Job Discussion Forums

[logician]

I am yet another ESL teacher who is researching the possibility of working for a university or college.

I have run into some speedbumps in the researching process. For example, when I mentioned my intention to a friend of a friend, she tried to attach herself to me and take control of where I would apply, what I should say, and when I should say it. I won't say she was a control freak, but she told me to quit my current job immediately and spend the next three weeks re-writing my resume while getting a temp job at a buxiban.

I don't doubt her intentions were good, but she didn't help the process.

Obviously there are a lot of universities and colleges. The colleges have lower requirements than the unviersities. But considering that I don't speak Mandarin very well, trying to get a list of the schools in my geographical area is quite difficult.

If I were back in the USA I would open up the yellow pages and look at the heading, "Schools."

They have phone directories here, but I am not skillful enough to use them.

Local folks are willing to help, but often they are disorganized, domineering, and impractical, so their help often is not at all helpful. It's easier to do anything when a sympathetic local is at hand, but what ends up getting done is not always what I want to do.

Web searches usually yield a bunch of English pages with no contact information, and a bunch of Mandarin-language pages which are incomprehensible.

Possibly the best way is to simply get a phone directory (although I don't know where I could get one -- everyone who has one needs it and is not willing to part with it) and try to figure it out -- and hope that I can do so in time.

I'm open to suggestions on how to streamline/organize the higher-education job search.

[Taylor]

A few years back (around 1997), I had a small booklet that contained the names and addresses of all colleges and universities in Taiwan. It was bi-lingual (English and Chinese, of course) so that made it very useful. It was published by the ministry of Education. Try going by their office, or giving them a call to see if this book is still available--in an updated version.

All of this information may be available on the internet by now. By the way, what's your general location? If someone knows of any schools, we might can point you in the right direction.

Be advised that the pay is no higher than average...except for the 'add on' programs that we hear of occasionally. Others can tell you more about these. I presume you have a masters degree, too.

Best wishes!

Taylor

[logician]