Job Discussion Forums

[Echraide]

Would I be limited to larger cities where I could do corporate classes if I want to avoid split shifts?

[BadBeagleBad]

[Echraide]

Aren't corporate classes part of the employees' job? I thought they'd be on-site, at the company during normal business hours, as I'd be an employee of the same company.

[Guy Courchesne]

It's far more common to be employed by a language institute and sent out to companies, and quite often the classes are scheduled before work (7-9 AM), during lunch hour (2-3 or 4 PM) or after work (6 to 8 PM). You could freelance the corporate type classes yourself, but I think you'd find the schedule the same.

[Echraide]

Ah, I see now. How would I go about finding language institutes that teach these kinds of adult classes?

[Guy Courchesne]

The big chains all have business English units - Harmon Hall, Berlitz, Interlingua...the smaller ones are harder to find, but often pay better. They will often advertise on Craig's list or local papers.

[Echraide]

Great, thank you!

[BadBeagleBad]

[Enchilada Potosina]

[Guy Courchesne]

[BadBeagleBad]

[geaaronson]

Yes, Guy, but then there comes a point if the corporation has so many students taking English classes and they are paying 250-300 pesos an hour to the recruiter, it is cost saving to the company to hire a full time employee to teach English. The additional benefit is that now instead of cramming a bunch of students into a classroom, you have a full time employee who will give more classes to smaller groups of students.

Do the math. If a regular class has two one-and-a half hour sessions weekly, that is now 3 hours time 300 pesos or 900 a week for that single class. If you have 8 classes. You are now paying the recruiter 7200 pesos per week, or Times 4.3 weeks in a month, that is approx. 32,000 pesos per month. That I would believe to be the breaking point at which juncture, the corporation would be best served to hire in house, full employment and pay the poor slob 22,000 pesos a month and tack on his benefits, which is about what you prepa teachers at the best schools get.

[Guy Courchesne]

Yes that math looks good, but there are plenty more details to add in, such as the tax write-offs the company gets in outsourcing. We're also missing books, certifications such as TOEFL, and administration. It adds up.

Not saying one way is better than another...just that there's a reason companies overwhelmingly outsource in this field.

I taught at a plastics company in DF many years ago that had a fully dedicated department for employee training. One human resources staffer was employed full time to handle administration of a variety of classes and instructors (ELT was just a small component). All of their instructors were contracted externally as the workshops only ran for short periods. I was impressed by the resources this company was putting into training. It would have been an ideal place for a full time in-house EFL teacher I think.

[Prof.Gringo]

If a company outsources the EFL teacher(s), they can be replaced at the drop of a hat or a single phone call and/or email.

A group of male students wants some pretty young eye candy? Not a prob. We can replace that qualified, experienced middle-aged teacher with some dittzy young backpack manana.

Also, a major company doesn't want to have the hassle of getting the legal papers for a teacher which might not stay or that might not have enough classes in 3, 6 or 9 months time. Much easier to just pawn all of that off on a "school" (often just a headhunter/salesman/teacher that works from home with a laptop and a cell phone).

The few companies (such as the major call centers in DF, I know of 3 of them that do this) that do need full-time teachers, have a multiple-step exam-interview-demo teaching process.