Job Discussion Forums

[smedini]

Hey all (again!)

I'm wondering just how easy it is to get a job, a good one, in the UAE. I've worked overseas before and have been hoping to go to Dubai for sometime now, and now that I'm finally ready to start applying, I'm a little panicked that I might not get a good offer.

Can you guys give me some idea of your qualifications and how long it took you to find work?

Thanks!

[veiledsentiments]

How will you find out without doing it?

To get the good jobs, you need both educational credentials and experience. Are you looking for university or K-12 in an international school?

Lots of info here on the good and bad employers.

VS

[Danica]

I would be interested in this too. I am a primary teacher with Bachelor of Teaching in New Zealand I have 3 years teaching experience and I have many ESL children in my current class. I would be teaching K-?

Thanks

[veiledsentiments]

I'd suggest spending a few hours reading around here and see what is being said about various schools. The lower your credentials and experience, the harder to get in with the better employers. Most EFL jobs are at university level, but there are plenty of places that sell themselves as 'international schools' that teach in English. They charge a high tuition to the children and their main goal is butts on seats. Teacher satisfaction is not high at many (most?) of these places. The best employers at this level tend to be the schools where the diplomatic and other expat kids attend. They have the most dependable systems and managements (and salaries and benefits), but they tend to hire their own nationals first, so that means that your chances drop.

The government is in the process of trying to re-organize their system and expand and improve English teaching. There are threads on this on this page, but it is new and untried. Thus while the pay and benefits look good, the conditions are still a question mark... and based on past history, probably fraught with problems for the next couple years.

That is just general advice... read around and you may come up with more specific questions.

VS

[stoth1972]

Danica, with a teaching qualification from NZ and your experience, I'm sure you'd be a good candidate at many schools. This isn't prime hiring time, but there are certainly still schools that are looking or will be looking in this next month.