Job Discussion Forums

[MishMcMish]

First off, there's been some great advice given on this board and it's been very useful so far.

My situation seems to be slightly different from the norm however and most of the pertaining advice is somewhat out of date.

Essentially, what I'm wanting to know is: were I to arrive in Prague during the second half of August, what are my chances of landing a job? How long should I expect to spend searching before starting work?

About me:

I am 28 years old, male, single, UK citizen, native speaker.
My TEFL course is with i-to-i in the UK. 20 hours classroom, 100 hours online.
I have no University degree.
My employment history is patchy as I have travelled a lot and spent time unemployed (I'm sure I can hide this on my CV if that's a good idea).
I spent six months or so living in Slovakia (Bratislava, Liptovsky Mikulas, Zilina) in 2002 working in bars. I speak very basic Slovak (decent vocabulary, almost no grammar).
I'm looking to teaching English as a career, not just for six months or a year.
I've been to Prague a number of times and also to Pardubice, Zlin, Znojmo, et cetera, mainly to watch ice hockey.
I was editor of a small scale ice hockey magazine in the UK (could bring a copy with me to show off).
I have no teaching experience.
I've no problem with shitty living conditions, sharing a flat or living a metro ride away from the centre.

I realise that my lack of degree and teaching experience will count against me but hopefully being slightly more mature and having lived abroad previously will counteract that. I'm really just looking to get on the employment ladder for now.

Thanks for your time.

[parrothead]

If you are serious about a CAREER teaching English, then you really ought to get a university degree. You don't always need it for a job, but you often need it to work legally in a country. Japan, where I currently work, requires either a university degree or 3 years related/documented experience just to get approved for a certificate of eligibility. Perhaps it is different for UK citizens wanting to work in the EU, but I reckon the degree would make your job prospects a lot easier. Almost anyone can eke out an existence teaching English for 6 months to a year without qualifications. But picture yourself 5-10 years from now, which is what I would consider the makings of a career.

[Chris Westergaard]

I've got to agree with Parrothead on this one. If you have decided that you want to start taking your life seriously now, then start taking it seriously. Having a degree in any subject is worth having. Why not just buckle down and take care of it. If want to teach here, you should do fine especially as a Brit. However, if you have the ability to get a degree, why not

[spiral78]

It's not just the degree. In this job market, the vast majority of newbies have a CELTA or its generic equivalent certification: meaning 100+ hours on site, including at least 6 hours of supervised practice teaching on actual students. Your i-to-i cert is below the normal standard - further serving to put you at the bottom of the heap in terms of hiring.

At minimum, get a better cert before you start.

[MishMcMish]

Thanks for the honest replies guys.

I guess when I said I'm looking at ESL as a career, I really meant as a potential career. I've not spent an hour in a classroom yet so I was looking to Czechia as a sort of work experience, to see if is something I would be happy spending a decade doing. I wouldn't want to spend five years obtaining a degree with ESL as the light at the end of the tunnel only to find out it's "not for me".

Chris, you are right of course about having a degree in anything being worthwhile. I was pretty badly burned by my first attempt at university. As a result I'm slightly reticent about jumping into it again without an end goal greater than "to have a degree".