Job Discussion Forums

[hamburglar]

Hey Guys,

I love eslcafe. I have gained wealth of knowledge on reading. I plan on doing my basic TESL from OS. It has a bad wrap but I see value in the job placement program. Someone to guide you, review resume etc...

I wanted to ask any Oxford Seminar Graduate about their job positions/entry salaries they received after graduating? Did you use their job placement service?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

[spiral78]

I'm not sure what you expect from 'job placement,' but exactly what services are offered is something you will want to clarify.

The schools that accept Oxford grads sight-unseen, simply because they've earned an Oxford cert are...well....somewhat likely to be rare and perhaps not at the top end, depending on the region of the world.

Most services billing themselves as 'job placement' in fact simply provide you with contacts to which you must send resume/CV and with whom you must interview and quite likely teach a demo lesson before landing a contract.

If you give us some idea of what regions you're interested in, we can give you a better idea of what to expect in terms of what it takes to actually land a job.

[hamburglar]

Thank you for your response.

They have a 6 month job placement program in which someone is appointed to you. They review resume, contract and cover letter. That is the only value I see from OS. Their courses are not the best.

I am looking towards South Korea and Hong Kong since the salary/savings potential is good.

I do have a Bachelors in Commerce. So I hope that helps.

[Justin Trullinger]

For resume support, Oxford Seminars are my favorite! This is because their grads all learn cover letter writing from motivational speakers, or something, and the results are absolutely hilarious. In my previous job, I used to get 3-10 apps a day some weeks, and can spot the Oxford seminar grads by the first line:

"Teaching, to me is not just a way to see the world and it's cultures, but also a chance to support the interaction and increasing connection of all mankind."

"I am passionate about provide opportunities to all the people of the world, and this is why I dare to choose to teach."

"I chose to be a teacher because I know that only through education will the world ever become a more equitable place."



Remember- if I saw'em, the OS guy had already approved them. Makes you wonder what might have seemed over the top to HIM.

After a little practice, I can say that I rarely ever read the second sentence of an oxford seminar grad's cover letter. Recognise, delete. And I'm not the only one. I would be careful about letting these guys teach you how to job hunt. ANd since you already say "Their courses are not the best," well, I guess I wouldn't pay them for those courses, if I were you.


Best,
Justin

[Dinah606]

I did Oxford Seminars, and used the job placement service.

I didn't really have to do any leg work in terms of finding my position. I just sent a cover letter and a resume to the career placement services, and they sent it to people.

Amusingly, I guess my cover letter wasn't good enough for them, because they added an extra paragraph, and then sent it on to employers with out giving me a chance to review said paragraph, and let them know if I really wanted it there. There was a grammatical error in it! They also changed the format of my resume, and sent it off before I could review the changes, but I've no real complaint about that because it actually did look better than what I'd done on my own.

I ended up taking a position in China through the placement service. I lucked out, in that I absolutely love it, and am currently contemplating spending a third year working here. The starting salary at my job is fairly mid-range for China, and the school offers a lot of optional overtime work, so it's easy to make more. About half of my co-workers are also Oxford Seminars grads. The school that I'm at treats its FTs very well, and the job itself is great fun.

That said, I wouldn't suggest having terribly high hopes of the placement service. Although the Oxford Seminars site lists all kinds of interesting countries for placement, most of those placements are either unlikely or impossible with just an Oxford Seminars cert. Some of my co-workers with only a high school diploma went into it thinking they could work all over the world, only to be informed that China was their only real option. I had a BA in English, and mentioned being interested in teaching in either China, Vietnam, or Turkey. My resume was sent out to Oxford Seminars contacts in those countries, and China was the only place I heard back from.

Many of the other teachers at my school have no certification, and are paid exactly the same as the Oxford Seminars group, and don't as a whole seem to perform any better or worse.

[Prof.Gringo]

[MaiPenRai]

[Chancellor]

[Justin Trullinger]