Job Discussion Forums

[stu-00bie]

Hello helpful denezins of the Czech Republic Job Forums!

I was wondering if any kind people out there could give me some advice about formulating a contingency plan should I find myself in Prague jobless with the 90 day deadline looming over my unemployed head.

My girlfriend and I are taking the TEFL Worldwide Prague course in March and this will be our first time teaching English abroad (we are both 25 years old and we both have degrees). I have heard numerous conflicting assessments of the job market in Prague for newbie teachers and while in a perfect world my girlfriend and I would land jobs shortly after completing the TEFL course I have realized that there is a possibility that one or both of us won't be able to land a job in the city. So this is where I would like to partake in some advice from the knowledgable posters on this forum: What would be a good back-up plan if we can't find jobs in Prague?

My girlfriend and I are not picky on where we want to teach really. We chose to come to Europe rather than Asia because we would figured we would rather take a chance and try and make it work in Europe than never try at all. That being said, if it doesn't work out in Prague, is there a chance we could find a job in one of the smaller cities in the Czech Republic? Brno or Plzen perhaps? If that's not a fair bet than what about in other Eastern European countries? And lastly, if we can't find work ANYWHERE, is going to Asia (China, Thailand, Taiwan, etc) a reasonable alternative?

TEFL Worldwide has a lifetime job assistance program in place for it's graduates and part of me wants to believe that will be enough to find us a job but the cynical side of me wants to have a back-up plan if that ends up not working out.

Any advice would be welcome and would assuredly result in good karma in some fashion or another. Thanks!

[smithrn1983]

It's always good to have a back-up plan. Unfortunately doing the course in March, you are unlikely to find many jobs available when you finish, but I assume you can't change the course date at this point.

Looking into smaller cities in the Czech Republic is probably the best option you have for finding work. Any city with a population over 100 000 is going to have at least a few language schools around, and some of them will be looking to hire part-time teachers, even in March. The real question is which ones will be willing to jump through all the legal hoops to bring on an American with the school year almost finished.

You could find work in Plzen or Brno, but should probably also look into Ceske Budejovice, Jihlava, Olomouc, Ostrava, Liberec, Hradec Kralove and Pardubice. Personally, I'd recommend finding work in one of the smaller cities over finding work in Prague, just because I think the lifestyle is better. Most employers don't advertise, so it's best to just show up in their school with a resume and see if you can talk to the owner.

If your 90 days runs out, you actually have to leave the entire Schengen Zone, which, if you want to stay in Europe, will push you to Ukraine or farther east or south. Wherever else you go really depends on you, and how much money you have on hand. Being in a country dramatically raises your chances of finding work there, but how much time can you spend moving from country to country without any income?

[Sigma]

I've heard that recent TEFL graduates have been trying Ostrava and Brno. Apparently, they were able to find some work in Brno. However, I don't know if they had an EU passport or not.

[naturegirl321]

As far as Asis goes, there are lots of jobs in Korea and CHina and those are both good places for newbies to start out.

[stu-00bie]

Thanks for the responses, and the link too!

What we will probably do is plan on spending a few weekends visiting the other cities in the Czech Republic during/right after our TEFL course is finished in hopes of landing an interview and then job once we are certified. I think my gf and I would prefer to live and work in a smaller city in Czech. Hopefully the job assistance aspect of the TEFL course will help us out as well.

With all this visa business for Non-EU citizens, does it help to use one of those agencies that aid with the visa process? Do employers work with them often? Will employers be more willing to jump through the hoops for us if we have the aid of one of these agencies/services?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

[smithrn1983]

I don't know anyone who's worked with a visa agency, so I can't really give you any info on that. I sent you a pm with some more detailed info on working outside of Prague.

[Chris Westergaard]

Why not just invest in a Zivno. You'll find work and you'll make your money back in the first 2 months.

[stu-00bie]

smithrn1983- Thanks for the very helpful PM, we will definitely be checking out those schools and looking into Zivnos

Chris & smithrn- I'm not too clear on the pros and cons of a Zivno--or for that matter, what a Zivno even is. If either of you don't mind, could you give a brief breakdown of all things Zivno to yet another newb? I would be interested in the cost, obstacles in obtaining one, what I would need to qualify/apply, how useful it is, and any other pros and cons you can think of. I hope that this hasn't been explained on these forums before...but if it has, sorry for the repeat question.

As always, many thanks and appreciation for your replies and willingness to help out!

[stu-00bie]

Btw, do we need to obtain some sort of letter from, I'm assuming the local police dept., stating that we have a clean criminal record? I've lurked on this board for some time and remember reading something about that but wasn't 100% sure if it was necessary or not. Thanks again!