Job Discussion Forums

[missy_29]

Hello

I'm thinking about applying to become an IELTS Examiner. I would love to secure a job in Hong Kong in the future.

I have all the relevant criteria, but would like to hear from IELTS Examiners currently working and living in Hong Kong. I was there 5 years ago and stayed for 6 months.

I see most openings are through the BC. So, how easy/difficult was it to secure your first job? Did anybody support your visa?

I also have a 4 year old daughter. I guess that makes things more complex...

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[bograt]

I'm a bit confused, do you want advice on securing a job or becoming an IELTS examiner? As far as I know the BC don't employ people as full time IELTS examiners, as they do in mainland China.

What I know about it is, most teachers who work for the BC teach on Saturdays and Sundays, so can't do examining. I was lucky enough to get Sundays off when I worked there so examined three times a month and got an extra 7,000 dollars or so. The BC recruit new examiners around once a year and I imagine competition in HK is pretty tough as there are lots of highly qualified people working here. Just a CELTA and a few years' experience probably wouldn't cut it.

[missy_29]

Thanks for your reply.

It was more about securing a job in Hong Kong, as I have the experience and qualifications to go for the IELTS examiner course.

I read that there was a good demand for IELTS examiners in HK, so I can only see 2 test centres so perhaps I'm wrong...

[TeacherTim]

Missy,

IELTS positions are only for a few hours as and when. No chance of getting a Visa for a few hrs work. They sometimes advertise because generally suitable teachers are committed to their day jobs and so hiring for a few hrs can be very difficult in practice. Likewise, most Visa providing employers don't allow their employees to work elsewhere, at least not officially.

Re Your daughter. It is a legal requirement in HK that all children aged between 3 to 6 attend kindergarten. I have just had my two kids go through the system (part-time only) and the cost was around 5k a month for an international i.e Chinese/English medium of instruction. It was nothing special either .

Additionally, if you don't have relatives in HK who can help then who would look after your daughter regarding days and hrs you're working? Hiring a domestic helper might work, but it would cost you another 4.3k a month.

I think you need to start looking at international school positions as they will provide education for your daughter as well as a competitive salary. But standards are often much higher than for the NET Scheme and many NETs themselves have difficulty getting such posts.


Tim

[sistercream]

Now that I've retired from teaching, I don't pop in here much - I just accasionally wonder how things are going while I have time on my hands!

Missy, do you have any teaching qualifications/ experience/ registration apart from in ESL (as a general classroom or secondary specialist teacher)? If so, I agree with Teacher Tim that looking for an international school position is the way to go - and will get you a good subsidised education for your daughter. International schools here do not normally emply TEFLers per se because English competency is normally a prerequisite rather than a goal of enrolment.

Should you go another route, try to find a flat in an area with one of the government subvented English-medium primary schools: the EdB has a duty of care to find your child a suitable place once she reaches compulsory schooling age (which is actually 6 years, not 3 years. It's just that >95% of kids here do attend kindy from age 3).

He's also correct that unless you have a reliable family member to help with child care, you would almost certainly need to employ a domestic helper; the only creche- style places in HK are heavily means-tested and over-subscribed.

[Perilla]

Like SC I don't visit these pages much anymore. Still, it is perhaps worth highlighting that IELTS examining is a much tougher job than it used to be while the remuneration is about the same as it was last century. It's still not a bad p/t number - but certainly not what it was.

[bograt]

Yeah? I 've been doing it for the last 11 years and haven't noticed any difference. You mentioned the pay was the same as it was last century. I got a pay rise around 2010 but I guess it's time for another. When I first started it I spent around 2 hours marking 12 scripts whereas now I do the same in less than an hour. If they want me to be more conscientious I guess another pay. Rise is in order. How was it better in the past?

[Perilla]

It is absolutely unthinkable that anybody doing IELTS examining over the last 11 years could have failed to notice that the job has become both harder and more tedious, so I can only assume you are pulling my porker. What used to be a fairly relaxed chat with the candidate has become a robotic process where the examiner has to follow very strict timing and protocol. It's grim stuff.

And certainly in HK the pay has gone backwards in real terms. I became an IELTS examiner in 2002 and the pay then was the same as it had been for a number of years previously. It subsequently remained the same until there was a small rise - yes 2010 sounds about right - but as it hasn't gone up since the hourly rate must be effectively much lower than it used to be.

As I said above, compared to many jobs out there it still pays relatively well, it just isn't as good as it was. A friend of mine was one of the first IELTS examiners in HK, back in the 90s. After the speaking tests they used to discuss candidates at a round table with a selection of wines, soft drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Such liberties were long gone by the time I started, unfortunately.

[bograt]

[Perilla]

It was always quite structured in my time too but nothing like how it is now. For example, in Part 3 the examiner used to be allowed to go off topic, and was actually encouraged to do so with high level candidates. Now you get electric shock treatment if you even think about such a thing. Timing was also relaxed - no problem if you went a minute or two over or cut it short. Now 5 seconds out and you're in deep doodoo. Etc etc - I could go on. Added to that the ETs became absurdly strict with the monitoring, which also became more frequent. And I hear that now the whole thing is videotaped and you have to leave your mobile with the organiser at the start of the day.

I know heaps of experienced examiners who packed it in over the last few years - couldn't stand the changes. It was a useful addition to my income for over 10 years but I'd have to be pretty desperate to go back to it now.

[Joshua2006]

Did it for 7 1/2 years in Seoul and then HK. Personally, I was so glad when I packed it in even though the extra coin was useful. I hated the lack of constructive support from the alleged examiner trainers, the pointless self-checking when you didn't get 11 out of 12 on the monitoring sheets - usually over such small yet contentious issues, the retraining every two years with trainers who wouldn't answer questions unless it was on their check list of things to get through in the session.

Plus......it was SO DAMN FREAKIN TEDIOUS listening to 12 people giving you EXCATLY THE SAME ANSWERS every week without FAIL.

It is good on my CV, I made some nice extra coin and it helped my understanding of testing in general.

But I hated it.