Job Discussion Forums

[sixthchild]

There was a time not so long ago, when schools would dangle all sorts of extra perks and goodies to get the foreign teachers recruited, free accomodation, above average salary, flights home, yearly bonus, trips away on school expense, etc, etc, nowadays you are hard pushed to find anywhere that will offer more than the monthly salary and a daily attack on your digestive system in the form of their unappetising and tasteless excuse for food.

So does the place you work at offer anything in the way of incentives/perks/extras, call them what you will in the vain hope it may make you stay just a bit longer until they can find more fresh, naive, meat to take your place!

[sixthchild]

Totally amazing! After 50+ views no-one has anything to report, clearly the situation is worse than I thought, clearly we are under selling our selves or we don't think we are worth very much!

Don't see how we can preach any kind of professionalism if we don't think we are worthy of a good employment package.

[lucia79]

Does glassfuls of tea and biscuits count?

[delal]

Forget incentives-I've just discovered that teachers at two schools are earning 1000 tl more than me a month (for the same job and hours) and that one at another, who isn't even qualified to teach, is getting 500 tl more a month
Guess who's going to change schools at the end of this academic year...

[sixthchild]

Well yeah, that happens--- a lot, and its either because you didn't sell yourself very well or they didn't think you were worth more, same thing basically, just different perseptives. I work with two young ladies who are native speakers and they (imho) have a more challenging task to face on a daily basis, yet they earn half my salary, subcontracted by a language school and getting royally seen to.
Now if we hop over to the job page and hey-presto something is on offer at of all places good ole Giziantep and just look at those incentives, paid in dollars, accomodation, meals, flights,transportation, now that is a job worth applying for. Only problem they don't answer the e-mails I sent em!!!!

[delal]

When I calmed down, I crunched the numbers and realised that although one is earning more than 1,000 tl more than me, one school is well known for managing to pay the minimum social security payments, and that the extra pay most probably also includes overtime in both cases. One of them is also paying at least 500 tl a month in school-related child expenses (which I don't have at my place for my kid as it's a different set up). Plus my basic work hours are actually less than theirs. Plus I actually enjoy working at my place. Swings and roundabouts.

So the bottom line is now: are an employer who pays full social security and job satisfaction (really) incentives?

PS There was a TED Koleji opening in Hatay. Surely they must be offering a bells and whistles package for foreign teachers

[delal]

Got a pay rise todat-now that's an incentive!

[paul2key]

Although I'm told it is standard for ALL employees in Turkey (so maybe not a perk for foreign teachers), my university serves a free lunch. Although some complain about the food being mundane, I like it. They always have a two entrees to choose from: a vegetarian option and something with a bit of "meat" or chicken. I think it's a plus!

[sixthchild]

oh my, you poor deluded soul, haven't you ever heard the expression "theres no such thing as a free lunch"!

[Qaaolchoura]

My school gives all employees (foreign and native) a food card that can be used at a large number of restaurants. (I assume they get some sort of discount or they'd just give us the cash, but my base salary is slightly above the going rate even without the food card.) The problem is that my favorite restaurants don't accept it, and even some of those that do will sometimes ask me to pay in cash and make a big fuss if I try to use the food card. As such, despite being in food-obsessed Antep, I usually end up eating at Matmah, a Turkish fast-food chain that accepts the card without whining and making faces.

On the other hand, some great restaurants in other Turkish cities do accept it, and it's a nice bonus that I basically get a free lunch every day, and not from a school cafeteria, even if the variety is somewhat limited by my willingness to attempt to argue in Turkish.

~Q

[sixthchild]

Now that ain't a bad incentive! Is it really too hard to find some where that makes you wanna get up and go to work coz its such a nice place to work in?

[delal]

Call me strangely positive about living and working in Turkey if you like, but I really like my job and the kids
I know I'm just about to leave myself open to all kinds of criticism, but after having worked in many places (here and worldwide), I realise that no job is perfect and I have much more realistic expectations than I did say 10 years ago. Added to that, for personal reasons, I'm also here for the long haul (I have friends I can count on, both foreign and Turkish, a wider support network and can speak the lang) so my expectations of a job are also different to people who are getting set up.I know lots of other foreign teachers who are in the same position.
Having said that, I'm not in Istanbul (but I have worked in a few capitals), like many posters appear to be, which is a very challenging and physically tiring place to get set up in, especially as a single person.

[sixthchild]

Nowt to be apologetic about, positive is good. If you have a half decent job and you get on all right with the kids and yr boss doesn't take liberties then you are one of the lucky few. I have been here a while and see staying here as something that will not change for at least the next five-7 years.
This thread was started out of courisity to see how many people would stand up and say something totally stupid like we are very fortunate to have a job without any extras, yes, there are one or two out there who should know better.

[Qaaolchoura]

Sixthchild, I've noticed that most of the really negative postings on the work situation in Turkey as a whole seem to come from one particular poster, with a couple other posters showing up to say negative things about particular employers. I haven't seen any of those posters around in awhile. (Though perhaps if I bring up said employers, some of the latter group will show up.)

The work situation for garden-variety TEFLers (no MA, no public school teaching credentials, and no Turkish connections) certainly isn't great, and has apparently been stagnant or even slightly backwards trending, but it's not terrible, unless you let yourself get taken advantage up by not researching the situation and/or taking offers with sub-standard pay and benefits for the city in which you're working. I count myself of one of the garden-variety kind of TEFLer (though arguably I have some Turkish connections at this point), but I still think it's probably one of the better ESL markets outside of East Asia, and certainly one of the best places to live.

~Q

[billy orr]

What you say is so true, Q.