Pros
-- Curriculum is easy to follow for newbies, and as long as you stick with the Teacher's Book, you won't screw up too badly. -- English ability of students graduating from Kindy to Treehouse is generally high.
Cons
-- Chinese Teachers (your co-teachers) will be terribly underpaid. Full-time CTs only earn about 30,000 NTD ($1,000) per month, but they're generally expected to work 40-50 hours per week. -- Part-time CTs only earn 300-400 NT per hour, while other chains like Kojen pay starting pay of 600+ per hour. This results in a high turnover rate for CTs, which results in inconsistent quality of classes. -- NSTs are paid poorly with big gaps in their schedules. For starting pay of about 500-600 NT per hour, you can expect to do a lot of unpaid work: homework, prep, meetings, etc. If you have a kindy+cram school contract, expect to work a few hours in the morning, get an awkward 4-6 hour gap in the afternoon, then work at night again. -- Hess has poor hiring standards for NSTs and CTs, since it's desperate to fill positions (due to the high turnover rate). As a result, managers generally let all sorts of offenses (disrespect towards other staff, refusal to take classes or grade homework) slide to hold on to teachers for awhile longer. -- Hess will eventually force you to give up your weekends, even Sundays, to participate in mandatory "award ceremonies" (which basically give an award to any sucker who was willing to give up a Sunday), and unpaid hiking trips where you will take kindergarten students and their parents for outdoor adventures! -- When you come to Taiwan, be prepared for completely inconsistent branches. Some Head NSTs (like myself) will spend a lot of time securing your housing and training you. Others won't care, and basically leave you to fend for yourself.