole process, I was met with a very bad attitude from the Team Supervisor.
During the yearly assessment, I was inexplicably confused with another teacher, and received the wrong feedback. When I brought this to their attention, the issue was initially dismissed, after which I was sent from one person to the next, and then told that someone would get back to me. Which they didn’t. I followed up three times and eventually gave up. I still haven’t received my feedback.
They will possibly ask you to complete hours of unpaid training and mock classes to receive badges to be eligible to teach their lessons and “increase your booking rate”. In my case, this only happened five months in, and there seemed to be this ridiculous assumption that I could not possibly be a native speaker (I literally had a trainer explain to me that “the letter “a” in English can have different sounds depending on its position in a word”…and that kindergarten kids have short attention spans…Wow, you don’t say!).
Overall, their management/booking system is not very transparent. It’s just not clear whether it’s really a create-your-own-profile type of gig or whether bookings are tightly controlled by some person or program. And most of their class material is absolutely horrendous, with errors and inconsistent structure (not to mention you have to teach group classes – as in teach entire classrooms of students via a projector in the front of the class – which imo just does NOT work in an online format). I get the impression that the school is just too huge and that they are still figuring out how to keep their massive system afloat. They have their main management in Beijing, but outsource all their operational grunt work to Manila. And in between things get lost in translation. It’s the classic Chinese broken-telephone style management. And so far, it has been an absolute joke.
I don’t blame them for not hiring Saffas anymore though…. Connection problems, power issues, terrible accents abound… Unfortunately, it’s much easier just demoting all South Africans to non-native status than trying to wade through all of our cultural intricacies. I guess our time in ESL has come to a predictable end.
ROB TAYLOR
Interesting that I know South Africans who applied and were accepted without Batchelor degrees. This was very recent
Megan
I’ve heard the same thing. Paying much less to South Africans. It seems they are headed the same direction as so many other companies these days. I have a yearly contract with them (paid for guaranteed shifts), they have just removed some of my “guaranteed and paid for hours” because the shifts weren’t filled. They also give you hefty penalties for internet issues or missing a session due to illness etc.
Some of the BO (by out) programs have absolutely TERRIBLE materials.
If there are any platform or internet issues, the teachers are always “at fault” and have to go through computer and IT tests.
Honestly not worth the stress.
VANUK
you will waste your time to fill their Resume . when everything done and you already send them the email you will receive answer that because of no resion they can’t accept you.
Rita
They acceped my request and scheduled an interview. The interview didn’t get through. The online meeting via zoom required a password that never came to me. I have wasted my time preparing for the interview yesterday since the PPT they provided was really bad.As a professional teacher i could’t accept such a bad made PPT with misspelled words. They are absolutely not professional at all, and i can assume that from the PPT and from their behavior. I will still be seeking for an online job, but if i can give you all an advice, stay away from Chinese companies.
Michelle Romero
I’ve worked for First Future for over a year and have had no issues. I am a native English speaker, but from Mexican background and physical Mexican appearance and have encountered no issues with bookings so far. I get paid 14 an hour plus bonuses which can be around 18 or 19 depending on group classes and or days. Also, when you get projects it’s the best because booked or not you still get your full pay. Pay is always on time and the staff so far has been great!!
Angie
I am currently in the recruitment process for FF.
Sadly they’ve already acted unprofessional – we did 2 tech test not showing good internet speed and once I signed a new internet package with my IP they told me(while my internet being 300dl/15ul) my internet hops are high and that should be also fixed! Now I have an expensive internet package and can’t work with them.
So, beside these basic requirements they also require: at least 10mbps upload; under 20 internet hops(low ping and low latency); both external camera and headset(USB! not audio jack)
Good luck!
Anonymous
You might want to check your upload speeds. Streaming between two multiple groups requires good upload speeds, not just download.
Anonymous
Price gouging, breach of contract, an over wrought an unquestionable penalty system, super petty staff that will just cut your hours if they don’t like you. There is a level of unprofessionalism here that i have never witnessed before. STAY AWAY.
Anonymous
This company treats their teachers absolutely horribly. Not worth the time and effort. I quit after 3 months.
Tia Blake
I’m pretty sure this company is racist towards anyone of color. Just did an interview that seemed kinda sketchy (my interviewer said she couldn’t interview me at first because of tech issues). Sadly, read a review online abut this company from another woman of color who had the exact same experience. Very unfortunate.
Teacher Michelle
I hate to hear that thanks for the heads up. Crazy how hard it is even getting a job being a person of color now. Very unfortunate indeed.
ESL teacher
It’s so sad how our color supersedes our skills and experience. I am a person of color, looking to go into teaching online full time .I am currently working with a company with good policies for their employees, colored or not.
I’ve been looking at getting another one, through this website, but it’s just disappointing seeing the discrimination many companies have when it comes to colored. But to be honest, it’s their loss
Curlygirl
Hi, are you able to say which company you’re working for because I’m currently looking for some and I’m a what they consider a “non-native” english speaking person of colour. It’s been difficult looking through the lists to find decent companies to work for :(.
Gerald Prince
Hello! , I am an English native speaker based in Cameroon. Does first future accept Cameroonians??
Doria Liu
First Future is now recruiting a full time teacher who will join the Beijing office. The basic requirements are as follows:
Job Requirement
1) Native speaker from US;
2) Out-going and child friendly, self motivated;
Job Description：
1）Perform offline and online classes;
2）Able to attend both academic and Marketing events hosted by the company;
3）Able to perform western teacher’s academic training when not performing Demos;
Benefits:
Monthly salary: 20000-30000 RMB
Flight allowance: 8000RMB
Yearly bonus: 10000RMB
Business insurance: 4000RMB
Five days of work (Must include one weekend day)
Company Paid Free Lunch and Dinner
Josie Abelarde
Is there any chance that you will hire a non-native speaker with experience in teaching and a bachelor degree holder?
Patricia
yes, they changed it recently, I’m non-native currently working for them, I haven’t had any problem.
Paola
Hi Patricia would you be able please to let me know what’s the average payment for a non-native?
Maya
Website clearly states No South African and non-natives are accepted…
mikedveenstra@gmail.com
You are right:
At present, First Future’s recruitment priority is for native English-speaking teachers from North America, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. This is due to the demands of First Future’s clients, and their HR department are not currently accepting applications from South Africans or non-native English speakers, as there is a very long waiting list.
They must have changed their hiring policy recently. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Doria Liu
First Future works with clients across China through 600 partnering organizations, covering 26 provinces in 180 cities. They provide online language services for 6000 campuses and reach over 1 million students. First Future accept both natives and non-natives according to clients’ need. Currently they are recruiting experienced teachers from South Africa and European countries.