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bj80
Joined: 31 Mar 2017
Posts: 63
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 Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 4:42 pm Post subject: Highest and Lowest Salaries You've Gotten in Career? |
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Since the topic comes up, I think it would be great to talk about salaries, especially per hour, that were sweet. I'd love to see the times that ESL was actually a well-paying jobs.
My best two jobs are:
1. Laureate Vocational Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi's could not read my passport, even though the job started September 1st of a few years ago. They didn't get their stuff straight until November.
MOD EDIT was a terrible manager and fired dozens of people, including me, around January 1st.
Nonetheless, I think I made about $15,000 USD (tax-free) for 6 weeks of work I barely did.
2. At a job in China, I was sent to a small city outside of Urumqi. I got a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment to myself.
I was only there two months, but the pay ended up being about $100 USD an hour. I only was assigned work for two hours a day.
So, I ended up saving about $8000 USD from working two months, 12 hours of teaching a week. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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I don't write about my salary for quite a few reasons.
1. jobs paying salaries like mine are quite rare in my region (no point in suggesting even obliquely that jobs paying the amount of money I make would be available to a newcomer)
2. my salary is on the high end for my region, but would be considered low in the Middle East (well, maybe not today) and astoundingly high compared to salaries in, say, Latin America (the number doesn't convey any really useful information as how low/high salary is is intrinsically linked to local wages and standards of living)
3. it's really no-one's business how much I make
4. unlike the very short-term jobs the OP describes, I've held the same job for 6 years (and counting); previous jobs for 7 years and 4 years respectively. This makes me more identifiable on the boards - thus less eager to share. |
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RedLightning
Joined: 08 Aug 2015
Posts: 137
Location: United States
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| Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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Lowest-$300/month at a border town in Mexico
(Actually a very generous amount given their resources)
Highest-$375/working day-Saudi
(average 20 days in a month) |
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BadBeagleBad
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 1186
Location: 24.18105,-103.25185
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| Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:20 am Post subject: |
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Not a job, but the best gig I had was in Mexico City about 7 or 8 years ago. I had a private student who was quite well off. He had a son who was going to an exclusive private school, where the expectation was that the students would graduate from High School completely fluent in three languages. My student asked me if I would tutor his son on Saturdays. I didn´t really want to do it so I named a crazy amount and said since you live so far away I´ll need you to send a car for me. Without even thinking about it, he agreed. He later told me he was more concerned about having someone he could trust in his home. Turns out, the son was pretty fluent already, just wanted to converse and work out some of the kinks. So I made $100US every Saturday for basically chatting, doing some correction, having a nice lunch and then being sent home in a car. I did that for most of a school year.
I have pretty much always had jobs that pay more than the norm in Mexico, but that is because a lot of ¨teachers¨ only qualification is that they speak English. So I also won´t mention anything else here. Also, I have been working online almost exclusively for close to 7 years now, so the information would be out of date anyway. |
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bograt
Joined: 12 Nov 2014
Posts: 331
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| Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 2:25 am Post subject: |
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Highest - 150 quid an hour, interviewing candidates for a job with the UN in Korea
Lowest - 25 quid a week in Slovakia. Flat provided.
Beat that! |
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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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| Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 11:42 am Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
I don't write about my salary for quite a few reasons.
1. jobs paying salaries like mine are quite rare in my region (no point in suggesting even obliquely that jobs paying the amount of money I make would be available to a newcomer)
2. my salary is on the high end for my region, but would be considered low in the Middle East (well, maybe not today) and astoundingly high compared to salaries in, say, Latin America (the number doesn't convey any really useful information as how low/high salary is is intrinsically linked to local wages and standards of living)
3. it's really no-one's business how much I make
4. unlike the very short-term jobs the OP describes, I've held the same job for 6 years (and counting); previous jobs for 7 years and 4 years respectively. This makes me more identifiable on the boards - thus less eager to share. |
I completely agree with your points 2-4. However I don't agree with point 1. If a job exists, no matter how rare or how stratified it may be, then I think it should be acknowledged and recognised. When I research a country for work I want to know the FULL range of positions available, from the lowest to the highest. Sure, you can tell me the position is rare, or only available to the most qualified and experienced etc etc but I'd rather be provided with ALL available information and then I can decide what's relevant for me. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Jmbf wrote: |
| spiral78 wrote: |
I don't write about my salary for quite a few reasons.
1. jobs paying salaries like mine are quite rare in my region (no point in suggesting even obliquely that jobs paying the amount of money I make would be available to a newcomer) |
I don't agree with point 1. If a job exists, no matter how rare or how stratified it may be, then I think it should be acknowledged and recognised. When I research a country for work I want to know the FULL range of positions available, from the lowest to the highest. Sure, you can tell me the position is rare, or only available to the most qualified and experienced etc etc but I'd rather be provided with ALL available information and then I can decide what's relevant for me. |
However, other than a platform to boast about earnings, these types of "what's-your-highest-salary" discussion threads don't particularly yield useful info for job seekers. What people choose to publicly post is usually limited to what they "claim" to earn/have earned in X country. No one indicates their full credentials and experience, the required qualifications for said position, the name of the employer, nor the responsibilities of the job -- that complete, available info you refer to. (As spiral mentioned, for many posters, maintaining anonymity is important.) Besides, if you're researching a country for potential work, you're most likely going to rely on posted positions for a realistic sense of what employers require as well as limit yourself to roles and domains you're interested in.
Last edited by nomad soul on Sat Oct 07, 2017 1:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| When I research a country for work I want to know the FULL range of positions available, |
But my point is that these jobs aren't actually 'available.' Qualifications wouldn't change this, either. |
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Kalkstein
Joined: 25 Aug 2016
Posts: 80
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:25 am Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| Jmbf wrote: |
| spiral78 wrote: |
I don't write about my salary for quite a few reasons.
1. jobs paying salaries like mine are quite rare in my region (no point in suggesting even obliquely that jobs paying the amount of money I make would be available to a newcomer) |
I don't agree with point 1. If a job exists, no matter how rare or how stratified it may be, then I think it should be acknowledged and recognised. When I research a country for work I want to know the FULL range of positions available, from the lowest to the highest. Sure, you can tell me the position is rare, or only available to the most qualified and experienced etc etc but I'd rather be provided with ALL available information and then I can decide what's relevant for me. |
However, other than a platform to boast about earnings, these types of "what's-your-highest-salary" discussion threads don't particularly yield useful info for job seekers. What people choose to publicly post is usually limited to what they "claim" to earn/have earned in X country. No one indicates their full credentials and experience, the required qualifications for said position, the name of the employer, nor the responsibilities of the job -- that complete, available info you refer to. (As spiral mentioned, for many posters, maintaining anonymity is important.) Besides, if you're researching a country for potential work, you're most likely going to rely on posted positions for a realistic sense of what employers require as well as limit yourself to roles and domains you're interested in. |
I tend to agree with this post. The full spectrum range of salaries is useless on it's own and extremely unspecific without a lot of details. I have noticed a lot of this type of discussions tend to focus on the high salaries which are unrealistic for 99% of those browsing or replying to the thread. They also don't state how they achieved those salaries.
A much more useful discussion would be to have a discussion on the range of salaries available to; specific job titles, people with certain qualifications, people who have a lot of experience, specific countries, specific cities. Also the discussion should not be focused on the high end but rather the average salary. I only have a bachelor's and work in a small village in China but make $5,000 a month is of no help to anyone and ridiculous thing to add to a discussion. If people make these claims they should at least link to job posting that offer similar salaries, which I doubt we'll see. |
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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:40 am Post subject: |
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Thanks to Spiral for clarifying his position.
And I agree with NS and Kalkstein that these types of threads rarely produce any 'meaningful' information.
However, beyond the scope of this particular thread, I still believe that my point remains valid. Let me attempt to clarify. In an ideal world, all posts would contain all the necessary details that we would need to make a decision. In reality, you have to parse through all the information yourself and then decide what's relevant for you. In line with this, I'd still like to see all the data points available rather than having information filtered / pre-selected for me. If we focus too much on averages and ignore other data points then I think we can sometimes miss out on some important information. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 4:16 am Post subject: |
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| Jmbf wrote: |
| In an ideal world, all posts would contain all the necessary details that we would need to make a decision. In reality, you have to parse through all the information yourself and then decide what's relevant for you. In line with this, I'd still like to see all the data points available rather than having information filtered / pre-selected for me. If we focus too much on averages and ignore other data points then I think we can sometimes miss out on some important information. |
However, TESOL is a very diverse field. Relying on others to voluntarily indicate their specific info isn't realistic; you'd be limited to what's disclosed by those who choose to post. It's hit-n-miss.
Instead... The person soliciting potential job options should start a thread that includes his/her essential info (i.e., academic creds and degree major(s), TEFL qualifications, years of experience, type of experience, teaching interests, etc.). This would allow others to offer suggestions based on that info. |
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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 6:55 am Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| However, TESOL is a very diverse field. Relying on others to voluntarily indicate their specific info isn't realistic; you'd be limited to what's disclosed by those who choose to post. It's hit-n-miss. |
I agree. I wasn't suggesting people rely solely on information on open forums such as this one. In fact, I think we can all agree it would be very foolish to do so.
| nomad soul wrote: |
| Instead... The person soliciting potential job options should start a thread that includes his/her essential info (i.e., academic creds and degree major(s), TEFL qualifications, years of experience, type of experience, teaching interests, etc.). This would allow others to offer suggestions based on that info. |
Again, I agree. But I think we are talking at cross purposes here. I'm simply making the point that nobody can completely understand the totality that is me, even if I share all my qualifications, experience, interests etc etc here. Therefore I don't want people to prejudge what roles I might or might not be suitable for and provide me piecemeal information based on that. Give me all the info and let me decide.
The reason for my initial post in this thread was that I was getting a vibe from Spiral that "my position is very rare and hard to get, therefore you can't get it and I'm not going to even bother telling you about it". Which makes a lot of assumptions about the audience reading this thread. He subsequently clarified his post so that's fine, but that was my initial impression (rightly or wrongly). |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:41 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| The reason for my initial post in this thread was that I was getting a vibe from Spiral that "my position is very rare and hard to get, therefore you can't get it and I'm not going to even bother telling you about it". Which makes a lot of assumptions about the audience reading this thread. He subsequently clarified his post so that's fine, but that was my initial impression (rightly or wrongly). |
Ahem. I'm making zero assumptions regarding the audience reading the thread.
My comment was specifically about the unavailability of my job - there are no projected openings over the next decade. |
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Jmbf
Joined: 29 Jun 2014
Posts: 663
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| spiral78 wrote: |
Ahem. I'm making zero assumptions regarding the audience reading the thread.
My comment was specifically about the unavailability of my job - there are no projected openings over the next decade. |
Well, what you said was:
| spiral78 wrote: |
| jobs paying salaries like mine are quite rare in my region |
Which implies that while rare, jobs with salaries like yours do exist. Unless my understanding of 'quite rare' is wrong.
| spiral78 wrote: |
| (no point in suggesting even obliquely that jobs paying the amount of money I make would be available to a newcomer) |
Which implies that while newcomers would have no chance at this type of job, experienced teachers might just have a chance. And if experienced teachers would have a chance of securing this type of lucrative job, wouldn't they want to know about it? Thereby you are making the assumption that the majority of people reading this thread are newcomers and therefore don't need to know about it. Otherwise, why mention newcomers at all? |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| Jmbf wrote: |
| The reason for my initial post in this thread was that I was getting a vibe from Spiral that "my position is very rare and hard to get, therefore you can't get it and I'm not going to even bother telling you about it". Which makes a lot of assumptions about the audience reading this thread. He subsequently clarified his post so that's fine, but that was my initial impression (rightly or wrongly). |
I completely understood where spiral was coming from. In my case, I worked in a highly-paid, specialized role in a volatile environment. Qualifications for such jobs/projects are very specific, and opportunities are few due to the nature of the work and regional instabilty. It would be meaningless for me to post what I earned and details about the position. And frankly, it wasn't the type of job for someone who's money focused. (I tend to refrain from stating what I earned throughout my career anyway.) I also want to maintain my anonymity.
| and Jmbf wrote: |
| I'm simply making the point that nobody can completely understand the totality that is me, even if I share all my qualifications, experience, interests etc etc here. Therefore I don't want people to prejudge what roles I might or might not be suitable for and provide me piecemeal information based on that. Give me all the info and let me decide. |
Others can only give suggestions about what role(s) you might be suited for, especially if you're clear about your career interests and goals. That shouldn't be hard for someone with at least 3-5 years of teaching under their belt as opposed to a newbie. Plus, instead of passively expecting others to "give you all the info," you should be able take those suggestions and conduct further job research on your own.
BTW, I interpreted spiral's use of "newcomer" to mean "new to the region" and not someone who's a "newbie" to TEFL.
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