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cartago
Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 283
Location: Iraq
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 Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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| bdbarnett1 wrote: |
| cartago wrote: |
| I started out teaching EFL at language centers, mostly to adults with some kids classes. Eventually I ended up making more money at k-12 schools but I really hated the job. Recently I got a job working for a TV station in Iraqi Kurdistan where I'd been working at a school. The pay is about the same but the hours are longer and not as many holidays. I'm so burnt out on teaching and I think I'll enjoy this job a lot more. I already started training and it was a lot more interesting. I have 2 weeks to go to finish up the teaching and I really dread going in and putting up with the kids. It's just not for me. |
Interesting. What will you be doing in your new job? |
Editing reports and putting them on the news website. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:53 am Post subject: |
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Those who are able to successfully transition out of TESOL/teaching and into another field tend to have any or all of the following:
• Degree(s) in a non-teaching subject
• Experience in another industry prior to TESOL
• Transferable soft skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office apps (at minimum)
• Network of who's who in their target industry
• Willingness to retrain and/or relocate
• Ability to think outside the box
Last edited by nomad soul on Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 12:20 pm Post subject: |
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| i tried to escape in my thirties. It was a shock to me when i discovered that I had no marketable skills ! So, after a hiatus, I returned to the classroom. |
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dragonpiwo
Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin
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| Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:30 pm Post subject: erm |
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I have a house and a flat and am just about to buy 2 or 3 more in cash and then I'm out aged 47.
I'm going to look into materials writing and recording/voiceovers, both of which I've been paid for before. Then I'm going to kick back, collect my rents and be a fat landlord.
The big oil money days are over. The sand pit ain't worth what they're offering these days.
To any newbie reading this: Get out now. There's no longer a Middle East bolthole to put right the financial woes of your 20s and 30s caused by having 'a right larf' in somewhere fun. |
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Henry IX
Joined: 15 May 2016
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
Those who are able to successfully transition out of TESOL/teaching and into another field tend to have any or all of the following:
• Degree(s) in a non-teaching subject
• Transferable soft skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office apps (at minimum)
• Network of who's who in their target industry
• Willingness to retrain and/or relocate
• Ability to think outside the box |
Everyone's got that, or at least can say they have.... Disappointingly no one is able to identify a specific sector that EFL can often overlap into. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Henry IX wrote: |
| nomad soul wrote: |
Those who are able to successfully transition out of TESOL/teaching and into another field tend to have any or all of the following:
• Degree(s) in a non-teaching subject
• Experience in another industry prior to TESOL
• Transferable soft skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office apps (at minimum)
• Network of who's who in their target industry
• Willingness to retrain and/or relocate
• Ability to think outside the box |
Everyone's got that, or at least can say they have.... |
I've added 'experience in another industry prior to TESOL' to that list.
I disagree that everyone has all of those bulleted competencies and resources as well as the commitment to move into a different career field. (I'm excluding low-skilled jobs like cashiering at Walmart, taking customer calls in a call center, filling orders at an Amazon warehouse, telesales, etc.) Keep in mind some TEFLers head abroad due to boredom, indecision, and/or the lack of jobs in whatever industry they were slated for back home.
| and Henry IX wrote: |
| Disappointingly no one is able to identify a specific sector that EFL can often overlap into. |
Obviously, those with a related degree and solid experience can overlap into other areas of education or possibly into training (learning and development). But it depends on each person's unique profile and interests. |
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spanglish
Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 742
Location: working on that
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| Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 4:38 am Post subject: |
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Life is hard for everybody in western countries, not just TEFL teachers. Rich get richer, poor get more desperate, and middle class gets squeezed.
It is, however, very possible to get out of TEFL; it certainly was for me. Teachers have many skills and advantages that can serve them well back home. Just be willing to put in years of sacrifice and work...and it helps to have a plan. |
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Flannelgrungenostalgia
Joined: 10 Dec 2017
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:42 am Post subject: |
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I taught what I hope will be my last ESOL class of my life last week. I got into this field over 20 years ago -- accidentally, really just looking for a way to live outside the US -- and for awhile I enjoyed it. Now I no longer do...teaching has become endless drudgery (only so many times one can teach the 5-paragraph essay). What really pushed me out was dealing with one too many whiny, entitled students, though to be fair it's the internationals who drive me crazy. The DACA students and lovely Mexicans are great! So I quit and will attempt a transition into the non-profit world. I'll miss the option of expat life tremendously and hope that I'll one day be able to live abroad doing something else.
Last edited by Flannelgrungenostalgia on Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Montanaland
Joined: 20 Dec 2009
Posts: 60
Location: Bakken Oil Field
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:27 am Post subject: Plenty of options |
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Look for certification programs, auto finance school, catastrophic claims adjusting school, heavy equipment/crane operator school, Coding/It bootcamps.
I'm trying of get out of my dumb-ass career/job. Fuel tanker driver...although my buddy is making bank with his own truck/trailer in ND $330kyr. |
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Flannelgrungenostalgia
Joined: 10 Dec 2017
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| What is it about international students in the US? I wish their recruiters/parents/whomever would implore them to leave their entitlement at home. THEY are really what pushed me out of this job. |
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PC Parrot
Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 1:44 am Post subject: |
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We are out too. In June 2018. Resignations submitted.
What’s our post teaching plan? A modestly comfortable retirement to Western Europe aged 49 & 45.
16 years we will have spent in the Gulf. Painful every step of the way. But the time has now come to cash in our policy of self-discipline and deferred gratification and live life to the full😃
Happy days! |
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In the heat of the moment
Joined: 22 May 2015
Posts: 393
Location: Italy
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| Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 9:03 am Post subject: |
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| PC Parrot wrote: |
We are out too. In June 2018. Resignations submitted.
What’s our post teaching plan? A modestly comfortable retirement to Western Europe aged 49 & 45.
16 years we will have spent in the Gulf. Painful every step of the way. But the time has now come to cash in our policy of self-discipline and deferred gratification and live life to the full😃
Happy days! |
Congratulations! Where in western Europe are you looking to move to? Also are you going to completely retire or do some part-time work? I think if I were to retire in the next decade I'd still want to do something regularly that needed some kind of discipline and work from me, otherwise what's the point?
Actually thinking about the thread here, I get a buzz out of helping people. In my previous role I was a financial consultant so was teaching people about their money every day. I seem to remember not a day went by when I wasn't amazed how little people know about their own finances. Many of my clients were entirely financially illiterate, but then again some of my colleagues weren't far off. I thoroughly enjoyed helping people understand 'money', although working in an office has many downsides, politics being the biggest. |
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PC Parrot
Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station
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| Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| In the heat of the moment wrote: |
Congratulations! Where in western Europe are you looking to move to? Also are you going to completely retire or do some part-time work? I think if I were to retire in the next decade I'd still want to do something regularly that needed some kind of discipline and work from me, otherwise what's the point?
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Funny. If I needed to work to get myself through life, I’d figure what’s the point. |
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kev20
Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 114
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| Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 2:12 am Post subject: |
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| PC Parrot wrote: |
| In the heat of the moment wrote: |
Congratulations! Where in western Europe are you looking to move to? Also are you going to completely retire or do some part-time work? I think if I were to retire in the next decade I'd still want to do something regularly that needed some kind of discipline and work from me, otherwise what's the point?
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Funny. If I needed to work to get myself through life, I’d figure what’s the point. |
As someone who has suffered through a spell of being unemployed it can be incredibly unfullfilling having nothing to get up for. I had savings during that time as well but after a while the aimlessness of it drove me crazy. I gather that's what the previous poster is alluding to.
There are, of course, pursuits outside of earning money, but I think our nature dictates that we need the work to enjoy the pleasure. |
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