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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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 Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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| desertfox wrote: |
I was also at the meeting that Desert Dueller refers to. The trouble with TESOL Arabia is that it often gives frauds in Tefl the chance to enhance their own dodgy credentials.
The HOD who "made history" by holding the first TESOL Arabia conference in Riyadh ("Gentleman, we are few in number, but..."), was subsequently sacked out of hand because he put into writing that "we don't employ Muslims," in reply to a job application from an Egyptian teacher... |
Seriously? For clarification, this thread is about the official, annual TESOL Arabia conference, exhibition, and job fair in the UAE and not some private, gossipy meeting masquerading as a TA conference in KSA in 2015. |
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AmericanAmina
Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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TESOL Arabia 2017
This is my first time to attend TESOL Arabia, so I thought I would give my general impressions. Hold onto your hats.
Cost:
TESOL Arabia membership- 150aed / $40
Conference fee (early registration, member)- 500aed / $136
Job fair fee- 200aed / $54
Total cost: 850aed / $230
I live in Abu Dhabi, so there was no cost for a flight or a hotel.
My main motivation for attending this conference was the job fair. The job fair works like this. There is an exhibition hall where different groups are advertising their products and services related to teaching English, and in the back of this exhibition hall there is a corner that is the "job fair." There are small sheets of paper posted on the wall. Each paper describes a university or other group that is hiring at the conference. There were 18 in total. There is no face-to-face interaction at this point.
You walk past this wall of listings, and for each university/group you would like to interview with, you take out one copy of your CV and write the code for that group on your CV. You then submit your stack of CVs at a central desk.
There is a bigger piece of paper hanging on another wall with all of the universities listed. Whenever a university likes a CV and wants to interview someone, they send a message downstairs to the job fair and where someone gets out a red magic marker and writes the id number of that person on the big paper underneath the university name.
So you keep checking back until you (hopefully) find your id number scribbled in under one of the university names. At this point, you identify yourself at the desk and they let you pick a time to interview.
At the interview time, you go upstairs to the assigned interview room, and you have 30 minutes allotted to interview with your potential employer.
I found my number posted under two of the universities yesterday, but it was late and most of the interviews slots were filled for the day, so I set up the two interviews for this afternoon. When I arrived at the conference today, a third university had my id number under it, so I set up that interview, too.
While the job fair corner in the exhibition hall was almost laughable, the interviews themselves were highly professional. The interviewers were people in authority over the departments they were hiring for. The interview rooms were nice, and the atmosphere was all business.
I interviewed with:
Princess Nourah University (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
Al Nawa, the agency hiring for the Colleges of Technology (various locations in Oman)
King Abdul Aziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
All three said I would hear back from them in the next week or two. Princess Nourah University said that this is the first step in a 4-step process, and that I would be notified early next week if they wanted to continue with me. Al Nawa said I will hear from them by Monday (this is Friday). King Abdul Aziz University said I will hear from them probably this coming week, but not later than the next week.
For me, this turned out to be a pretty productive experience. I may or may not get job offers, but I got the chance to interview, so this was worth the cost I invested. There were other people there who weren't getting called for interviews after paying international airfare. Honestly, I would have been pretty agitated in their place. There really should have been more employers at the fair.
Noticeably absent at this conference were any local universities. There were zero, zip, zilch universities/schools/training centers from anywhere in the UAE at the job fair. Is it just me, or is that a little odd?
This is my 2 cents worth, just for anyone considering attending this conference in the future.
Last edited by AmericanAmina on Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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AmericanAmina
Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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Employers at the TESOL Arabia 2017 job fair:
(just for future reference)
University of Jeddah
Princess Nourah University (women only)
British Council- Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt, Riyadh
Sultan Qaboos University
King Abdulaziz University
KFUPM
BAE Systems Australia hiring for Riyadh location (men only)
Community College of Qatar
Al Nawa hiring for Colleges of Technology of Oman
Military Technological College of Oman
Xi'an Jiaotong- Liverpool University of Suzhou, China
Who DID NOT attend, but I wish they had:
Effat University
KAUST
Al Akhawayn
Umm Al-Qura |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| AmericanAmina wrote: |
| While the job fair corner in the exhibition hall was almost laughable, the interviews themselves were highly professional. The interviewers were people in authority over the departments they were hiring for. The interview rooms were nice, and the atmosphere was all business. |
This was a new venue for TACON. It was held at the Hyatt Regency for the past few years, which was getting too crowded for the job fair. It sounds like the organizers still need to figure out a way to better accommodate the space and logistics for job seekers.
| and AmericanAmina wrote: |
For me, this turned out to be a pretty productive experience. I may or may not get job offers, but I got the chance to interview, so this was worth the cost I invested. There were other people there who weren't getting called for interviews after paying international airfare. Honestly, I would have been pretty agitated in their place. There really should have been more employers at the fair.
....
Who DID NOT attend, but I wish they had:
Effat University
KAUST
Al Akhawayn
Umm Al-Qura |
I doubt you'll ever see those universities; they never recruited at TACON's job fair during the years I attended. Most of them post ads on their websites and/or on higheredjobs.com. KAUST really doesn't have a need for EFL teachers, although they have a small EAP writing center.
In past years, recruiters from Alfaisal University, Prince Sultan University, American University of Kuwait, Qatar University, possibly KSU, a couple of Saudi military contractors, and a half dozen UAE-based universities attended TACON. They likely had just a handful of openings to fill... or none at all, as with the government UAE universities, which will see their English foundation-year programs get axed next year. Frankly, a high number of recruiters doesn't always guarantee better chances for employment.
I only attended two job fairs -- the first one was how I got my job in KSA. Although I had a couple of interviews at a subsequent TACON job fair, I ended up accepting a position advertised on higheredjobs for a special US govt project elsewhere in the Mid East. However, the job fairs weren't the only draw for me; I always enjoyed the TACON presentations and exhibitions on their own and for networking opportunities. Were you able to sit in on any of the presentations? Any standouts? Any major stinkers? 
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danshengou
Joined: 17 Feb 2016
Posts: 434
Location: A bizarre overcrowded hole
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 4:58 am Post subject: |
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| Big risk for little reward. Unless you are local, skip it if the expenses aren't covered by the employer to attend (travel/per diem, etc.). |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| danshengou wrote: |
| Big risk for little reward. Unless you are local, skip it if the expenses aren't covered by the employer to attend (travel/per diem, etc.). |
That's not realistic; employers aren't keen on footing the bill for expat teachers to attend job fairs. 
The university I taught at paid most of the travel and conference costs for my Saudi colleagues. However, we expat teachers were on our own but were paid for the one work day missed as long as our class was covered. That was fair given that contractors in the US are responsible for their own professional development.
Generally, when employers or sponsors do cover expenses for conferences, there usually are conditions attached. This was the case with the nationals we trained in another Mid East country as part of a US State Dept project. The US Embassy paid their full expenses for TACON but required them to give a presentation to the embassy English language staff on, at minimum, six sessions they attended and their overall learning experience. The teachers were supervised at the conference but were given some down time and spending money to enjoy Dubai.
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danshengou
Joined: 17 Feb 2016
Posts: 434
Location: A bizarre overcrowded hole
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:45 am Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| danshengou wrote: |
| Big risk for little reward. Unless you are local, skip it if the expenses aren't covered by the employer to attend (travel/per diem, etc.). |
That's not realistic; employers aren't keen on footing the bill for expat teachers to attend job fairs.
The university I taught at paid most of the travel and conference costs for my Saudi colleagues. However, we expat teachers were on our own but were paid for the one work day missed as long as our class was covered. That was fair given that contractors in the US are responsible for their own professional development.
Generally, when employers or sponsors do cover expenses for conferences, there usually are conditions attached. This was the case with the nationals we trained in another Mid East country as part of a US State Dept project. The US Embassy paid their full expenses for TACON but required them to give a presentation to the embassy English language staff on, at minimum, six sessions they attended and their overall learning experience. The teachers were supervised at the conference but were given some down time and spending money to enjoy Dubai.
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Like I said, stupid to go unless the bill is paid for by the company or you happen to live nearby. If that means you gotta do some kind of work while there, then ok. But minimal cash should come out of the individual's pocket. Otherwise it's a bad move. |
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Desert Dueller
Joined: 20 Jul 2015
Posts: 45
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:36 am Post subject: Upcoming TESOL conferences in the UAE, US & UK |
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So there we have it. Nothing has changed. 18 pathetic job notices stuck on a wall somewhere in a corner. Considering multiple job ads from the same employer, that might leave five or six employers actually making the effort of recruiting at TACON. Tells you a lot about how they rate TACON.....
Furthermore, considering gender-specific job placements, that might leave nine to ten "potential" jobs from a total of 18. Rule out another few based on general job criteria and you're left with about five jobs to actually apply for.
Proves my point: a total waste of time, effort and resources. It's a waffle fest and the fact that the organizers have the gall to actually charge a fee to check out 18 job ads is simply outrageous. |
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danshengou
Joined: 17 Feb 2016
Posts: 434
Location: A bizarre overcrowded hole
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 1:51 pm Post subject: Re: Upcoming TESOL conferences in the UAE, US & UK |
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| Desert Dueller wrote: |
| Proves my point: a total waste of time, effort and resources. It's a waffle fest and the fact that the organizers have the gall to actually charge a fee to check out 18 job ads is simply outrageous. |
Sounds about right |
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AmericanAmina
Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
However, the job fairs weren't the only draw for me; I always enjoyed the TACON presentations and exhibitions on their own and for networking opportunities. Were you able to sit in on any of the presentations? Any standouts? Any major stinkers?
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If you go to TESOL Arabia for the conference itself rather than the job fair, then I would say it is definitely well worth the money. The job fair was pretty tiny, but the conference offerings were huge. There were a ton of presentations running from 9am to 6pm, about 20 different presentations available each hour. Some of them were topics you'll hear spoken on at any TESOL event, some were specific to this region, and some were extremely specialized, such as one lecture on how to teach ESL to blind students.
I was pressed for time and had to focus on my job search, so I only sat in on one lecture. The room was packed full, and the talk hit on a few topics of immediate interest to me. The speaker was a professor from one of the local Colleges of Higher Technology.
And speaking of networking... I'll try to refrain from humming "It's a Small World" when I mention I got to meet a nice young lady whose name I recognized because we take classes together online. We're from the same hometown! And it turns out she is a graduate assistant who works with my cousin who is an ESL professor for international students at our university. The university paid for her trip over, and she attended a professional development seminar to earn a certificate in something or another.
I chatted with a few people working in the exhibition booths as I walked back and forth to the job fair corner. There were a lot of big names represented there. The US Embassy, Cambridge International, Oxford, Pearson, etc.
Honestly, the conference was very well done. It was just the job fair that wasn't too spectacular. The employers who were there were some good ones, and two that I interviewed with were ones I specifically went there hoping to see. I just feel like there should have been more, and there should have been a broader spectrum to meet the needs of the variety of people there applying for jobs. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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| AmericanAmina wrote: |
| It was just the job fair that wasn't too spectacular. The employers who were there were some good ones, and two that I interviewed with were ones I specifically went there hoping to see. I just feel like there should have been more, and there should have been a broader spectrum to meet the needs of the variety of people there applying for jobs. |
It sounds like you had certain expectations about the job fair -- that more employers/recruiters should have been there to accommodate the needs of job seekers. It doesn't work that way at any job fair, especially when it's an employers' market. Hiring managers attend these events to recruit for the benefit of the university rather than for the job seekers. If the venue of a major job fair is cost prohibitive, untimely, and/or unnecessary, there's no advantage to the employer to attend. For example, a small university like Effat saves money by advertising on its website, TESOL.org, or higheredjobs.com given that they would have just a couple of positions to fill. This is why job seekers need to hit a variety of employment sources for jobs rather than rely on a single, one-stop venue. |
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AmericanAmina
Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Ok, fair enough. But take the Abu Dhabi public schools or Doha public schools, for example. They have a constant need for teachers, and they require certified English teachers from the US, the UK, and a few other places. Why wouldn't they be hiring from an event like this? I would imagine a lot of the job fair candidates met this description. Maybe I'm wrong though. I'm not teaching certified, so this doesn't affect me. I'm just making an observation. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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| AmericanAmina wrote: |
| Ok, fair enough. But take the Abu Dhabi public schools or Doha public schools, for example. They have a constant need for teachers, and they require certified English teachers from the US, the UK, and a few other places. Why wouldn't they be hiring from an event like this? I would imagine a lot of the job fair candidates met this description. |
Recruiters for that sector (like Teach Away) generally go right to the source for qualified/experienced k-12 teachers by holding recruitment events in the US, UK, and Canada or posting job opportunities that specifically target teachers in those countries.
| danshengou wrote: |
| Stupid to go unless the bill is paid for by the company or you happen to live nearby. If that means you gotta do some kind of work while there, then ok. But minimal cash should come out of the individual's pocket. Otherwise it's a bad move. |
Since you're adamant about not paying for your professional development, in your experience, which Saudi direct-hire employers and for-profit contracting companies (e.g., EdEx, ICEAT, SBC, QEHC, etc.) cover expat contractors' travel, lodging, and per diem expenses to attend an event like TESOL Arabia in Dubai? |
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Desert Dueller
Joined: 20 Jul 2015
Posts: 45
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:50 pm Post subject: Upcoming TESOL conferences in the UAE, US & UK |
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nomad soul
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 1:21 pm Post subject:
danshengou wrote:
Stupid to go unless the bill is paid for by the company or you happen to live nearby. If that means you gotta do some kind of work while there, then ok. But minimal cash should come out of the individual's pocket. Otherwise it's a bad move.
Since you're adamant about not paying for your professional development, in your experience, which Saudi direct-hire employers and for-profit contracting companies (e.g., EdEx, ICEAT, SBC, QEHC, etc.) cover expat contractors' travel, lodging, and per diem expenses to attend an event like TESOL Arabia in Dubai?
Answer:
Mine does...... and I can't wait for the feedback re hotel room decor, Dubai shopping or any encounters with a long lost friend who now happens to work with an uncle in a PYP in Abha..... 
On a serious note though: we all agree that the job fair is a joke. However, reports and experience indicates that "interviews" were in fact conducted by the relevant institution's top ELD brass..... following the motto: "Never get between a TEFL manager and a junket!"
And after having spent a TACON weekend - at whoever's expense - investigating, studying and exploring a multitude of novel ways how to conduct an engine diagnostic on a Maserati V12, come Sunday morning reality will dawn on all those PD-ed delegates when it's back to the reality of changing a wheel on a tired (literally) wooden donkey cart......
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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Hearsay.  |
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