Job Discussion Forums

[richtx1]

KEEP YOUR LIES STRAIGHT. I mentioned in the other post the felllow who tried to charm me with his tales of the leather bars (not that I cared but he thought it might win points with me) and then gave my employer a song and dance about being a strong family man. My boss and I do talk... maybe he's living a double life, or is in the closet, or just full of caca.

K.I.S.S. -- if you are fleeing an ex-wife, a heroin habit, the Mafia or the Internal Revenue Service (and a suprising number of teachers -- and would be teachers -- are), spare me all the gory details. They may make you an "interesting" person, but my concerns are whether the Mexican police are going to drag you off the worksite, or the attorney is going to have trouble processing your FM-3. Puento.

IF IN HIDING -- STAY IN HIDING (A variant on KISS). Yes, I will check your CV if there are "red flags." Suddently throwing up a 20 year career at a boys school in Minnesota to teach at a Mexican prepa is going to raise some eyebrows. And require a few international calls, and a background check. Child molesters shouldn't be anywhere near children. And, yes, they are imprisoned here.

DON'T SHOW UP DRUNK, STONED, HUNG OVER, ETC: Believe me, people do.


WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' CHARACTERS -- People who move from the "First World" to countries like Mexico are nuts... and that's OK. But I'm placing people in very straight-laced companies and government offices. A job interview is business... dress for business. As an aside, I know tatoos and piercings are now socially acceptable most places... but not in Mexican business establishments. And schools that hire foreign teachers are businesses. Cover up the tats and take out the tongue and nose piercings.

KNOW WHAT IS ON YOUR CV. Another thing that should be obvious. But, I've questioned people about their job at Wallah-Wallah Consolidated School District #12 only to have them stare back at me incomprehendingly. You need to remember that you thought the School District name was more impressive than whatever school program you worked at sounded.

DON'T BADMOUTH YOUR OTHER EMPLOYERS. If you had a problem (like one of mine whose director is now hiding from the Mexican tax authorities, a lot of angry teachers -- including me -- and the accountant) just say there were financial problems. As someone else pointed out, the ESL world isn't a huge community. We gossip and word gets around.

And don't badmouth the other teachers. Maybe the school wants clueless illegal alien chicks overstaying their tourist visa. If you didn't need the job, why are you talking to me? (By the way, I don't hire clueless -- or even clued-in IACs... normally).

If you have some pet pedagogical theory, by all means share it, but don't run down whatever material I use. Don't tell me "well, this is wrong, and I can't possibly use Chapter 12 (Chapter 12 in one required, and otherwise very good, text was on British cuisine... something absolutely incomprehensibe to Mexicans and other civilized peoples. I simply rewrote it to discuss food).

You may be in Mexico, and you may think you're in paradise, but you're job hunting. Watch how Mexicans dress for business in your area (there are big differences between, say, Cancun and Mexico City), polish your shoes and CV (don't give me some ratty copy that's been in your backpack for the last six weeks), act professional (and use the bathroom before you arrive).

[moonraven]

I have noticed--and this is one of the reasons I stopped the practice of hiring native speakers at the Harmon Hall where I was director for 4 years--that a VERY high percentage of foreign folks who turn up at language schools and other places where English is taught are not in Mexico, or other parts of Latin America, for high-minded reasons.

They are running away from something, and the list of the most common things goes like this: child-support payments, the police (sometimes both of those), a failed relationship, debts (including with the IRS), a former spouse (because he/she has kidnapped one of the kids and brought him/her to Mexico--maybe for good reasons but his/her passport has expired), a drug and/or alcohol problem, and The Big One: themselves.

This makes hiring a real crap shoot. My interviewing strategy is just to let the person talk, talk, talk, and I ask apparently neutral questions. When he/she spills the problem (they always do--at least most of it), I then have to decide if it's one I can live with. Usually it isn't.

[richtx1]

Ah yes... running from themselves seems the common denominator with nearly any person moving from the rich countries to the less rich ones.

I got a private email from someone asking what I meant when I said most of us were nuts. Running from terminal boredom, an over-acquisitive society and Texas wacko Republicans might qualify as "nuts" in some people's books.

[Ben Round de Bloc]