Job Discussion Forums

[Tommo84]

I'd like to include a list of corporate clients taught on my CV but I teach them through schools I'm co-operating with (i.e. not directly). Am I allowed to name names or would this be frowned upon (by the schools I'm sending my CV to)? The more I think about it, the more I think I should just give descriptions and not name names. I've seen people name names of companies taught on their profiles online and I always think it looks unprofessional (more interesting though I have to admit). Any thoughts?

*I should say I've put this in the Polish forum because I teach (and have all my experience teaching) in Poland so want to hear the Polish perspective.

[sparks]

I think a general rule of thumb for all CV's is not to name your clients unless you ask them. The "real professionals" that I know who have jobs like "consultant" and "analyst" do not use names as it the lack of confidentiality could cause them to lose business. Ehh... in EFL who cares....go for it...

[Tommo84]

OK - but assuming I ask the client if it's ok (1) who do I ask if it's a group of students? (2) the problem isn't how the client would feel about it but how the school would feel about it - so even if I somehow got permission from the client(s), it would still be a problem. Remember the CV is going out to language schools not potential clients - this raises another issue...

I've been thinking about sending my CVs to businesses I'm interested in working with directly. These are big companies who probably wouldn't be interested in hiring me directly. I can issue invoices but I think they'd prefer to hire me through an established school, possibly one they're co-operating with already. So do I send them my CV and ask for it to be passed on to the school they're co-operating with? Or do I just keep sending my CV out to the language schools themselves and wait and see what comes up.

[sparks]

If you have a dzialnosc there is no reason why you can not contact the companies directly and ask them if they need lessons. That is what schools do and essentially you are a one-man school. If they need more than one teacher, you could even hire on a few friends to work there and maybe even make a little extra money for your work. This of course would require a bit more accounting but you should be able to find someone to do it for you for not much more money. As far as the schools not wanting you to mention the clients that you worked for while being employed by them...Who cares? Honestly I wouldn't give a second thought about what some language school approves or disapproves of, they are a dime a dozen, even if you outrage every single person in the school, you could go out the next day and find 50 more to apply to. As far as reputation, the only people who matter are your students.

[Tommo84]

Ah - **** it! I think I've managed to re-write the CV making it clear who I've taught without naming them directly. Interesting one though as I think the clients themselves would prefer to know exactly what kind of companies (i.e. which ones in particular) you've worked with in the past. It's not like the EFL teacher will be entrusted with any confidential information (or is this just me?). For the schools themselves it would be useful in terms of marketing "their" teacher to potential clients. Also by not naming names (which is the approach I've decided to take) I feel like I'm putting myself at a disadvantage against those who do.

Regarding Language Schools, some are better than others and I think it's a good idea to keep in with the better ones because they can get you the best clients. I'm happy enough being a subcontractor if it means I get more interesting with bigger companies. But yes - if I do approach any businesses myself I'll probably give them three options: (1) I can invoice them directly, (2) I can co-operate with a school they've got an existing agreement with, (3) I can give them the names of the schools I'm currently co-operating and they can hire me through one of them. Does anyone do anything similar?

[sparks]

Fellow, you seem to be missing the point. Why would you essentially find a company who wanted to have lessons with you only to then try to incorporate some stinking language school which will probably want to take around half of your earnings for their own filthy coffers. If you approach a company, wear a suit, present yourself as a confident professional who can meet their needs and @#$% the schools. Charge 100 zl+ for 60 minutes offer an invoice. Honestly and for your own good, if you find a company who wants to hire you and you start talking about hooking yourself up with a crummy language school, you might as well go shoot yourself in the face. It makes as much sense

I don't know how long you've been in Poland, but if you have bothered to register a dzialnosc you should be looking to get away from thieving language schools as quickly as you can. Yes, cold call businesses, put your name on Nativespeaker.pl and e-korepetycja. Start doing your own thing, otherwise you'll never get anywhere.

Just my advice. I don't like language mills.

[Tommo84]

Fair point - I know exactly what you're talking about and appreciate the advice. But in giving them the three options that I mentioned, obviously the first one would be direct hire. The other two options would only be for companies which aren't interested in that arrangement. The company will know that direct hire is a lot cheaper for them (cutting out the middle man) but some, I think, just wouldn't be interested.

Put it this way - the clients I've had through nativespeaker.pl and e-korepetycja are no way near as interesting to teach as the clients I've had through the big language schools, the same clients whose names I want to put on my CV but know I can't. Interestingly the (very misguided) idea that naming names on a CV might somehow be acceptable in EFL is something I got from looking at "rival" teachers' profiles on nativespeaker.pl and e-korepetycja. The more I think about it the more I realise that this is really unprofessional and the kind of thing the top schools (with the biggest clients) would probably find very off-putting. Surprised no-one else seems to have felt themselves in a similar situation.