Job Discussion Forums

[RufusWoodwark]

Hey, if anyone could check my thinking on this that'd be great.

2 years Elementary School in Korea
then, CELTA
1 year at an Ethiopia University
(I have a BSc, MSc unrelated)

It looks possible to arrive in Vietnam on a tourist visa and then either work (semi)-illegally without much danger, or apply in country for a work permit if the employer is good.

I should bring my apostilled Degree and CELTA. I will need to also bring an apostilled police check?

I should be looking for maybe $15ish an hour?

Hanoi and HCMC are hot spots, I'd love to have a look at Danang. Anyone with experience there?

Job seeking in late August is not a good time, but possible?

Any advice would be really appreciated!

[skarper]

Answers to all these well covered already [seems like you've done your homework]

Are you looking to work with kids, adults, mixed, university students?

Most jobs are small kids and a lot of the mills have started dispatching teachers to work in state schools - which is not ideal.

15 USD is low but I think quite a few places do actually try to get away with paying that.

DaNang is a great place to live but a difficult place to work. Best to start in HCMC or Hanoi and then try to move to DaNang later. Even then it can be quite difficult to get set up and earnings will never approach what is easily had in the big cities.

If you are young and white and good looking you will do a lot better than if you are old, black/brown/asian or ugly. Same as you would have found in Korea.

Age is probably the least problematic. Under 30 is best but up to 60 seems to be ok.

[RufusWoodwark]

Thanks a lot skarper, I'll try to get deeper into the threads here.

I'd want to teach 16+, where the skills of my CELTA can actually be used. I actually did the CELTA in ILA HCMC, so a job like that would be best, although I'm sure I won't like evenings/weekends... hmmm....

Thanks for the advice on DaNang, I suppose contacts in country would help a lot getting set up there.

A lot of people in Hanoi and HCMC work in decent jobs on tourist visas then? I'm surprised such a big country hasn't shut this down so much.

[Flashman]

Echo the Danang sentiment. Just got back from another trip there and I love that city. Pay would be lower but so would costs.

August is a good time to get hired as Vietnamese HR departments are scrambling to do what they should have been doing in March now.

If you accept less than $25 an hour you're contributing to the drive down in wages at a time when the demand for English is higher than ever. Even the crappiest school charges about $5 per student per class, put 30 students in and work it out. It's not uncommon to get paid over $30 an hour in Hanoi, I don't even know people with no quals earning as low as $15.

Enter on a tourist visa, find a job, get them to sort a work permit (it's them who get fined without it so you shouldn't be paying for it) no need for apostillation of anything just handover the original and get it back asap (it is illegal for them to keep it). Then familiarise yourself with the Labour code on molisa.vn so employers don't try to take advantage of you at any point.

Living here isn't for everyone, but if you're resilient and savvy you'll be fine.

[RufusWoodwark]