Job Discussion Forums

[Teacher in Rome]

Apart from getting together a decent CV/resume and references, how important is it to you to stand out from the crowd with other evidence of your employability as a teacher? For example, I'm thinking of:

- a LinkedIn profile
- easily documented activity on other social media sites, plus plenty of "social proof" - being easily found online with evidence of some level of professional kudos
- your own website / blog etc with your thoughts, examples of lesson plans, material etc
- being published in journals / self-published via ebooks etc
- membership of professional groups and associations

Would be interesting to compare what people think is necessary or useful in a job search - even by level of post or geographical region.

[Sashadroogie]

Being a Party member of good standing was all that was necessary for me. : )

[spiral78]

All the jobs I've had for the past 6 years have come to me through professional contacts, BUT I still think it's important to have a professional presence online, as most/many potential employers will check these days. When I'm on hiring committees, I do - and I know many others who also do at least a cursory search on potential new hires.

So, I check yes for
LinkedIn
some reasonable level of social proof (nice wording, by the way!) of a professional presence in the field
publications appear in LinkedIn in my case, as do lists of professional groups and associations

website/blog with my stuff on it seems to me unnecessary - that's basically giving away my work, which I do on an individual basis, but I think no need to go for wholesale give-away to all and sundry.

[santi84]

Anglophone with a pulse and TESL-related degree is good enough here, but LinkedIn is increasingly popular!

[Teacher in Rome]

[spiral78]

I only work in institutions where we tailor our materials directly for very specific groups of students. It's not of general use or interest, so in my case not probably very useful to create a website and post it. For teachers in more general situations, could be.

[nomad soul]

[Teacher in Rome]

Fair points, Spiral and Nomad!

[Solar Strength]

[johnslat]

Well, unless you're planning to copyright and publish them, where's the problem?

I always share with my colleagues - and they do with me. I don't always use the stuff or I might modify some of it (and I'm sure the same is true of them), but it saves me and them some time when we're teaching the same levels.

I see it as a win/win. And even if I don't get anything back from stuff posted on the Net, how does it hurt me if someone else uses my stuff?

I consider it a complement.

Regards,
John

[spiral78]

Dear johnslat:

As I noted above, I also freely share materials with colleagues and other individuals - the question was just whether it's a good idea to post them publically on a website or something for anyone anywhere to use.

I admit that the idea of creating a website to publically post my work for all and sundry doesn't appeal to me in any way. Partly because I work with a very narrow segment of learners, and my stuff wouldn't have much general application, and partly because I would have zero knowledge of how it might be used or to whom it might be attributed in such a context.

Best,
spiral

[teacheratlarge]

But you do know you can publish on the web and claim copyright to your material, right? So I am not sure what the fear would be... , perhaps that someone would , gasp use it in a different way?

Viva la difference!