Job Discussion Forums

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

When is the main recruting time for NZ and OZ language school? I've heard it's around May, but other people say Novembre is the best time to look for a job.

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

I can't say about Australia as I have never been there nor applied for a job there. As an American in New Zealand working in the ESL industry, I know it's possible to get a teaching job here even if you are not a Kiwi or an Aussie. We have English, Scot, Irish, South African, Indian, Singaporean, and French teachers, as well as a sprinkling of Kiwis. No Aussies though. As for a hiring season? I am not aware of one. The ESL market is a bit slow right now and many schools are handing out redundancy slips. But, who knows? I keep hearing niggling rumours about an uptick in numbers later this year. Qien sabe?
If you have a PGCE or something like that and if you are from Canada, Australia, South Africa, or the UK, the public schools would probably be interested in talking to you.
If you do want to teach ESL, make sure that you get teaching IELTS experience down on your CV.
Good luck.

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

When you say get IELTS experience, do you mean experience preparing people for the exam? Or just ESL experience?

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

IELTS exam prep is what is driving the market.

lagger · Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Posts: 40 Location: Australia

Yeah, mention IELTS exam prep. I taught a 16 hour IELTS prep course and mentioned it on my resume and got a higher paying job. An experienced teacher won't have any problem teaching IELTS exam prep.

In Australia, I guess the best time to apply is September but other times are often fine too. There haven't been as many positions available in Sydney this year as in previous years but it's still possible to get a job. Brisbane & Cairns (Queensland) seem to be advertising a lot at the moment.

BethOz · Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Brisbane, Australia

I don't know about NZ, but in Australia (or at least in Brisbane), the best time to apply for ESL work is June/July. This is when the Northern hemisphere summer holidays start and we have a sudden influx of short-term students and study tours. September is definitely the worst time, as most of those students are heading off home and enrolment numbers suddenly plummet. We find that a lot of people on General English programs have their hours cut at this time of year and things don't usually pick up again until the following June.

If you have Cambridge experience (PET, FCE, CAE, CPE or any of the BEC courses) you could be recruited in September and may be lucky enough to stay employed until the following June. Then you'd probably have to switch over to General English or Study Tours and switch back to Cambridge again come September.

Of course every school is different. I'm talking from a private institution point of view. If you were working for one of the universities you might have quite a different experience. My school employs heaps of travellers on working holiday visas (which limit you to 3 months in one place), but timing is everything. As I said above, at this time of year it would be highly unlikely that we'd be recruiting new teachers.