Job Discussion Forums

[Pauleddy]

Just got back from KL. Live in Thailand where I teach Uni.

I got a Masters and plenty of experience plus the usual celta plus BusEng Cert. I can teach Medical and Business as well as general.

I liked KL. Trouble is, where are the jobs posted? What's the scene, especially Uni jobs?

I am not looking for tin-pot or fly-by-night "Schools of English", although college (not uni) jobs may be welcomed.

Any hints? there are a few old threads on here but not a lot of info anywhere!

Eddy

[saint57]

As a foreigner there are three ways to work in KL outside of a language school:

1. International School.
2. Canadian Pre-University Programs (grade 12). Must be a qualified Canadian teacher.
3. Be a visiting lecturer/professor from a university in England or Australia.

If you managed to get the position you seek, it would pay less than a language school. You'd have to beat out every Malaysia and then get placed at the bottom of the local salary scale. I've seen the scale and it ain't pretty.

[Hod]

I just searched through some of Saint57�s other Malaysia posts, and I also checked his pretty good blogsite a while ago. He�s obviously making the best of Malaysia and fair play, but all this thou must get at least RM7000 a month to avoid a one way ticket to the soup kitchen is nonsense.

Apart from the BC, where it�s relatively easy to get a job, to get RM7000 in Malaysia means doing one of these:

1. International School � we're talking a year of study plus two years teaching in your home country to get this far.
2. Canadian Pre-University Programs (grade 12). Must be a qualified Canadian teacher � Non-Canadians need not apply I guess. Kind of narrows it down to 30 million or so. For the other 5.7 billion, we'll be in touch.
3. Be a visiting lecturer/professor from a university in England or Australia � there's more to life.

These options are closed to all but the career teacher. What about the people who would choose to do, say, five years of teaching before moving on and/or those who have secondary incomes who wouldn�t dream of spending decades in a classroom? For any of those, in the region of RM3500 a month would be a more than reasonable income.

I did a year in KL taking home RM3500 after rent, etc, and had a great time. We�re talking Bangsar bars, nightclubs, western food, etc etc. Granted, I never saved a penny, but I also never got into any debt. But on that money could I really scrape together enough to see the sights, meet the locals and explore all that Malaysia had to offer? Ask my missus who I met there, she�s Malaysian.

Each to their own.

[saint57]

If you have RM 3,500 in your pocket after all expenses then you're doing fine. As the previous poster mentioned, this would allow for a good lifestyle with no savings.

[micropiglet]

I have been in KL for two and a half years now. Two of those years were spent on Rm4000, before bills, rent, and sending 100 quid a month home to cover debts. I still ate out every night, went on holiday and did as I liked. Rm7000 is way above whats needed here.
I now earn much more, through moving to a new school, and find trhat the standard of living I can have is above anything I have found anywhere else. I live a fantastic life, with far more than I can spend each month!
By the way..."BC is an easy job to land??" No it aint!!!!

[Hod]

Not wishing by a long stretch to have a go at micropiglet, who is a decent person doing very well in a country I only wish I could be in now. I�m jealous in fact. But as for the BC being hard to get into, I have to butt right in.

The interview process revolves around something called competences. Over the phone they ask about your skills as an entrepreneur, team worker, organiser, negotiator, motivator and also if can you switch on a PC. They don�t, however, ask if you can teach, and this soon becomes apparent when you end up at the BC sat next to Miranda, the ICT YL Local Teachers� Christmas Party association Co-ordinator, who considers 20 hours or so teaching a week to be a major annoyance to their real daytime job(s)(s)(s)(s). Another problem I had with meeting fellow BC teachers around the world was that most truly believe they had somehow made it into the big time, what with all that four weeks of training all that. And who could blame them?

I long since left the BC but live now, as a non teacher, in a city with a BC which has not one single English teacher. It�s closing down next year. A lot of BC teachers who�ve bounced from country to country, the world being some sort of car park, will soon find themselves looking for employment in the real world.

[micropiglet]

Things are rather different now, and there are both an extremely competent teaching staff and management system in place.
I don't want to have an online scrap about this, but it is probably important that the information we post is up to date and relevant. Both the teacher you mention and the recruitment proceedures are unfamiliar to me.
Yes, competencies are used, and an organised system of developmental training is in place. I found the competencies to be an effective way to begin the application process.
A different opinion, but possibly a more recent one.

[TwinCentre]

[gugelhupf]

Just seen the crappiest salary for Malaysia ever posted on tefl.com. MYR2000 per month.

Advert was posted by some language school in Port Dickson (lovely place!) and it is perfectly clear from the advert that illegals are welcome to apply.

I thought Malaysia had at least some minimum standards.

[saint57]

I golf in Port Deekson all the time. We go to the golf course and leave. There is no reason to live in Port Deekson. RM 2,000 is a slap in the face.