Job Discussion Forums

[spiral78]

It's pretty uncommon for good private language schools in Europe to hire from abroad. If a school's willing to offer you a contract sight-unseen, you should be suspicious. The standard throughout Europe is that the school director wants to see you there in his office, CV in hand, looking sober, responsible, and professional. All too many times in the past, schools were burned by 'teachers' who either didn't show up at all, or proved to have misrepresented themselves in some way when they did. A school that's offering contracts from abroad may very likely have a bad rep locally - maybe they don't pay/pay on time/fulfill contractual responsibilities/etc.

Another advantage of CELTA in the country where you want to teach is that the training centre should be able to help steer you to more reputable schools. And because you are there, you yourself can schedule as many interviews as you like, so that you can compare school facilities, form opinions about which directors will be good to work for, and talk to currently-employed teachers.

[denise]

I think you're more likely to be burned accepting a job from your home country. If you are in the country you want to teach in, you have access to ALL the schools and can check them out. From your home country, you only have the internet and the few schools that hire that way.

I've done it both ways--although I was only in country once, for my first job right after I got my TEFL certificate. I met the directors in person, saw the school, etc. And I had a choice--three schools to choose from.

I've also done phone interviews and accepted jobs that way. I've gotten some good jobs, but there was one dud in there too, one of those "they only hire from abroad because nobody already in the country will work for them." It was truly awful! The only good thing about it was that it allowed me to spend a winter in Chile with my snowboard.

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