Job Discussion Forums

[cybercutie]

Hi there! I need some advice and/or information....I have just been offered a job teaching in Guadalajara. I am currently living in Calgary doing Marketing and Business Development, and I am doing a complete upheaval and moving there.

I had a phone interview with the guy who runs it, and it seems like a great place. Not only would I be teaching, but helping to do translations and even creating standardized tests the students would eventually follow.

The pay is 7000 pesos a month after taxes and benefits, and they will pay me if I get my visa and FM-3 which they will help me with.

My question is this...I would like to know how much living costs are in Guadalajara, and if this is enough to live on? Also, I don't have a TEFL certificate, only Business and Marketing experience. I speak French and basic Spanish. Is this strange that they would hire me without a certificate?

Thanks so much for your help!!!

Becky:)

[moonraven]

As a marketing professional, you have learned how to market yourself. That's a lot more important than a certificate from a 4 week TEFL course, because it means that you have the potential to market the employer's business.

Seven thousand a month after taxes in Guadalajara sounds dicey to me. It seems low for a job where they expect you to be available for whatever they toss in your direction--so we are talking 5 and a half or 6 days a week. If you're pulling up stakes in Calgary to come here, you're probably going to want to do some traveling around this beautiful country--which means having time to yourself and enough money for travel expenses.

[cybercutie]

Thanks for your reply, moonraven. It's nice to get advice from someone who doesn't have alterior motives....my friends and family don't all get my desire to leave so badly, since I have a good job and a good life here. Alot of places I have talked to in Mexico and China for that matter want your business there (Whether it be TESL schools or needing teachers).

What is an average wage for a teacher in Mexico?

[moonraven]

There really is no such thing as an average wage, especially given that, in addition to language schools, EFL/ESL teachers work in private schools from kindergarten to high school, as well as in both public and private universities. If you want to travel around the country, to feel relatively comfortable where you are living, and to return to to Canada a couple of times a year, I think you need an after tax income of close to 10,000 pesos. Other folks on this forum may have very different opinions.

[MixtecaMike]

Assuming you are hired primarily as a teacher I would say $7000 after taxes etc is not too bad. Depending on how many hours you are expected to put in, there should be no problem suplementing that with extra on the side work.

I managed to keep a family alive in Mexico City on wages that fluctuated between about $7000-12,000 a month, more often than not closer to the lower end of this range.

If you plan on flying to Canada a couple of times a year I suspect you wouldn't be coming here in the first place, and travelling around Mexico can be fairly cheap, so depending how you want to live I'd say $7000 would be enough to get by on.

I add the caveat that I've never been to Guadalajara, but I don't imagine it would be more expensive than Mexico City. I also don't drink, I've seen that the heavy drinkers can power through pesos like they don't exist.

[reddevil79]

Hi there,

I have just come back from gdl where i was giving private classes. Rent (depending on where you live) varies between 1000-2000 pesos a month, bills not included. I would say that 7000 pesos should be enough, though as the others have said it depends on what you plan doing and what your costs will be. Gdl is one of the more expensive cities in Mexico, but not as much as Mexico City or Monterrey.

Good luck,

Chris

[cybercutie]

Thanks for all your help, everyone...here I go!!!