Job Discussion Forums

[glimmer]

Are there any suggestions for preparing a TESOL resume for the international market (specifically China/Japan)?

[Glenski]

As far as I know, there is no "international standard". Ask about the two countries you intend to visit by posing your questions in their respective forums. (Please do a search first, though, as I know this has been covered extensively in the Japan forum!)

[naturegirl321]

Make sure you have a PROFESSIONAL photo. No tourtist shots, or with friends or model shots. Look like a teacher in the photo

[cspitzig]

What do you mean "look like a teacher"? I got someone who knows about photography to take a picture of me, but he wasn't a professional photographer. I was in a suit. Just a headshot, with just my wall as the background. Does that sound like it would be good?

[spiral78]

So long as you look like a professional - you don't have to have a professional photographer take the shot.

[naturegirl321]

sounds good. I just mean that I-ve seen people posing like they would put the photo in their album rather than on their CV

[tedkarma]

Along with some rather obvious recommendations such as the good photo - get yourself a professional - or at least non-offensive - email address.

I've seen resumes with neat addresses like hots*[email protected] This for someone applying to teach children . . . Think they got the job?

Perhaps [email protected] might be better?

[glimmer]

Yeah, I think I can manage a decent photo and email address but I couldn't find any resume formatting advice in the Asian forums.

The short TESOL course I took had some rather idiosyncratic advice on preparing resumes, such as "don't include the dates of your qualifications or work experience", which is pretty different from your everyday CV preparation.

[tedkarma]

I used to keep my resume and a long information page online and could point people to it - but privacy issues came up so . . .

Anyway - I don't know that I agree with the "no dates of your qualifications" (or work) idea. There are problems in many places of the world with people who have fraudulent credentials - and being unclear about yours may well raise suspicions about their validity.

When I was a TEFL Cert trainer I always told be people to build their resumes with what qualified them for the specific job they are applying for at the top. When someone is sorting through many resumes - the first thing they want to know is if they should waste their time looking at yours.

This notion may be why there is no real set format - because schools are looking for different things.

On my resume - top left: photo - top right: address.

First thing below all that - training and qualifications by most relevant to the position. Below that: positions in reverse chrono (most recent first).

Sorry no set form to plug info in to . . .

[spiral78]

I keep my resume/CV to a single page by limiting work experience to that related to the job.

[glimmer]

[Guy Courchesne]

Ah, the good 'Dr.' Appleton. Haven't seen that name in a bit...where is he hiding these days? Somewhere without an extradition treaty I assume.

[glimmer]

AFAIK, he's not in New Zealand

The web site of T&T's head office (Canada, I believe) vanished a couple of years ago and the NZ branch changed its name to Teach International. Appleton is not mentioned anywhere on their new web site.

[Guy Courchesne]

The good doctor is from my hometown I'm afraid. Veterans in Mexico also know his antics well from early in this decade.

[MO39]