Job Discussion Forums

[munchie]

This is our story and where we are now!
Back in October my partner, Tim, and I applied fo jobs in Indonesia. We recieved three or four offers but, in the end, chose Real English. This turned out to be a huge mistake.
After we sent off all our certificates and copies of paperwork to their human rescource guy he told us everything was in order and we should book our flights for the end of January. This we did. However a few days before we were due to leave we get and email this is its' contents:

HI Faye

Just checking on how things are, I also have some news which will come as a shock, I was informed yesterday that the Indonesian embassy are re structuring the visa process and all visas will have a six to eight week delay so they can implement the new changes, this involves you, your visa will not be issued until late March of early April, this is regrettable but unfortunately there is nothing we can do to speed things up, I will ask you to postpone your trip until March of April, Sorry for the inconvenience I hope you understand.

Cheers for now
I will be in contact if the embassy speeds things up
R*y

I posted my concerns on this site and found incredibly helpful people who gave me lots of information and advice. We decided to postpone our trip for two months until the beginning of April. This cost us around �200 to change the flights details, lose our hotel booking in Kuala Lumpur and pay estate agents fees to extend our lease.
We though it would be worth it and that at least we were giving REAL ENGLISH plenty of time to sort things out however today we recieved another email from their human rescources guy:

HI Faye



How are things, not to cold I hope, Things have changed here and I don�t know who to tell you gently, so I am going to tell you straight up front, as of the beginning of this week the directors have been discussing the Teacher intake and they have informed me that they are not going to employ any more teachers for the next six months, as their main focus is going to be on opening new schools in late 2010, then they will given me the ok to rehire teachers, unfortunately this leaves you and Tim out in the cold, I really don�t know what to say to you as I feel disturbed by the directors choice, I have tried to explain with no results, so at this time I am not able to continue with you application sorry for any in-convince this has caused you but my hands are tied, and they are the ones that tell me what to do.

Take care and sorry again

R*y


We are devastated. We have another school which is interested in us however not in Yogyakarta. We have done everything we could to facillitate this schools requests and now we are left homeless and more dissapointed than I think it's possible to convey.
If anyone is thinking of working for REAl ENGLISH I strongly urge you to reconsider.
If anyone has any advice for us please be in touch.

[rayman]

Sorry to read about your situation. My advice would be to fly over here anyway and look for another job in person. Assuming you're both now jobless (and homeless?) in your own country, it will also be much more affordable staying here whilst you search.

[phis]

Really sorry to hear this has happened to you. Please don't be put off. There are some rogue schools out there, but there are also lots of good ones as well. I stick by the advice I gave you last time which, if I remember rightly, coincides with what Rayman is suggesting.

Don't forget to look me up, if you get to Medan. There are jobs available here, and I can maybe point you in the right direction. I have also got a spare room in my house and can offer you temporary accommodation for a couple of weeks, until you have time to find something else.

PM me if you're interested and I will give you some contact details.

[malu]

Oh dear. Sounds like Real English are a bunch of real klutzes and well worth avoiding. As Phis and Rayman say, there are other employers here so don't despair.

[tanyakenapa]

I thought stuff like that might only happen in Indonesia.

I was wrong... here in Australia, I attended a job interview, they told me I had the job and come to work on Monday at 8.30am ...

I got to the office and well well well... they sent me home and said there was no job to begin with as they advertised without getting permission from the head office first to take on more staff!

I hope everything works out for you both very soon

Sending some luck your way.

[munchie]

Hiya, Thanks for the replies and encouragement, I'm not entirely sure what we are going to do now as we are bit stuck - if we did come over to Indo and didn't find work we'd be very stuck indeed! (Tim wants to come and 'find'the hr guy from UN REAL ENGLISH). We are still applying for positions however our flights are non-refundable so if we don't go when we planned we won't be able to go at all, we feel very disheartened after everything! Thanks again for the supportive replies it's given us a bit of hope!

[Fishy]

[jhemmila]

Ha! Another shocker. I was the DOS of REAL Batam, and I can relate. We had so many problems there, all due to the owner. It was a constant struggle, and we fought nearly every day with her just to stick to terms in the contract. After 8 months of hell, we quit.

[markustm]

MOD EDIT

REAL are one of the better English schools to work for in Batam, The owners do pay on time, and generally keep their promises. Also for any teachers interested in advancing their career.

REAL do offer opportunities in management for inexperienced teachers. Sometimes this works, other times it can backfire. But the Directors are two very open minded people who have helped rather than hindered the advancement of many teachers, and students in Batam.

Yogya

One word of warning about REAL in Yogyakarta. Yogya is becoming a mini-Jakarta. It used to be cheap there, but the low salaries offered do not justify the reasons to stay there.

Yogya rests on its reputation as the "trendy" backpacker place of the early 1990's. Now its the trendy place for Jakartans to travel to, and the cultural capital of Java, is now definitely Solo.

Its more affordable than Yogya, easier to get around, less polluted, fewer grinning touts, and the locals are very friendly. Living costs are 50% less than Yogya- whilst visiting the same Cultural sites are the same distance than Yogyakarta (And much cheaper to get to).

Its a city were you can walk, and is clean, spacious and does have Cafes and nightlife too. Most expatriates do prefer living in Solo to Yogya.

Schools in Solo pay 2-3 jt more a month then in Yogya. So rather than counting the rupiah for a nasi goreng on Friday nights, watching wealthy Jakartans party. You can visit Yogya, and actually afford to enjoy the place.

Flights from Solo are around 40% less than Yogya, although Solo is only a few hours away!.

[Elkythedogsperson]

Will say that I have sent through e-mail letters of interest to Real English Yogya twice with CVs and did not even receive a courtesy reply, even though once they were advertising. I thought that was flaky.

So what are job prospects in Solo?