Job Discussion Forums

uzbekpk · Joined: 25 Jan 2008 Posts: 17

Does anyone know when the Azeri summer break starts? Is it July?

chromium · Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 69 Location: Dalian, China

I see they are advertising for a Senior Teacher/Teacher Trainer in Baku, which I was going to apply for. It seems their requirements are quite high, which is usually good, but obviously, these other posts are worrying.

Has anyone had recent dealings with Barry Shorten or Simon Macartney at Lang Solutions?

SCHUBERT · Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Posts: 71

steer well clear of those 2 fairies. Theyre Bad News. Language Solutions itself in fact - just say No ..

Mr. English · Joined: 25 Nov 2009 Posts: 298 Location: Nakuru, Kenya

Language Services Direct, a different outfit, had the BP contract between July 2008 and July 2009, when I worked for them, got it again for the next year, and had had it the year before. I believe British Council (I would not to work for them) had it prior to 2007. LSD was a decent outfit, and I believe they still have the BP contract.

ecocks · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 899 Location: Gdansk, Poland

Clarifications

LSD (Language Services Direct) has one contract which appears to be the larger of the two primary language training contracts awarded by BP. LangSols is still out at BP doing some language services training so they are not lying or over-stating that they are "working the BP contract".

LSD is a solid company with a tight back-office, decent pay, works with their teachers on rational schedules and, in short, is the best school setup I have seen or heard any detail about after three years in Ukraine and 5 months here in Azerbaijan. While BP is their main contract they have a fair mix of other corporates, group classes, specialized classes and one-on-one students. I don't think anyone in town has more expat teachers and we have about 2 dozen local teachers working full and part-time. They pay reasonably and on time, advance as necessary, have a decent teachers' facility at their main office, provide some recreational trips (at cost), have some decent staff attitudes and are proud to be on the high end of the trade in their market.

Yorks Lad · Joined: 16 Aug 2009 Posts: 93 Location: England

Any more recent news on Lang Sols in Azerbaijan? And any more specific comments or complaints other than a corrupt HR Manager (which is far from ideal but actually very common in many places and hardly a deal-breaker)....

Thanks.