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TG12345
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 41
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 Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:23 am Post subject: Is this for real or a gimmick? |
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Hi everyone,
I came across this website. Called 'TEFL Job Placement'. Supposedly they can find you a teaching job in any region of the world.
I don't have much experience with this, so I would like to hear your views.
Anyone have experience with 'TEFL Job Placement'? Can they really find you a job anywhere? Or is this a scam?
Thank you for your views and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Tomasz |
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TG12345
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 41
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:23 am Post subject: Re: Is this for real or a gimmick? |
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| TG12345 wrote: |
Hi everyone,
I came across this website. Called 'TEFL Job Placement'. Supposedly they can find you a teaching job in any region of the world.
http://www.tefljobplacement.com/
I don't have much experience with this, so I would like to hear your views.
Anyone have experience with 'TEFL Job Placement'? Can they really find you a job anywhere? Or is this a scam?
Thank you for your views and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Tomasz |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:20 am Post subject: |
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Linguatec has a name that rings a bell. Sounds professional, but be damned careful about the Terms and Conditions, regarding how you are "guaranteed" to get 100% of your money back, whether you use their training + placement service ($995), or just their placement service ($620):
| Quote: |
| 2. As part of our screening and application process, applicants are required to complete the TEFL Job Placement application in full. |
One question says, Which of these conditions is most important for your assignment? You can select any or all of 6 choices (none including salary), but one of the 6 (location) is listed TWICE!
One question says, How long of a teaching post
interests you?* Your choices are 12+months, 9 months, 6 months. The asterisk footnote is easily traced to this message: *Please note that minimum commitment varies by country. Not all placement lengths are available in all locations. So, if you choose 6 months, and the country you want to work in doesn't have such contracts, tough beans. You won't have a job placement, nor will you get your money back.
| Quote: |
| 3. TEFL Job Placement applications require payment in full of the $995 or $620 job placement fee. This fee is 100% refundable if a job offer is not attained in three months time from your chosen start date or from completion of the TEFL Online course, whichever is later. |
Timing is essential here. As the fine print on the web sites declares, when you choose to look for work can make or break the hunt. Choose a bad time, and end up with nothing, and BL won't care. You lose your money.
| Quote: |
4. TEFL Job Placement will not reimburse any of the program fee under the following circumstances:
A. you do not complete the TEFL Online course
successfully (below grade B).
B. you do not accept a job after receiving two offers
arranged through TEFL Job Placement.
C. you resign early from the teaching position before
your contract has ended.
D. you are terminated with cause from a teaching post
before your contract has ended. |
Ok, so they need to list some disclaimers, and these seem relatively innocuous. However, for item B (red), 2 offers seems a tad skimpy, especially for the amount of money you pay. Moreover, look below...
| Quote: |
5. TEFL Job Placement requires that you be TEFL certified, or that you satisfactorily complete the TEFL Online course (Grade B or higher).
A. If, after your full application has been submitted and,
if applicable, your satisfactory completion of TEFL Online
certification, TEFL Job Placement attains two reasonable
paid EFL teaching offers for you, TEFL Job Placement will
deem that all of our responsibilities to you have been met
in full, will retain all fees paid, and will assume no further
obligation to provide job placement services to you. |
So, they will attempt (not guarantee, but attempt) to find only 2 places anyway!
Note how I have color-coded the information above. I did that because the sentence is complex. Removing the "after" clause and the "if applicable" clause, you have the following sentence...
If TEFL Job Placement attains two reasonable paid EFL teaching offers for you, TEFL Job Placement will deem that all of our responsibilities to you have been met in full, will retain all fees paid...So, they aren't making any guarantee at all about finding a job, are they? "IF THEY FIND 2 JOBS" is what it says.
Moreover, what does "reasonable paid" mean? If you don't agree that they offer reasonable salaries, will they look for 2 more, or does it simply void the "guarantee"?
Lastly, look at this paragraph from Release of Liability (another just category):
| Quote: |
| Further, I hereby grant full permission to BL to use any photographs, videotapes, motion pictures, website images, recordings, comments I make in questionnaires or letters or any other record of the program for purposes of commercial advertising, marketing or promotional literature without the need for further consent from me. |
So, you can make teaching materials or have your face photographed, and they can use the stuff in any way they want, even if you are a dissatisfied customer. No thanks. |
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TG12345
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 41
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:33 pm Post subject: Wow |
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| Glenski wrote: |
Linguatec has a name that rings a bell. Sounds professional, but be damned careful about the Terms and Conditions, regarding how you are "guaranteed" to get 100% of your money back, whether you use their training + placement service ($995), or just their placement service ($620):
| Quote: |
| 2. As part of our screening and application process, applicants are required to complete the TEFL Job Placement application in full. |
One question says, Which of these conditions is most important for your assignment? You can select any or all of 6 choices (none including salary), but one of the 6 (location) is listed TWICE!
One question says, How long of a teaching post
interests you?* Your choices are 12+months, 9 months, 6 months. The asterisk footnote is easily traced to this message: *Please note that minimum commitment varies by country. Not all placement lengths are available in all locations. So, if you choose 6 months, and the country you want to work in doesn't have such contracts, tough beans. You won't have a job placement, nor will you get your money back.
| Quote: |
| 3. TEFL Job Placement applications require payment in full of the $995 or $620 job placement fee. This fee is 100% refundable if a job offer is not attained in three months time from your chosen start date or from completion of the TEFL Online course, whichever is later. |
Timing is essential here. As the fine print on the web sites declares, when you choose to look for work can make or break the hunt. Choose a bad time, and end up with nothing, and BL won't care. You lose your money.
| Quote: |
4. TEFL Job Placement will not reimburse any of the program fee under the following circumstances:
A. you do not complete the TEFL Online course
successfully (below grade B).
B. you do not accept a job after receiving two offers
arranged through TEFL Job Placement.
C. you resign early from the teaching position before
your contract has ended.
D. you are terminated with cause from a teaching post
before your contract has ended. |
Ok, so they need to list some disclaimers, and these seem relatively innocuous. However, for item B (red), 2 offers seems a tad skimpy, especially for the amount of money you pay. Moreover, look below...
| Quote: |
5. TEFL Job Placement requires that you be TEFL certified, or that you satisfactorily complete the TEFL Online course (Grade B or higher).
A. If, after your full application has been submitted and,
if applicable, your satisfactory completion of TEFL Online
certification, TEFL Job Placement attains two reasonable
paid EFL teaching offers for you, TEFL Job Placement will
deem that all of our responsibilities to you have been met
in full, will retain all fees paid, and will assume no further
obligation to provide job placement services to you. |
So, they will attempt (not guarantee, but attempt) to find only 2 places anyway!
Note how I have color-coded the information above. I did that because the sentence is complex. Removing the "after" clause and the "if applicable" clause, you have the following sentence...
If TEFL Job Placement attains two reasonable paid EFL teaching offers for you, TEFL Job Placement will deem that all of our responsibilities to you have been met in full, will retain all fees paid...So, they aren't making any guarantee at all about finding a job, are they? "IF THEY FIND 2 JOBS" is what it says.
Moreover, what does "reasonable paid" mean? If you don't agree that they offer reasonable salaries, will they look for 2 more, or does it simply void the "guarantee"?
Lastly, look at this paragraph from Release of Liability (another just category):
| Quote: |
| Further, I hereby grant full permission to BL to use any photographs, videotapes, motion pictures, website images, recordings, comments I make in questionnaires or letters or any other record of the program for purposes of commercial advertising, marketing or promotional literature without the need for further consent from me. |
So, you can make teaching materials or have your face photographed, and they can use the stuff in any way they want, even if you are a dissatisfied customer. No thanks. |
Glenski,
Thank you so much for looking into this obviously much more than I did, and for sharing some of what you found. Their 'Terms and Conditions' seem designed to get money out of people and then hang them out to dry. I will have to learn to read these things more carefully in the future.
Thank you again.
Regards,
Tomasz |
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CJF
Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 28
Location: Wuxi
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject: Illegal if UK based |
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I note from the web-site of these people that they offer a UK -0800-tel. number as well as a US number.
If this company has any part of their operations (or perform any service which is connected to their business ) in the UK they would be acting illegally.
Their operation is that of an Employment Agency and they are expressly forbidden by law to solicit any payment from persons seeking employment through their Agency.
NEVER agree to pay ANY recruiter a fee to place you in a job. They get their money from the employer. Any demand for money from you is a scam designed to cheat you.
Last edited by CJF on Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jizzo T. Clown
Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 668
Location: performing in a classroom near you!
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| Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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Agreed. Never pay anyone to find you a job. The Internet is your best source for finding work overseas, especially sites like this one.
Even so, you'll still have to do lots of research on any potential employer to ensure you don't get more (or less) than you bargained for. This field will make you both skeptical and assertive fairly quickly. |
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comenius
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 124
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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I agree, paying someone to get a job teaching English seems ridiculous, especially given the sheer number of jobs available.
And the point about carefully researching any potential employer before committing is spot on. If you feel you must get a job before you go to a country, make sure you really check out the school and its reputation, especially with current or former teachers. |
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burngirl
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| If this helps at all, I've been in contact with them about this. I was thinking of taking their TESOL course or a CELTA with them, and in both cases the job placement comes at no extra cost, for as long as you need it - they told me if I wanted to keep asking them for help finding a job, in the years to come, I'd still be able to use the service and the connections that they have. I'm well aware that there must be several catches - Glenski has pointed out several touchy points - but I was looking for it more as having support than a job guarantee (working through their contacts in order to have a better chance at landing in a "good" school). I also asked them if they were similar to recruiters, and was told that they are definitely not, that they receive no external compensation for the work that they do. They are paid by the students, and thus work primarily in the students' interest. And that is as much as I have found out in a week's worth of emailing. |
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