Job Discussion Forums

[jonniboy]

I'm considering looking for jobs there, as spending a year on a sunny island is hugely appealing after Kazakhstan, but despite searching threads, am having difficulty finding up to date info. What are current approximate costs of renting a flat? Are privates there easy to come by or not? How is the demand for things like IELTS and Business English? Also I found two IH schools when searching, but the feedback I had was that one is good and the other best avoided, however I couldn't see which was which. Is anyone familiar with them?

[Teacher in Rome]

I googled "scuola di lingua palermo" and found loads of language schools, but only one IH school run by "Durden Patricia Carlotta ". It looks like they do lots of the Cambridge exams, and YL, plus also teach Italian to English speakers.

I can't tell you much about the cost of living in Palermo, as I've only been there once. But it's an interesting city, heavily influenced in both architecture and food heritage by all the invaders over the centuries. From personal experience I can also tell you it's got the best cake shop in the entire world...

I like Sicily a lot, but I'm not sure I'd want to live and work there. It's a bit anarchic and chaotic, but you're probably used to that after Kazakhstan!

[jonniboy]

Thanks! Yeah Kazakhstan has been a great year from the teaching perspective but there have been considerable ups and downs with life here aside from that and my girlfriend is adamantly opposed to another year here so I need somewhere half-civilised and European.

Yes there are definitely two IH schools there, one is the London School and the other simply IH Palermo. As I'm working for IH at the moment I get priority on jobs so am thinking about that as a foot in. I've 10 years experience, CELTA "B" and young learner cert, so I'm pretty confident that if I just turned up at the right time, I'd get something. However I remember doing that in Valencia in autumn 2011 and it was a lot of running around, even in a city I'd previously worked in for 2 years.

I've only been in Sicily on holidays and that was the area around Trapani, so being new to Palermo, I'd rather sort something in advance and I'm guessing that Italy is like Spain, with jobs only given to people already in the city?

[Teacher in Rome]

With your experience and quals, you'll have a great chance at jobs in Italy. I'm not sure how IH works and if they'll just transfer you, but if you were looking on your own, you'll need to be in situ.

If nothing turns up for you in Palermo, there are other places in Sicily - Catania and Messina, for example, which are big enough to have language schools.

[Caporetto]

Are you working for IH now? If so you may have seen that both IH branches in Palermo are recruiting. I don't know whether they are two 'wings' of the same school or two separate entities (I suspect the former). One is offering a substantially better salary (1250) than the other (950, dismal).

Oh, I almost forgot: those salaries don't include accommodation! This, alas, is Western Europe in crisis. The ad suggests rent in Palermo is about 450, and it sounds possible. Privates: with effort, possible, but they may want you to travel around. Cost of living: going up all the time.

The better-paying IH was recruiting openly (not on transfer) around this time last year, so presumably they don't always snare enough applicants. They took a friend of mine with a freshly-minted CELTA C and it was his first TEFL job, so read into that whatever you can.

[jonniboy]

Yeah I'm at IH Almaty now. According to my info, the Palermo IHs are basically two separate entities, who, although they're under the IH banner, have minimal cooperation with each other. One of them, don't know which, is supposed to be decent enough, the other rubbish. Yeah I'm aware that the cash on offer in West Europe is generally dismal and is barely enough to break even, I was working in Valencia last year for 1500 a month and paying 350 for a studio. Ultimately though, after slipping and sliding along icy uncleaned pavements for 3 and a half months the thought of having a year somewhere warm and sunny with better food, culture and beaches nearby does appeal, even though the cash would be about half what I'd get if I returned here and put the hours in. That's the trade off you make. It's fairly easy for me to head somewhere more lucrative at the end of the academic year if it doesn't work out.

[Caporetto]

That all makes sense, but then I don't see any special reason for going with an IH option. It's a fairly pathetic selection on the transfer list as usual, although why not consider Buenos Aires? IH is the only legal employer there, the money goes a long way, it doesn't come up all that often..

I'm impressed that you got a studio for 350 in Spain, that won't get you anything in Italy unfortunately - possibly your bills in a larger city. However, if there are two of you earning then it's a little easier.

[jonniboy]

B.A. would interest me but the start date is March 2014 and they say a degree is essential, which I don't have. Really the only reason for doing it through an IH option is that I'm 99.9% sure that, like Spain, jobs in Italy aren't found from abroad so going there with job already sorted has an appeal. My research into other schools in Sicily hasn't come up with anything better paying and lots of which have seem to be offering quite young learner heavy schedules. 2011-2012 in Valencia I'd 25 hours and only 5 of those with adults. Like most people I'd prefer to teach adults and exam classes and the Palermo gig is offering 15 hours (from 22) with adults. If I'm wrong about this I'd appreciate someone putting me in the picture more. There's a surprising lack of info on the web about it all.

[Caporetto]

You're right about Italy in that recruiting does take place on the ground, and there are pros and cons to this. There's no fixed recruiting season and decent jobs can come up in November, December, January, for a variety of reasons: either the school's workload shoots up or a native shoots off, typically.

One upside is that once you are there schools are generally very keen to meet you and show off the school, because you're actually there in flesh and blood and they want you. In such a big market there are con-artistes, but payday will tell: the minute you receive an excuse instead of money, it's time to hitch on your parachute and get out - this is purely my personal policy.

Plenty of teachers in Italy work in more than one place, plus privately, which is exactly how teachers in vocational and specialist subjects work in the UK: free agent and no mollycoddling. You occasionally see jobs with accommodation included only if the place is unusually remote, for example.

What should be possible from a distance is to establish contact, bowl them over with your CV and determination to come, and set up a series of meetings for when you're there. If you are leaning towards Sicily, then you have 3 or 4 good sized cities to target, and every handshake is an investment, you could make a little name for yourself and tease out some good offers for now or later.

In the meantime go for the higher-paying IH in Palermo, you can live on that. You can't live on the other one.

[Teacher in Rome]

Most teaching jobs in Italy are going to involve a lot of YL. That's where the market is, unless you're in a big enough place with enough opportunities that you can pick and choose what you do. I'm surprised that IH Palermo says so few of the hours are YL, though not surprised by the dismal salaries on offer. A lot of jobs are paid at around the �1000 mark, and many without a regular contract at all.

If you don't have a degree, this can make things more problematic in Italy, though it's not a deal-breaker by any means. A CELTA and experience should be enough for most institutions, but Italian employers would kind of assume you had a degree. It might (though nothing is ever 100% certain in Italy) count against you in an open market where you were competing with a number of other teachers, which is why a firm offer from IH could be a good move. Then once you were on the ground, you could establish a reputation, and hunt around for better paying work.

Tbh, I'd never normally suggest accepting a job sight unseen in Italy, but IH has at least got a decent reputation (making the sign of the horns right now!!) and Sicily is pretty spectacular.