Job Discussion Forums

[YakTamer]

Like Simon, I'll be heading out to Poland in a week's time to look for work. The only difference is that I'm heading for Warsaw instead of Krak�w.

After trawling through the forum (and a couple of other places), I've come up with a provisional list of schools which are reckoned to be decent places to work.

Lang LTC
Resource
Language For Business
ACT
Future Centre
Language Union (?)
Langus
Lingua Nova (ok)

The top 4 seem to be the most positive, the others I'm less certain about but they still should be worth approaching.

I've left out the ones everyone's heard of - IH, Bell, British Council - as I'm unlikely to get in to those without prior experience (and IH is also reckoned to be a poor payer).

So does anyone have any other schools they would like to add to this list?
As the heading says, I've a CELTA but no experience.

I thought it would make sense to pitch more towards business-related schools as I have a background in finance/banking from my previous career (mostly on the technology side but I've worked as an analyst as well and have a good understanding of those areas).

Also, am I right in thinking that 45PLN/45m lesson is a reasonable rate for a CELTA newbie in Warsaw? I don't want to price myself out of the market so I'm prepared to be realistic for the first year.

Cheers.

[Alex Shulgin]

IH has gone bust in Warsaw.

The top four on your list are all schools which I know the owners/managers of. You can't go wrong with any of them. They are all good choices. I have never heard of any teacher having any problems with any of them in all the years I've been here.

You're not too far off with that pay rate if you mean gross rate. But you should ask for 50 gross for classes which are not in blocks, they'll come back at you with about 45, settle in the middle.

[YakTamer]

Alex, thanks for the reply. The thing about the blocks is a good idea.

I'm still open to suggestions from others but in the meantime I'll start with those four schools at the top.

PS: Don't tell me IH Warsaw went bust because they paid their staff too much!

[YakTamer]

It must be the dog days of August that's keeping people quiet so I'll copy a list from another thread that was provided by Bialonoz. This thread had much promise before getting hijacked by an off topic poster. It can be found here:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=31295

The British Council (very good)
Mike Mills' School (very good)
Resource (very good)
ACT (very good)
Metropilitan College (good)
Discordia (fairly good)
Lang LTC (fairly good)
Language for Business (sometines ok, sometimes not)
Target (not so good)
Teller (good in parts - is it still going?)
Warsaw Study Centre (not so good)
Native Speaker Agency (not at all good)
Didier School (the less said the better)
--

Hopefully this will kickstart more responses!

[Alex Shulgin]

Some changes:
Metropilitan College (avoid)
Lang LTC (very good)
Target (avoid)
Warsaw Study Centre (reasonable to quite good)

[YakTamer]

Having looked at the websites, most of the schools mentioned as good say they require previous formal teaching experience.

Maybe I ought to lower the radar to a category of 'not quite terrible schools willing to take newbie'?

Or are they less stringent for native speakers?

[Pollux]

Don't sell yourself short.

I think you should spend some time writing your cover letter. Since your CV is lean, you should concentrate on your letter. You can land a decent job even if your quals are basic.

[Alex Shulgin]

[cezarek]

Avoid the Future Centre, Global, and Voice.

The British Council prefer a DELTA. Mike Mills and Resource (probably the best schools in Poland) want experience.

English First is recruiting, but people say it's a bit funny to work for.

[Bialonoz]

I work with a few language for business part timers who say the pay is ok, but the people are strange. At your own risk.

[YakTamer]

A couple more questions:

1) I understand that if you're British you don't need a work permit. Given this , and that I'm specifically going there to look for work, do I need to be careful to say to Customs that I'm visiting as a tourist? I know that some countries get antsy if you declare your reason of entry as looking for employment, and therefore many people say' tourist' then go straight into the jobhunt.

2) I've sent a few CVs off via the net. I wondered whether it was worth holding fire on sending any more and waiting until I get there (next monday), when I can tramp round the schools and hand them in personally. Perhaps the schools are in a somnolescent state for the next couple of weeks and I should wait until September before activating the jobhunt in earnest?

[Alex Shulgin]

[dan_m]

Can you get a job for the second semester or do tou have to start a contract there in Sep?