Job Discussion Forums

[jrwilheim]

Does anyone have any advice about the logistics of taking a TEFL job abroad, in terms of winding up your affairs in the States (or wherever) prior to departure? I don't want to jettison my belongings and apartment until I have a job through a recruiter. When you get a contract, does the school usually give you enough time to get your affairs in order to leave?

[Glenski]

Too general a question in some aspects. Pick a country.

"Logistics" as I see them.

You choose a country(ies) where you might like to work. Do the research from home on what sort of opportunities are there, what requirements are needed for work visas, and what the standard of living is like for a foreign teacher.

You then decide whether it is financially feasible to go there to job hunt, or if it is better to do that from your home country (or wherever you may be).

Choose one of the two options above, and proceed from there.

As for taking care of things at home, it can be terribly expensive to store belongings in a commercial storage facility. Insurance on your stuff will pretty much double the cost of storage. Unless you are dead certain about staying a very short time, I would highly recommend not storing in such a place, but finding a very trustworthy family member or friend to help out. Want to return to your car instead of selling it? Reduce your insurance payments for storage, maybe even put it up on blocks and drain the oil, otherwise someone should really drive it around once a month, but that means having some power of attorney in their hands. Banking also needs to be taken care of, and you again need a trusted person to help out.

Other considerations are preparing medications before you leave, spare eyeglasses or prescriptions, learning how to pack so as not to overstuff your suitcase (pack 2 seasons' worth, and have someone ship the rest later), and deciding what materials you want to take or ship (memorabilia as well as teaching materials).

[denise]

I agree about getting someone to look after your stuff.

Another thing that I made sure to do was get all of my monthly bills (credit cards and student loans) online. I also made sure that I could access my bank account online.

The hiring process varies a lot. I've taken a couple of jobs on fairly short notice (replacing teachers who left or simply failed to show up), but in both cases I had at least a couple of weeks before I left. Some places will give you a couple of months--e.g., if you get hired during the "normal" hiring period for a job that starts at the beginning of the academic term. My current job did its recruiting and hiring around May-ish for September starts.

I think the most important thing is to have someone back home (I rely on my parents and an ex-boyfriend--thanks, guys! ) who can take care of things that you may have forgotten--someone who can do things on your behalf, mail you anything that you need, etc.

d

[naturegirl321]

I'd be wary of going through recruiters, many of them aren't that good.

About winding up affairs, I was luck to have left right after graduation, so I didn't have a car, house, furniture, etc. All my stuff, what little I have left in the States is at my parents' house. Mainly papers, like tax forms, and photo albums.

Also before you go, find out what stuff is expensive in the country that you're going to be living in. For example, here in Peru, contact solution runs 24 USD, but in the States it's only 4 USD, so I stocked up last time I was there.

[merlin]

My "affairs" consist of a binder with all my important documents (certificates, recommendation letters, phone numbers, etc) - all waterproofed just in case.

I find it easier to just give my stuff away when I leave and just make sure nothing left behind in my name (cars for example).

It's great to unclutter your life of all that junk every 5-10 years.

Concentrate on the paperwork side. If you leave stuff behind with someone, no matter how much you trust them, just consider the stuff gone anyway. One year they'll leave your stuff alone, after two years they'll move it to a place where it'll get water damage. After three or four years they'll move and ditch your stuff on someone else and after five years you won't find a trace of it.

But if you're juts thinking of doing this ofr one year you'll probably find your stuff just the way you left it.