Job Discussion Forums

[haopengyou]

I have been emailing my resumes overseas and have received a very high percentage of responses, about 80% respond to my resume package with either questions or requests for more info or for a time to set up an interview. As I get into this I can see that this process can become expensive very quickly. A trip to Vancouver BC is only a 6 hour drive for me but other companies interview in San Francisco and Los Angeles, both of which would be significant investments of time, gas and money.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed if I start getting requests to have in-person interviews?

It seems to me that it would be much easier to find a job in any of these countries if I am already living there. Can someone suggest an "Ace in the hole", i.e. a school in any of these countries that would be almost guaranteed to hire me, in case all else fails?

[Jati]

Ni hao, hao pengyou.

Very good question: do you interview in Canada/USA for jobs spread out over a broad area (several countries), or do you fly overseas and interview in-person at a bunch of schools in one location? Pros and cons for both.

It seems that the agents that do overseas recruiting and interviewing, i.e., in Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, are going to be those that supply chains of schools. While these may be good for the beginner, who wants a safe and low-hassle entry into Asian TESL, I think that one could do better by picking your favoured location and then traveling there and interviewing at a bunch of schools in person. You know, you could spend one week in Hong Kong, one week in Tokyo, and one week in Taipei, and probably nail more interviews than you would traveling down to Vancouver, LA, San Fran several times.

Just a mildly-informed opinion. Others on this board will, no doubt, give better ideas. With the exception of my teaching stint in China, in which I was recruited by the daughter of the school president, my jobs in Malaysia have all been landed on-the-spot. In other words, they did not have to recruit me from overseas. I was already here. (Still am.)

Some of the best teaching posts are never advertised or recruited for. I get leary when I see the same schools advertising every year. Why the high turnover?

Alternately, you could suggest a face-to-face interview via skype and webcam.

[celtica]

Where do you want to go? If you are a (non USA) certificated teacher with 3 yrs ESL experience, Brunei CfBT is actively recruiting.

http://brunei.cfbt.org/bn/

and require resume plus phone interview only.

[gajackson1]

There are a lot of pluses for on the ground job hunts, with one of the best being you can avoid soooooo much of the shady recruiting that happens in lots of ESL destinations.

The first piece of advice: have a laptop, and money set aside for a cell phone/mobile for wherever you are thinking. WiFi access is becoming more and more common, and a laptop can really, really help in so many ways.

The second is a little stranger: In many countries, you can get a social-business visa-on-arrival, or else arranged in advance. This will generally allow you to 'look around' at areas, interview for jobs, etc. - just not actually work.

Why I say it is important, and strange, is that the agreements are almost always reciprocal, and VERY different country to country.

For example, here in Brunei, I get 3 months on arrival, as a USA citizen. Canadians, on the other hand, get just 2 weeks. In South Korea, the situation is essentially reversed between Canadians & USA citizens. Your nationality & the country you are thinking about 'going to look at' can make a HUGE difference.

Something to definitely take into consideration.

Regards - and best of luck!

Glen