Job Discussion Forums

PeterBar · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 145 Location: La France profonde

Crown Quality Hotel, Paddington 25/26th July in The Sussex Room.

Anyone want my place in the queue?

chandu · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 4

I have been teaching English in Oman for last 3 years and have been recruited by Bahwans 3 years ago. So far i have had a good experience. They did adhere to what they told me during interview in South Africa.

Oman is an awesome country, with a lot of natures hot spots. I almost kind of fell in love with this country and besides can you beat it , go to any resturant and tell them you work as a teacher and through Bahwan, they are more then obliged to give you heavy discounts!!

Cheers and welcome to Oman

CH

rogan · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 416 Location: at home, in France

chandhu

Are you really a South African native speaker of English ?

The way you express yourself suggests to me that you are not.

chandu · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 4

Well Gentleman,

I'm a South Africa passport holder but do have my roots back in India.

rogan · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 416 Location: at home, in France

A beautiful country does not compensate a low paid job.

raise your salaries and more experienced people will be prepared to work with you.

chandu · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 4

Rogan,

I agree with you that salary is also the key, but guess the tax free country that Oman is and the cost of living i guess is very reasonable, making it attrative.

Cheers and Welcome to Oman

rogan · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 416 Location: at home, in France

Low pay is low pay whatever the tax situation.

We may work in the ME but we live in the real world and we pay our bills there too.

You are giving me exactly the same arguements that are offered by the company representative. Makes me wonder about who/what you really are.

PeterBar · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 145 Location: La France profonde

I agree with Rogan.

I had several conversations with these people and found them to be strangely reticent about many key details.

Interview travel expenses may be re-paid after taking up a position.
Possible to discuss a higher salary at interview.
etc
etc

chandu · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 4

Rogan,

I expressed what i thought as an individual. All of us may not have same agreements or dis agreements. I respect your opinion as well and other members who have expressed their own opinion.

Anyways I will be back in Oman on Sept 4th after my Annual vacation, so incase you guys need any other info or details, which i can share, would be more than glad to do the same.

cheers and bye

Borealis · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 26

I've followed this thread with interest. It reminds me of a conversation when I was teaching at Hawthorn. The teachers were trying to have some contractual issues addressed and resolved and after weeks and weeks of delays and obfuscation by "Head Office" the response from the Bahwan people who own Hawthorn was along the lines of "western" teachers were demanding, never satisfied and totally unreasonable, and that it was better to hire Indian teachers because they did as they were told, never complained and were happy with a fraction of the salary they had to pay westerners. The fact that they were also not usually as fluent in English was not seen as relevant. As for Chandu's comments and his level of English - draw your own conclusions.

Borealis

Manny2 · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 143

Unfortunately notice that this crowd -Bahwan CyberTek LLC are advertising again and I had to laugh when I saw the qualifications and I quote..

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

� Ph.D / M.A. in Applied Linguistics / TEFL / TESOL
Or B.Ed in ELT / CELTA
Or B.Ed with Diploma in TEFL / TESOL
Or B.Ed with Certificates in TEFL / TESOL / ESL

My advise is to anyone with a Phd is to not waste your time with this outfit and actually if you have a MA look elsewhere too. They will offer you an insulting package with awful conditions in the middle of nowhere.

Abba · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 97 Location: UK

kanterbrau · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 38

With regard to Boralis' comment.

The last I heard was that they did indeed hire teachers from the sub-continent but after what amounted to a minor insurrection by the students, changed their minds and started hiring native speakers again.

To the best of my knowlege SUC is still struggling to find sufficient teachers.

Good Luck.

White_Elephant · Joined: 02 Sep 2006 Posts: 175

I sent my c.v. to them and they replied with this email:

"Greetings from Bahwan CyberTek!!

Further to your application for the post of English Lecturer, we are pleased to inform you that your application has been submitted to the Ministry for approval based on the following parameters:

A Native English Speaker
Having a Post Graduate / Graduate degree
Having a minimum of 2 years of experience in teaching English
Having a degree / diploma / certificate in TESOL / TEFL / EFL

Your application has been submitted to the Ministry Of Manpower here for their approval. Should you be shortlisted for the above position, you will be notified by us.

Should you need any further information / clarification, please feel free to contact us.

Wish you all the best!!

Warm regards,"

From the website, it seems to be a decent organization. They also claim to have recruited over 130 lecturers for the government. I guess it pays to do your homework. I personally wouldn't be too worried about the salary because I've been able to negotiate higher salaries/benefits/vacations etc. in most of the positions I've taken. If they don't negotiate, I am not interested. I make it clear from the beginning that I will never be treated like a servant. There are always conditions that are negotiable. However, I would not consider working for an outfit that was reputed as being abusive to their staff and/or faculty regardless of the salary etc.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

They do not have a very good reputation. Many teachers have a problem with their management style. It is best to have low expectations.

VS