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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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 Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| "Mid-life Crises" is just psycho-babble used by OTHERS to minimize and belittle what YOU would like to do. |
I could not agree more even though I have not reached that point yet.
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| Deep down, maybe I just want to take a break from work and go see and experience all these places I have studied my whole life. |
Here is the real tale. I am sorry if I am wrong but it seems that TelcoPro is trying to justify his dream of going abroad and teaching ESL by trying to find reasons that doing this will further his career in the future. I am guessing that maybe deep down he is afraid that his friends and family will try to belittle him for moving to some country and working for $600 U.S. a month. To many, moving to some foreign country to teach English seems a little strange. Making the break from what others expect seperates the people who do from the one's that only dream. It is amazing how some people wonder how I have been all over the world and I am only 26. Simple as this, I work as hard as I can to pursue my dreams and don't give a rats as# about what other people expect me to do.
TelcoPro, if I am wrong I am sorry. I have never met you and am not making fun of you. From your responces, this my take on your situtation. |
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thrifty
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
Posts: 1665
Location: chip van
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| Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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| TelcoPro wrote: |
Tedkarma,
Thanks for your response. Do you believe that if you had so desired, you would have been successful leveraging your new contacts, language skills and cultural knowledge, to advance your business career?
Thrifty,
Thank you for sharing.
I am not sure I understand your response.
I would not expect my experience as a teacher of EFL to have any bearing on my potential employment with a multinational telecommunications company at the executive level. Conversely, I would place no value on your teaching experience if you applied for a position with me to run a major build of a wireless network.
However, if you were fluent in English and Mandarin, adept at Chinese business culture and have over 15 years of demonstrated success in the telecommunications industry, I would very much like to hire you.
Huawei, for example, is one of the largest telecommunication equipment manufactures in the world. They have offices all over Asia and Europe. They are trying to break the US market now. Someone with years of experience in the US market, who brings hundreds of valuable contacts at wireless carriers and related industries, that could also interact with their own corpoeate people on an executive level would have to have incredible value to them.
How many of your contacts have executive positions in China?
Why TEFL and not work for Huawei?
Why post on here when nobody knows anything about your industry?
Ask about low paid entry level positons that have little future and you will find a wealth of information here.
I could be wrong, of course, but I don't think so. However, that is why I am here, doing some research and learning a few things. |
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TelcoPro
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Posts: 7
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the input.
JZer, your points probably have some validity. However, the expectations are that which I place on myself, not placed on me by others. In some way, I am sure I am looking for a way to give myself permission to do what it is I really want to do. (If that makes any sense)
Deep down, it bothers me that I am in my 40's and have never been outside North America, even though I love to study the culture of all these places.
Sometimes I feel like an indoor cat, watching the world go by from the kitchen window. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Sometimes I feel like an indoor cat, watching the world go by from the kitchen window. |
Then jump ship ASAP and start living life. You may end up like tedkarma and never look back.
You might want to try doing a TEFL certificate if you have some time on the weekends.
I am not sure where you live but it may be possible to do one on the weekend. This way you could learn a little about this line of work and maybe meet some other people who are looking to make a career change. |
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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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| Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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TelcoPro,
I was 39 when I joined the Peace Corps - 42 when I took my first TEFL job in Korea. It completely, positively and wonderfully changed my life. Don't worry about your age. It means nothing other than that you are even MORE ready to go.
Before that time, I had only been to Mexico - but I grew up living only a couple hours from Mexico.
Since that time 16 countries - and most on extended travel time - not the short vacations one gets back home. But . . . that is TEFL, if you want to stay in the business world - count on the short vacations! But we all must do what we know and love.
There are many people, much older, heading out into the world. |
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