Job Discussion Forums

[Sublime]

The only job I see posted for Chile on the web is with these guys TeachingChile.com

Does anyone know about them? Is it a bit of a con? As I see they charge an application fee of $50 and then a further $1,295 programme fee.
I've always been under the impression that you should never pay money for a job. Thoughts?

[Sublime]

Almost 80 views and no feedback?

Surely someone must have had dealings with them as they seem to have a permanent (constantly re-posted) advert on the popular TEFL job posting websites.

[Lukas]

You have to pay 1,300? Not much of a job, honestly.

[Don Alan]

This has come up before in the forum. Basically, if you want to encourage people to charge you for getting a job then you must feel pretty bad about yourself. It's a bad precedent to encourage these companies. As if EFL work isn't badly paid enough in general, we have to start paying others to get it for us. Better to invest in a decent teaching qualification, arrive in Chile and you will get work.

[Robert23]

I did the program.

Yes, it�s expensive and the jobs they offer are not the best (in terms of pay or conditions).

But they will give you "a" job, coaching and support to secure your immigration paperwork, find housing and deal with life in Chile, they�ll help you in an emergency, etc. It�s not great, but I still think it was the best viable option to get my foot in the door in Chile.

If your Spanish is fairly advanced and have the courage to show up blindly and find a job, there are plenty available. You could also make a decent living (by Chilean standards) on private tutoring at $20 per hour. People do do this, but it wasn't realistic for me.

It's not a scam, but it's up to you to decide if the service is worth the money. Obviously many people on this forum think not. But that's free market capitalism.

[jkrishnamurtidotorg]

[dackinator]

Please dont use them. They are completely taking advantage and charging a ridiculous amount of money for something you dont even need.

There are plenty of English schools in Chile, and not many native speakers. If you want to teach there, the school term starts late February. So go at the start of the month and apply once you're there, and you will easily find a job. You dont need an agency for that.

Regarding the visa, the process is very easy. You arrive on a tourist visa, jobhunt, and once you get a job offer your school will then apply on your behalf for a work visa. Your school will help you with all of that, and arriving on a tourist visa is fine and completely legal.

I know dozens of teachers in Santiago who arrived like this and all found jobs really quickly. Not just at the start of february, but some who came in the middle of the year. The only bad time to go would be right now, because the school year finishes in December and everything is winding down.

Also you dont need to speak spanish to find jobs here. To apply for jobs either go to the school in person and give your CV, or send it with a covering letter via email (ideally both). Do it all in English. Half the schools here are ran by english people, and the other by people who speak fluent english, they will expect to speak to you in english even if you do know spanish.

For cost of living, I'd say the minimum you'd need is 450-500k CLP a month. This is for a shared apartment (150k), transport (50k), plus 50k a week on food. Obviously on this you wont save much. But there are several schools in santiago that pay a lot more, and there is a big demand for private lessons which you can use to supplement your income.


So no I dont think the agency is worth it. Everything they offer, the housing, visa, and job placement, you can easily do for yourself even with know knowledge of spanish. I did it and know many others that did to.

[Robert23]

[derekchile]

I dont recommend it. I did the program...but let me tell you, they didnt help me with anything. Yeah they got me a job...and they passed me a cellphone with a map of santiago, but that was it....

They never found me a place to live or my friend who was also in the program. they have bbqs from time to time, big deal I paid a lot of money for what?

But I ended up having some problems with my workplace..or rather my workplace was actually deep in debt well before I started working there and didnt have the funds to pay the teachers. i went three months with out pay...i think this is something teachingchile.com should know about...and guess what after they got my money, they never helped me look for a nother job, contacted me, to see if I am still in Chile...so dont dont do it....with a tefl degree just walk the streets in santiago there are a million institutes you can do it!!!!!!

[FlyingJames]

That is an astronomical amount of money to be placed into a school. Maybe if the placement fee was around $200 I would consider it to get my foot in the door, but $1300? Who would pay for that?

[chica88]

I do not know if things have changed with this program...

But, I talked to a man from there about 8 months ago.
I sounds appealing especially when you have not taught in those parts to have someone in 'the know' to help find a job.
I can't remember his name right now.
But, I do remember he gave me a price of about $3000 USD.
I don't know why the price talked about on the forum is lower.

But, the man from the program talked to me for about one hour on the phone.
He seemed to have a fair amount of knowledge about Chile.
Even though I told him the price was to high for me he was still willing to answer some questions.
He did tell me that its really not possible to save money in Chile and in order to do that I should teach in Asia.

As for the paperwork - I can't say for sure with Chile but in other latin countries I have been there are usually English speaking immigration workers to help processing visas.

[awphawk]

I am in this program now. The fee is $1,395 per person. It is not $3,000. Here is the link to their fee description.

[jkrishnamurtidotorg]

awphawk

care to make any comments of your experiences so far?

[jkrishnamurtidotorg]

I find it hilarious that TeachingChile.com lists job advertisements on Dave's all the time, but don't care about updating their information.

Right now, they have jobs available that start March 2013 (orientation February 2013), and some dates for 2012.

It looks really unprofessional.

[awphawk]

I did Teaching Chile July 2012 - July 2013. My wife and I paid 2800 for the two of us to do the program. We had a good experience. Yes you totally can show up in Santiago and find ESL work without too much problem. Maybe within a week or two you could arrange work. Pay maybe decent to good depending on experience and esl cert. We paid the fee because it was a more secure option with a contract and salary arranged before arriving. Also having a safety net of two professionals who could advise you on how to get by in Chile and in Santiago specifically. Honestly if you are the jump in head first type then just flying to Santiago and looking for work will probably work out. I met lots of people that did that as well as lots of people that did Teaching Chile and CIEE. I honestly think you can succeed either way. There is just more peace of mind to the Teaching Chile/CIEE option. All in all I would definitely recommend Chile to teach English. There is a lot to see around the Santiago area and there are plenty of jobs in Santiago. It is the safest and most developed country we saw during our travels (We saw Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru). Only danger is theft, which is very common. One downside is that the Spanish is much quicker and more accented. So for people looking to learn Spanish just be aware you will learn a specific dialect here but it is very possible to learn Spanish in Chile. I did. For budgets here I would say most people were breaking even or dipping into savings a little bit. Just depends how hard you are willing to work and where you want to live. Breaking even and even travelling some is very possible. (Our travels to other countries were from savings). Viva Chile! Be careful and good luck!