Job Discussion Forums

[thrifty]

[sheeba]

Quote:
Training skills - - if you can speak to a class of 50 whose L1 is completely different to yours - - AND MAKE THEM SOMEHOW UNDESTAND - - then surely you can conduct training sessions in such-and-such job back home.


Could you give some examples of jobs where this could be helpful? Most training sessions back home would be with fairly competent English speakers so I don't see how your ESL experience could be put to use in this case.

[sheeba]

[coffeedrinker]

I guess the trick would be applying skills you learned in TEFL in a different situation...checking that a group you might be training is following you, thinking logically about how to present something that is basic knowledge to you but that is new to others, being able to explain things in different ways to people who don't understand one way.

[cam]

[Gregor]

I was a DoS for a while. If you take that route and are successful, you have management experience, but even that isn't going to get you far. When I went back to the U.S, I found office manager jobs, worth about $30k/year to start, which isn't that bad, but not that great, either.

I found work in a language mill-type place in San Francisco and I worked there for a little while. Those may be few and far between, but they exist. I didn't like it, though. For one, they wouldn't offer me full time with benefits until I'd been there a LONG TIME (I don't remember how long), and though the pay was about $22/hour, San Francisco is a VERY expensive city to live in. So I left.

I tried Monster.com, and all I was able to find was insurance sales jobs.

But I'm not complaining. I have no problem living abroad and working in ESL forever. I know, a lot of y'all are saying that the ESL market is going to dry up and I'll be penniless in another year or whatever.
Maybe. But I don't think so, and anyway, what kind of life do you have living in this paranoia? You can't tell what's going to happen. I LIKE living in China, I LIKE teaching ESL, and I make pretty good money doing it. That is to say, I have a nice place to live, never have to worry about paying my bills, and I can do pretty much whatever I (reasonably) want to do.
I guess I'm lucky. Growing up, I was trailer trash. I hate my family, and have no real ties to my country, so this is a pretty good option. "Going home" is not really an issue.

What you can do while teaching abroad is take advantage of the time and expand yourself. Take online or correspondence courses. LEARN IT or study for an MBA or something. What the hell? Just keep doing this and get further training in whatever you want, and then you'll have some sort of job training to take back with you.
I'M not doing that, but I COULD.

[shuize]

[jr1965]

[jr1965]

One more thing to add:

As other posters have pointed out, PowerPoint is NOT an "IT skill" (so please don't list it as such on a resume or say something like this in an interview; you'll be laughed out the door). Also, when people talk about "corporate training," again, it's important to think specifics. What exactly would you be training people to do? What is your level of expertise in this area? If you'd be training others to use a product, for example, How much do you know about that product? Have you ever used it? Have you ever trained others to use it? I'd really encourage you, as another poster suggested, to go and look at sites like criagslist.org, or moster.com, or others wherever you're at; do a search for "trainer" or "corporate trainer" and see what returns. 9 times out of 10, you will need some experience with the product or some background in the field�unless it's an entry-level position. Which is fine. That's a great way to learn new skills. You just need to manage your expectations and be prepared to work hard for not as much pay at first.

[DainaJ]

Hi clock,

When my husband looked for a job after our stint as teaching assistants in Austria (I was going back to school), he listed pretty much the same things you did on his resume: flexibility, multitasking, organizational skills, working in a multicultural/multilingual environment, etc. He ended up getting a job in a local, family-owned bank as a teller, but was a branch manager within a year. It was not the big bucks, but definitely a field he could have worked his way up in had he stayed in it. As it turned out he ended up teaching again and is now studying for his MEd. because that is what he really wants to do.

The way I see it, there are jobs where you need a specific degree or training and then can start earning pretty good money right away (engineers, lawyers, etc.) If you don't have that kind of degree/training and don't want to go back to school, then there are entry-level jobs requiring basic skills - the trick is to find something you don't mind doing with an upward career path. Bank teller is just one example. Heck, if you work at Starbucks you can become an assistant manager, store manager, regional manager, trainer, too. Same thing goes for office workers - receptionist, secretary, office manager, executive assistant, etc.

Incidentally, if you picked up fluency in the language of the country where you taught, that may open up interesting possibilities - import/export, a job in a subsidiary of one of that country's companies, airline work, etc.

Just depends on what you want to do. Don't listen to arbitrary figures on what is "enough" money. Decide that for yourself. If you decide you want the big bucks, then go back to law school or whatever. If you decide you're fine with a moderate income, keep teaching or find something else low key that you like to do. It's a personal preference.

Good luck to you! I think you're asking the right questions.

[Crab]

[DainaJ]

Excellent post, crab! Always think two steps ahead is really good advice.

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

[Deicide]

[gaijinalways]

I'm impressed Crab, you sound like you worked yourself into an ideal university post and made the best of both working in Japan and moving back to Canada. I need to get going on publishing as well, and trying to present more often.