Job Discussion Forums

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

I'm getting frustrated looking for jobs. I need to have one lined up before I arrive. There are hardly any adverts. On TEFL.com there are 10 over the past month. And some of them require British citizenship or are in Brazil, so I don't qualify and I want to go to a Spanishi speaking country.
I've been looking on TEFL.com, europa-pages, and Dave's
Are there any other good job sites out there for Latin America jobs? Or does anyone know of a school that's hiring for the late summer/early fall?

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

I guess schools prefer to recruit locally, hence the importance of being in the neighbourhood. Of course that's easier said than done.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Close to half of the jobs I have had in Mexico I got through the Internet off the tefl.com site. However, only once was I out of the country when a job came through--but they paid my airfare back to Mexico, so that worked out well. I can tell you that when I was hiring, I didn't hire anyone who wasn't already here--not just in the country but in the area, as last year I started having folks give a class for one of my groups as part of the hiring process. I have no idea how picky other folks are in terms of screening viable candidates, but the general trend in Mexico in the 10 plus years I have been here has been to hire from the pool of folks who turn up and apply. A lot of that has to do with planning not being a big aspect of Mexican culture.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

No, it's not ideal, but it's the norm here in Latin America. As for whether it's a good way to hire--I can't speak for others, but I can personally see both sides of the coin. I have seen some really marginal teachers--and marginal people, for that matter, hired through Internet with their airfare paid to Mexico so they could run away from trouble they were in back home. I have also seen that employers whom I haven't met, but only have talked with on the phone, sometimes turn out to be less than acceptable. If you are in the area, you can check out reputations of schools, etc. No hiring mechanism is perfect.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

OK, let's give up on my finding a job via the Internet.
I finish my current one-year teaching contract in June. I've taught everything at my current school from 5 year-olds learning how to count to 18 year-olds studying general English to 50 year-olds prepping for TOEFL exams. I have a bachelors (unrelated) and a 4-week TEFL certificate.

I want to teach in a small city (pop. under 500,000). I don't care much for nightlife, but I really enjoy the great outdoors: ocean, forest, mountains. I also enjoy exploring the culture and historical aspects of a city: museums, art, etc.

So I get on an airplane in about late July/early August. I have a few thousand dollars in the bank and a suitcase with my clothes and my resume.

And I fly to... where? Question

Where's a city in Latin America that is like what describe above - and has teaching work I can walk into?

khmerhit · Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 12:35 pm Post subject:

Medellin, colombia.

MELEE · Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:08 pm Post subject:

I'd like to add two things to Ben Round de Bloc's very good list.

8 ) most Latin American's still aren't as internet savy as most of the teachers looking to teach English in Latin America are. Locals often ask me how I ended up in such an out of the way place and most are truely shocked to find out that I found a job on the internet. I still have a really hard time doing any sort of business through email in Mexico. During my first 4 years in Mexico, the phone at work was a 10 minute up hill walk from the English department. I repeatedly told publishers to email me rather than phone me because the phone is not a conviente way to communicate. Only in the past two years (but we now have a phone) has the ELT publishing industry in Mexico started to make use of the internet.
I think most people in this part of Mexico think the internets sole purpose if for teenagers to chat.

9) On all the major sites, schools have to pay to list their job openings. In Latin American, a lot of the people who do know about internet recruitment are put off by the cost, which usually have to be paid in US dollars or British Pounds, often you can only pay by credit card, something the school might not have. More and more, sites that used to be free have started charging. (I realize why, these sites need income to maintain themselves, and I'm not saying I think it should be free.) Naturegirl mentioned TEFL.com they still accept some free ads, but limit the number they accept at anyone time--and the limit is very low. Plus their free ads don't allow you to say much.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Is650:

I guess the question here is not whether Latin American employers should use the Internet, but whether you are comfortable turning up someplace without a contract in hand. Only you can make that decision.

What I can say is that not all hirers would be impressed by your qualifications and experience--and I am probably one of them. If you had at least a Master's degree in English (not necessarily TESOL) and 5 to 8 years of teaching experience, maybe. The market is glutted with folks with minimal academic preparation and experience.

There are no guarantees in life. Either you like the adventure, or you don't.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

MELEE · Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:45 pm Post subject:

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Where should you go? Someone mentioned going to the place that calls you. There are, however, different kinds of calls. I suggest that you go to the website www.astro.com, put in your birth data and look at the interactive astro travel section of the menu. Sun lines are the best spots on the globe for you, then Jupiter lines, then Mercury lines. Stay away from Pluto and Saturn and Chiron lines, as those are places where you will have a very tough time. You will probably have felt a call from one of the positive spots--and I suggest going there. I have spent most of the past 10 plus years on my Sun line in central Mexico. Right now have moved back to the Uranus line (mental creativity) in southern Mexico, where I spent a year and started a lot of writing projects which now need to be finished.

This may not seem like an orthodox approach to you, but it has given me good results--and I think it's better than just buying a plane ticket and showing up in another place....