Job Discussion Forums

[IchliebeHunde1492]

First off, I PRAISE Dave Sperling over and over for creating this website. It is a GREAT way to consolidate various job postings from around the world. The fact that schools must pay a fee to even post an ad on this site shows that practically none of the jobs are scammers. (For instance, some people think employers should pay to post job ads on Craigslist because there are simply too many scammers on that site; but a scammer would not pay $75 to post a fake job ad here on Dave's.)

However, in using Dave's ESL Cafe as my main (and really only) engine for finding a job, I'm just not having much luck. I've had a few interviews, but no offers. What's more, I never hear back from, I'd say, 99% of resumes I send out on this site. Then, a few days later, I see the exact same ad from the exact same school, implying that they're still hiring! But yet I was fully ignored!

I realize that in many parts of the world, I have to physically BE there in order to get hired. Usually only Asian countries in general hire online, outside of the country. Unfortunately, I've burned bridges with many of my previous U.S. employers (which is one big reason for looking for work outside of the U.S.!) In my first TEFL course, the school director was like, "Oh, don't worry, a school in (say) China will NOT go through the trouble of trying to contact your previous U.S. employers!" But she was/is a really superficial person, so she could be wrong about that (like anyone - we're all human).

So, I'd like to hear some success stories of people getting jobs on Dave's ESL Cafe. One could simply argue that I'm not doing "anything wrong," it's just that job ads on Dave's get swamped with applicants, so it's not like there aren't a thousand other people looking for ESL jobs. TEFL is, after all, an industry, and hence can be just as competitive as any other job industry. From the few interviews I've gotten, every interviewer has said, "We've gotten a LOT of applications for this job!"

[nomad soul]

You'd previously posted on your other older thread that you have a degree in German + (onsite) TEFL cert + some teaching experience. At the time, you were frustrated with your attempts to get into TEFL.

I'd commented with the following:

[naturegirl321]

I've found a good number of jobs through Dave's.

In china I had two jobs. None were found through Dave's. The first was found through my TEFL cert and the second through tefl.com

In Peru I had five jobs. One was found through Dave's. Not an advert but from another poster. I PMed them and they gave me the contact info. A year later someone else from Dave's was looking to work in Peru. I PMed them and they got the job. Two other jobs I got because friends told me they were hiring. And two other jobs I got through cold calling. In the dozen years I've used Dave's I've only seen ONE job advert for Peru. That's not to say they're not out there but that Peruvian employers place more emphasis o. Who you know and. Networking. Once you're in country it's easier to get a job. Though visas are still an issue.

Here in Korea I've had three jobs. All three jobs I found through Dave's job board.

All countries are different. Places like Korea and China have dedicated job boards for them. It would stand that it's easier to get a job in those countries through Dave's.

As far as contacting your former employer what about giving the contact info of another supervisor or a colleague instead?

You should also stop putting all your eggs in one basket. Dave's is great but look at other job boards and network as well. Try local forums. They often have heaps of info. Whether they be job adverts or just people on the ground with info.

[mitsui]

I got three but they all were back in the 90s.
One in Russia, one in Morocco, and one in Poland.