Job Discussion Forums

[Zorobabel]

I'm not any kind of EF minion. I did a year at one of the EF Swara schools. It wasn't great but it also wasn't terrible. On a scale of 10, I'd give it a 4. For me the negatives were:

1) A 6-day work week, which was required 2/3 of the year. - This completely drained me.
2) Mandatory overtime. - Not well reimbursed, either.
3) Split schedules, which might mean that a teacher would be at work from 10am to 9pm with a few hours off in between. - This was rare--only for "Summer Fun" and private students--but it nonetheless happened.
4) Poor professional development and training. - I developed very little as a teacher, but that was as much my fault as EF's.
5) The Indonesian manager, a Ms. Nita, was completely incompetent. - She was afraid of foreigners to the point that she wouldn't allow any of the teachers to approach or talk to her. And she treated all her staff, foreign or otherwise, like dirt, but she hid it behind one of those wide Javanese smiles.

The positive aspects were more general. The pay is decent considering a lot of people who work there don't have university degrees or certification. My base salary was 7.85 million (a few years ago), and that was enough for me to live cheaply and save about 3 million per month. My DoS (initials L.B.) was very professional and supportive. I was always paid on time, had no problems scheduling annual leave, and received my flight money promptly.

I do have one final gripe, though. Ms. Nita, probably acting on orders from the owner, purposefully botched my exit visa process so that my next employer had to pay a couple million rupiah. I guess that's a more typical EF Swara Group kinda thing.

It's a stepping stone, really. I was able to basically double my salary at my next job, and EF provided me with the experience to do that. A lot of people I worked with, though, enjoyed their experience much more than I did, others not so much. No one did a runner while I was there, though. So you have to make your own decision.

[ellecbee]

I think that the more seasoned ESL teachers that post on this site need to show more responsibility. People come here for information, you are doing a huge disservice if you are running your mouth making blanket generalizations - that doesn't help anyone. I don't work for Swara, but I work for another EF and its fine. My colleagues are great and my franchise is run very well. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all EF's. I came with little teaching experience but a Bachelors in Marketing, so I am hardly in need of a ventilator (I've heard that diatribe in another post). I knew what my options were and I did my research on the franchise I was interviewing with. Fortunately, I received some sound advice from someone in my franchise and THAT was what I listened to - not some of sweeping generalizations that tend to circulate about EF.

Some advice for newbies: Be specific with your inquires. Ask about specific schools or franchises from people that are currently employed or have recently completed their contract. If someone gives negative feedback, ask them what their personal experience was. Are there EF's or other schools to steer clear of - ABSOLUTELY. Do your research and listen to specific information. There is a lot of good stuff here from some intelligent helpful people, unfortunately, there is also a lot of smack talk from some irresponsible jaded people.

[samoht]

i worked for ef swara in pluit. The support i got from my first doa was shit. Then we got a new dos and he was awesome.
ef has changed a lot
we got lots of teacher training
most places squat
we had reasonable and fair center managers
consider yourself lucky
i worked for ef 3 years, and dont regret it for one minute
if it wasnt for ef i would still be a shit teacher
join ef swara group
cant say enough good about them

[Atoms for Peace]