Job Discussion Forums

[pila]

So I seem to be of the rare breed of young females who aim to go to Poland to teach. I'm looking to do the IH CELTA course in Krakow at the end of August and look for a job either there, Gdansk or Wroclaw directly afterward. According to everything I hear, that timing (job hunting in September) is best in order to secure multiple offers.

That said, through my research I've noted how few females I've heard of on this board. I've heard this is fairly indicative of the actual situation in Poland, and while it's not a real concern to me, I am curious if I'll really be on the outside of a boys club looking in. I'm also curious if my being a young female (albeit an American one) will help or hurt my chances on job offers, or if it won't make any difference at all.

My reasoning behind Poland as opposed to other places is I have Polish heritage (and the last time I was in Poland felt very integrated as I apparently look very Polish.) I'm a slavic junky and the Central European location is ideal to me, and ever since my first trip to PL in 2004, I wanted to live there and give it a try. I suppose I'm just trying to gauge if I'll really be on my own socially there.

For the record, I hold a BFA in Creative Writing and have been working on and off on my MFA in Arts Administration, not that this makes any difference, I know. I've taught at the college level before, have been working in a corporate publishing gig for the past couple years and am in my mid-twenties. I've lived abroad twice before and New England is starting to make my skin crawl again...

Any input?

Many thanks..

[scottie1113]

Hey pila,

I overlooked this thread until tonight.

I'm in my first year teaching in Gdansk so my reply will be limited to that city and to my experience in my school. I did my CELTA at Bell in Warsaw frim mid August ti mid September. During the course I heard of an opening at Bell in Gdansk so I interviewed on the Monday following the end of my course. The position had already been offerd to and accepted by another teacher but he hadn't answered any emails from the school in over a month so they waqnted to wait until the end of the week to see if they heard from him before offering me the job. Fair enough.

On Thursday he resurfaced and committed to the job, so on Sunday I trained to Gdansk prepared do a job search. On Monday I made appointments with several schools for various days during the week -the DOS isn't always available when you walk in cold-but on Tuesday morning I got a call from Bell asking id I was still available. The other guy had backed out at the last minute, and at 14.30 I was signing a contract.

September seems to be a good time to look for a job but you might want to make contact with some schools in your chosen city before that so they'll at least know who you are.

We had no staff changes until the end of January when two teachers left-both on good terms. The school had added a number of in-company classes so they also hired some more teachers, some on a full time basis and some part time, depending on the situation.

At my school women outnumber men, but a lot of them are Polish. I say them because I'm a guy. This ain't no boys club except for me, Vlad and Ross and I'm older than both of them put together. We've got a single Ukranian, a single Finn, and a single Aussie. The last two are our most recent additions. Oh, they're all women.

Being a young American woman shouldn't make any difference in finding a job, but you should find out from your school if they'll help you get a residency card. Mine did, but not all do. In December Poland joined the Schengen zone which means that a citizen of a non EU country can only stay here for 90 days out of 180.

There have been other posts on this forum about that subject and if you still lurk here you've probably read them, but you'll have to have at least 45 days left on your original 90 day visa when you apply, and to get a card you'll need a contract with your school and I had to show a lease agreement for my flat which you probably won't have until after you finish your CELTA. It's more difficult now but it's doable.

Best of luck to you. Are you still planning to come to Poland?