Job Discussion Forums

[Omeo]

How hard is it to find a new job in a new country while you're abroad? Say I'm teaching in Japan and I wanna teach in Brazil when my contract is up. How hard is it to arrange that? Is it possible to skip from one job to the next without coming back home for very long? Is it a good idea to come home every couple years or so? What kind of jobs do people do when they come home between their teaching jobs abroad? Sorry to ask so much in one post. Thanx in advance for the replies.

[Cdaniels]

Omeo, there is a "search" button next to the FAQ button, underneath the Job Discussion Forums and the Dave's ESL motto. I can answer ALL of your questions so far with "It Depends..." The Japan-Brazil thing is a good effort at being more specific. I can safely say that a lot of ESL teachers do this kind of thing. Japan then Brazil is actually a good combination. But first I'd recommend getting a book like "Gambatte Means Go for It" Then get on a specific country forum and ask questions like "I've read such-and-such, but I want to know..."

[ls650]

I had my Mexico job set up before I completed my one-year contract in Indonesia. I flew to my home country for a couple of weeks to visit my family and friends before starting in Mexico.

Although it's a plum job, sometimes I wish I'd taken more time off to just kick back and relax before starting the new job....

[tedkarma]

Uh, as someone said above, "It depends . . .".

The only time I've needed to go home between jobs was before I went to Saudi Arabia. Part of that was that the interview was in the States and the other part was that the pre-employment stuff to get the visa was time consuming and a bit of a hassle. Otherwise, I went from Korea to Taiwan, Saudi to Thailand, Thailand to Korea, and will soon return to Thailand - all without going home. I did fly to Thailand first as no one takes you seriously there unless you are in the country.

Networking helps - you WILL meet many people in this business who end up working places you might like to go. Try to keep in touch - and over time you can move about from place to place pretty easily.

Don't burn your bridges - leave everywhere with a smile and a handshake - you never know when you might want to go back - even to the craziest of places.

Really, with the internet nowadays - there is no real reason why you would need to go "home" between jobs as much just heading to your new location to job hunt - if you haven't lined up work before your designated time to go.

[denise]

It�s doable, even easy. I got my job in Japan while I was in the US, my job in Chile while I was in Japan, and my job in Peru while I was in Chile. With maybe 8 days back in the US to relax in between.

As far as whether or not it�s a good idea to return, well, I echo the folks who have said, "it depends." What job would you do? Would you feel alienated by the culture back home? If you got settled in, would it be difficult for you to leave again? Only you can answer those questions.

d

[Gregor]

There may be extenuating circumstances from one country to the next, or with a particular job.
But you can find a lot of work pretty much anywhere on the Internet, and the fact that you're NOT back home is often taken as an indication that you are experienced and have already shown yourself to be capable of dealing with a foreign country.
That's how I've always sold it and how I've always been treated.
I went from California to Mexico to Lebanon to Mexico again to Indonesia to China without having to "go home."
In some of those cases, I DID go home, but I'd secured the job before-hand and could easily have skipped the U.S. step. It's the passport's origin, not that flight's, that counts.

[Chris_Crossley]

Country- or even continent-hopping is something that I haven't experienced in my TEFL career (4 years so far and counting), since I have been in China since late October 2001 with only an 8-week break back home (when I tried, but failed, to get a job there, so back I came!).

As already mentioned, it should not be much of a problem doing this, considering how handy the Internet is. After all, it is as likely as not that you might find your job through the net when you are at home, so you could certainly find your next job when you are already in the final stages of your current one. Hence, there is no reason whatsoever why one cannot go from Japan to Brazil - just one big ocean in between them (via Hawaii, I guess!).

If one really wants to go back home for a little bit to visit family and friends, that is OK, of course, but, under such circumstances, make sure that you know what the position is regarding reimbursement of flight fares. If your next employer is prepared to reimburse you from your country of origin ONLY, then you will obviously have to fly there first. In that case, make sure your soon-to-be-ex-employer is going to reimburse you for going home first - or, better still, buy the actual flight ticket! Hence, it pays not to get up the employers' noses!

Experience abroad seems to be an invaluable tool on people's resumes, since, as some poster stated, it does show that you are adaptable to new situations and remain in place for an extended period of time. Hence, if you can stay away from home for years, that would certainly look good, though beware of staying away for TOO long; some suspicious employer or HR recruiter may believe that you have a criminal conviction, jumped bail or something. I once met a 50-something man (not a fellow employee) who claimed that he had not been back home for more than 15 years and had no desire ever to go back, not even for a vacation. I did not question him as to why he felt that way, but it did arouse my suspicion at the time.

Otherwise: Do the country-hopping thing! As for me, with a wife, a kid and a mortgage, I don't think I'll be country-hopping in the near future!

[Omeo]

Hye! Thanx for the good replies. It looks like arranging a new job is apparently not difficult. What about interviews, though? Can you really arrange a new job in all these different countries without actually going there for an interview? It seemed to me, from all my readings about finding a job, that most of the schools want you to come talk to them at least once and they're not eager to hire someone they've never seen. Not so? Thanx again, guys.

[denise]

Phone interviews are fairly common. They�re not ideal for either party, but they�re a lot easier than having to fly somewhere!

d

[Chris_Crossley]

Denise is absolutely correct when she states that telephone interviews are quite common nowadays.

When I was back in the U.K. two years ago (after spending two years in Wuhan, China), seeking (in vain) to get a job there, I realised that I was getting nowhere, so I applied for a job at a school in Shanghai via the Internet. The interview was by telephone, though I needed to send in electronically scanned documents such as my passport page.

The scan of this page is needed to make sure in the school authorities' mind that you don't look frightening, scruffy, have tattoos over your eyes or on your forehead, etc, etc. I was duly offered the position at that school and flew over to Shanghai within three weeks.

Unfortunately, the job did not work out, so, after just over half a month, I went back to my Chinese "hometown" of Wuhan, since my wife was expecting our daughter at the time. I have remained in Wuhan ever since, but I now have a much better (as well as a much better-paid) job (teaching EAP to would-be postgraduates) than I believe I ever could have done in Shanghai as a TEFLer.

Hence, make sure you have a daytime contact number, even if it is your mobile/cellphone, if you have one. If you use your cellphone, make sure that you have lots of credit left so the call does not get cut off during the (long-distance) interview! That could be highly embarrassing and may even lead to the employer not offering you a job, but don't quote me on that... (Not that this has ever happened to me..!)

[Omeo]

Hey, everybody. Thanx for the replies, so far; they've been very helpful. I have to ask about VISAs, though. I just spent an hour or so scanning the sitefor information on VISAs and it's surprizingly not easy to find; particularly where it relates to my particular circumstances and interests. I'm finishing up a four-year degree at a state university in Minnesota, after which I intend to find a TEFL course somewhere abroad. When I've completed that, I wish to work in Europe, Japan, and Central and South America (preferably Brazil) First of all, which VISA do I need to work in these places? Do I need a Work VISA or do I start out with a Tourist VISA and switch it to a Work VISA later or what? Second, How do I get any kind of VISA before I finish my certification course if I'm taking it in another country? Third, if I'm working in Japan, how do I get a VISA to work in Brazil? Don't you have to apply for all your VISAs from your native country? Do some of these countries help you get your VISA after they've hired you? Sorry to ask so much at once, but I need to know how this whole VISA thing works and I actually had a tough time finding the specific kind of information I was looking for as I scoured the site earlier. I'm hoping somebody can point me in the right direction; maybe with a link or something. Thanx again, guys. I appreciate all this help.

[Glenski]

First of all, with the all-caps spelling, VISA means credit card. Use lower case "visa" for the permission to stay in a foreign country.

Secondly, here is a ton of info on visas in Japan. Yes, you need a visa to stay here longer than 90 days and to work here, but which visa you get depends on the circumstances.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/index.html

Thirdly, you need a bachelor's degree or 3 years of teaching experience to get a work visa in Japan.

[denise]

Many EU nations will be off-limits since you�re from the US. (I know, it stinks! I�d love to work in Europe!) As for the rest... that should be something that you take up with your employer. In some cases, you will get offered a job, get started on the paperwork before you arrive, arrive on a tourist visa with the proper visa "in progress," and finish the paperwork and get the actual visa once you�re actually there. Some jobs may be able to do it all for you beforehand--definitely find out before hopping on a plane!

d

[Perpetual Traveller]

Something to remember about visa processing is that you may need to give up your passport for a month or two while this is occurring. Can be a problem if you'd planned to do any travelling in the meantime.

PT

[denise]