Job Discussion Forums

[Hemlock32]

I have a few questions I would like to pose for the forum. I first want to say that I am a recent graduate with MA in TESOL and have four years of international experience teaching adults and children/adolescents. I have been on the job hunt for one month so far and have begun to believe that simply sending out cv after cv to various locations throughout the U.S. isn´t very fruitful. I have had one interview that was about 3.5 hours away from my house, and for which I needed to pay out of pocket to get there. Although I thought the interview went very well, it nevertheless ended in a "thanks, but we have found someone to fill the vacancy."
One of my mentors in my MA program told me that before he got hired he sent out his CV to about 60 employers and got about 5 replies. 3 were: "no thanks" and 2 were: "okay, lets have an interview."

In any case, my questions are:

1. If you have been employed in a University or community college IEP or IELP or anything similar to this, how long did it take you to land a position? What were your credentials?
2. Do you have the impression that if you are applying from out of state, you will not even be noticed?
3. Do you negotiate interviews? I mean: how willing are you to travel to an interview if it is in-person only? Would you ask the interviewer to pay for your travel expenses? Or would you just ask them to do it through skype?

[nomad soul]

Scroll down a bit for the thread, "Student slump?" for a sense of how enrollment numbers have impacted university IEP hiring nationwide.

Keep in mind you're also likely competing against MA TESOL holders who have post-MA teaching experience.

[peripatetic_soul]

Hemlock 32,

To add to NS' comment, I have also learned this over 30 years of teaching ESL/EFL.
1. There are very few full-time ESL positions at tertiary institutions in the U.S. I remember sending over 120 "portfolios" to institutions back in the 1980s and NEVER landed a FULL-TIME position, although I had interviewed for quite a few. That is when I decided to obtain state licensure to teach in public school.

2. There are even fewer FT openings these days.

3. Most importantly, positions are advertised to comply with EEOC regulations, but in reality, there is already often a PREFERRED INTERNAL candidate in mind.

Although the institution must interview applicants who meet the criteria, ultimately that preferred internal candidate is hired.

I know this paints a bleak picture, but that seems to be the reality in the U.S. as well as some other Western countries.

Where did many of us earn a generous income with benefits? Overseas, but that too is becoming a fruitless endeavor compared to the "golden days." I'm afraid we are a dime a dozen and as NS indicated, there is stiff competition. Consequently, many teachers are expanding their skill set.

Recent statistics show that at tertiary institutions, 70% of faculty are comprised of adjuncts (without benefits), not just in ESL, but in all academic subjects. At our local community college, for instance, there is a Coordinator and only one FT ESL instructor and all the rest are adjuncts.

Good luck in your future career opportunities. As NS points out, there are other options.
Best wishes

[Hemlock32]

Hey peripatic soul,

Thanks for your information. Ya, I just need to set a deadline for what I think is a legitimate amount of time to wait to see what happens and start calling these institutions. Many of them just post openings for applicant pools and will hire when they need to. This is really detrimental since, as a teacher, you can´t just sit and wait while they decide when to call. I will keep on applying throughout this year here and abroad to land something in the states. If not, I will just pack up my bags and go. I think with trump as president it is not going to become any better here. Yet, some of the jobs in the middle east looked pretty good, even if they are not total cash cows. That is fine. As long as they require U.S. citizenship, at least there is a little advantage from the rest of the world of teachers.

[nomad soul]

If you're willing to pursue an adult education and vocational certificate (e.g., Adult Basic Education Authorization), you'd boost your chances for full time work at a vocational school in your school district or in a correctional facility via the state's ed department. For example, I recently saw an ad for an ESL/GED teacher with two years' teaching experience and time spent abroad that pays $52,348-$62,816 a year. ESL teachers seem to overlook these opportunities.

[Hemlock32]

[nomad soul]

Check out Adult education: an alternative to teaching k-12.

Also do an Internet search using adult ESL GED jobs to get a sense of what's out there and what's required.

[rtm]

As others have said, right now isn't a good time to be applying for ESL jobs in higher ed in the US. We were in the middle of a slump anyway with the Saudi scholarship program dwindling and more Chinese students opting for other countries. Then Trump was elected, and I'm sure that hasn't helped. ESL does tend to go in waves, so hopefully there will be an increase at some point in the future.

Do you have experience teaching in an IEP at a US university? If not, you'll have very little chance at a full-time job at an IEP. If you taught at an IEP as a grad student instructor or adjunct, you've got a better shot, but will need to be extremely flexible on location.

To answer some of your questions:
I don't think applying from out of state will necessarily make universities overlook you. As peripatetic_soul said, there are usually internal candidates (usually someone who has been adjuncting there for years), but I don't think that necessarily means the search committee will be pushing to hire someone internal. Sometimes that is the case, but definitely not always.

In the searches I've been involved in in an IEP, we always had telephone or Skype interviews in the first round. If they want you to do an in-person interview for the first round and you live far away, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask whether you can do the interview via Skype or by telephone. I wouldn't negotiate with them to cover travel expenses; if they have a budget for that, the interview invitation will say as such. For non-tenure track positions, there's often not a budget to cover travel for the interview.

[Hemlock32]

Do you have experience teaching in an IEP at a US university? If not, you'll have very little chance at a full-time job at an IEP. If you taught at an IEP as a grad student instructor or adjunct, you've got a better shot, but will need to be extremely flexible on location.

I have some experience teaching at an IEP. During the practicum, it was required of us to observe, tutor, and teach. I just recently graduated from my MA TESOL program, one month ago. Since then I have been constantly applying for jobs. I have applied to around 40. I originally got contacted by some military dudes in KSA, but that fell through. In any case, I think going the military route isn´t necesarily the best way to go. I think good experience in an IEP would be better in the long term.

What kind of experience do you think you need to have to land a full time position? 5 years post MA experience? 10 years?

[Hemlock32]

[rtm]

[Hemlock32]

[nomad soul]

[rtm]

[RedLightning]

You might try looking into education/pedagogy departments.