Job Discussion Forums

[firecracker34]

I have been waiting for my letter of invitation from a school in Russia for 2 months and have been strung along with a list of excuses as to why it is delayed. The latest is that it will be ready before September 13. I signed a contract back in May and was due to start work on Monday 9th Sept. Obviously this is now impossible and I am getting increasingly worried that the LOI will never appear and thus I should start to apply for other jobs before its too late.
If I was offered another job would I be able to sign a contract? Is my contract with the Russian school legally binding and have they broken the contract as they have not provided me with a LOI before the contract starts?
Any advice would be helpful

[Sashadroogie]

Letters of invitation have a mind of their own. I'd give nearly any school the benefit of the doubt over this.

However, if you have not signed a Russian language contract, then you have not signed any legally binding contract at all. What language was it in?

If things like this upset you, then reconsider Russia as a destination. This is but the beginning of a string of paperwork nonsense that never really ends. In the main, your school will look after it. But words and ideas like legal, illegal, breach, binding - they really mean nothing here.

Sorry if that sounds a little harsh. But it is the truth.


Best of luck!

[ecocks]

I don't consider this a country-level issue.

You have to decide whether you can afford to risk missing the Fall hiring cycle for a 4 month overdue LoI.

What has it cost you (not just monetarily) to be delayed this long?

Are you tied to one spot waiting on its arrival?

If they do fail, what does this do to your present living arrangements and financial situation?

Personally, I cannot believe you have been waiting almost 4 months for a LoI.

If a school has this level of consideration for you now, how responsive will they be when you really need something?

It's a lax area of world but your personal goals and objectives should be the determining factor, not one school's ability to generate an LoI.

And yeah, if you entertain ideas of suing a language school as an unemployed, foreign national idling for a few months in Russia, you aren't seriously interested in teaching.

Likewise, the school probably has better things to do than harass you over going elsewhere. That would seem particularly true if they are down a teachers week after next.

I'd be firing out CVs, TEFL certs and degree/passport packets if I expected to work this fall.

[maruss]

never assume anything and you won't go wrong!