Job Discussion Forums

[sheilabocchine]

Hello!

I've been lurking and reading everything possible on these forums for weeks now.

I'm very excited to teach English in SE Asia. I have 3 interviews with recruiters coming up and I'd like to compile a list of questions to ask them about about schools, contracts, spouse visas, living situations, etc.

I feel like my brain has so much information right now that I can't really think of the right questions to ask.

I've also read quite a bit of info about recruiters and I feel because I've never been to SE Asia, that is this best route for me.

I'm 29 years old, have my BA in photojournalism and my master's degree in arts and cultural management. Unfortunately I still owe the school a little money so I don't have that diploma to show them, but the director of the program said she'll write a letter saying that I did indeed graduate. I'm also getting married next month, so my soon to be husband will also be coming with me.

Just a little info about me in case that makes a difference in the kinds of questions I'll need to ask.

I look forward to getting to you know you all and sharing my experiences.

Have a wonderful day,
Sheila

[Jati]

Want to come and teach journalism (including photo-journalism) in Malaysia, rather than TESL? Seriously.

My college is one of the few private ones in the country that offers journalism. And since we just changed our name to "......International College", the administrators are looking to hire a few more non-Malaysian lecturers.

Presently they have me and a Jordanian, who teaches Arabic. I teach engineering in Malay, not TESL. Teaching content subjects is so much more interesting than teaching English as a subject.

The journalism is part of a diploma program that uses English as the medium of instruction, but you wouldn't be teaching English but journalism. (As an aside: most colleges focus upon business and computer science -the Big Two- and a few add in engineering and art & design. Very few private colleges offer courses outside these subjects.)

Okay, what to ask recruiters?

1. What are the colleges looking for? Are they looking for TESL-trained, certified, experienced teachers, or can they get by with people who have degrees in other areas? If the latter is true, I suspect that they are looking for 'Conversational English' teachers which is the bottom-of-the-barrel, but at least a way to get started in Asia.

2. Tell them that you are really interested in teaching journalism and see what they have on offer. Again, I have done both and much rather enjoy teaching content subjects.

3. Can they place you and your spouse in the same school, or in schools nearby?

4. Of course, other questions will revolve around:
-Do they provide housing? Can you opt to find your own housing and then have them subsidise it for you?
-Do they provide medical insurance? If so, what type of hospital do they insist that you use?
-How is salary paid? In local currency; in foreign currency; in poker chips at the local casino?
-Vacation allowances?
-Language classes for the local dialect?
-Do they provide an airline ticket to and from the country?

How does your future spouse feel about this move? Will he be a 'trailing spouse' or does he have plans to work there also? This issue is not to be taken lightly, of course.

Good luck.

[sheilabocchine]

Thank you so much!

I actually just sent you an email.

Ciao,
Sheila

[Glenski]

Don't expect to land a university job in some cases, just because you have a master's degree. Be careful about asking recruiters too many of those questions because if they are recruiting only for one employer, they expect you to have done some homework about them.

Don't mention the husband initially unless you know the country accepts them (and they will probably not be on a spouse visa, but a dependent visa; in Japan spouse visas are for foreigners married to Japanese).

Do you have a particular country(ies) in mind?

[sheilabocchine]

thanks for the visa advice. I have been telling everyone that I've been in contact with that I'm getting married next month. I thought it was the right thing to do.

I'm mostly looking at Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

I'm also not really expecting anything. I'm keeping an open mind about this whole process.

I have 4 interviews already scheduled, with the first this evening. I also have 8 more people that I'm talking with, but have yet to schedule the interview.

I'm so excited! I can't wait for this experience.