Job Discussion Forums

darkchild · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 47

hi everyone!
i'm finishing off my degree this year, and i am planning to go teach english for a bit while i figure out what i'm going to do with my life. Razz

The thing is, i don't know how early i should start...
so how long did it take you guys to find a teaching job? i mean, to get everything confirmed and signed and etc... and also how is the reply on these job posts? how much should i apply for?

MarcusK · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:52 pm Post subject:

There are tons of jobs out there. Finding "a job" is not hard at all. Finding one that you want could take a bit more time. You will need to identify and rank your priorities. For example, these or other things might be important to you:
small village vs. big city
salary vs. volunteer work
part-time work vs. full-time
warm weather vs. cold
political stability vs. unrest

For many parts of the world this is the prime hiring season. Schools are trying to fill positions for the coming school year. Many contracts start in August, September, or October.

IMHO it's better to start applying early just so you will have a bit more time to evaluate your options, but if you review some of the messages posted here you'll find that many people were able to find something at the last minute.

darkchild · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 47

the thing is, i won't be available until jan of next year, at the earliest, how is the job market at that time?

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

If you walk into a school in your chosen city in January, you are almost guaranteed a job (not necessarily in the first school you walk into). Availability is crucial. It may not be a school you want to work at though!

darkchild · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 47

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Are you planning on getting a TEFL certificate? (I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of such certificates.) If so, I would recommend holding off on the job search until you're nearly finished or finished with the TEFL cert. Most of the folks in my TEFL course had jobs within probably two weeks. Granted, they weren't all full-time, and probably not the "best" jobs, but still, it didn't take too long for most of us to find jobs. Let me add, though, that we all decided to stay in Prague, where we got our certificates. I'm not sure how the people who moved on to other countries fared.

If you're not going to get a certificate (as they're not really required in Asia), then disregard...

d

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Posts: 4946 Location: Blabbing

It took me about a day to recieve around 30 or so job offers, though none of them were in the location I wanted.

Finally after a dredging 2 days, I got the offer for where I am now.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

About 30 seconds.

I walked out of our final assessment feedback session and the course director asked me if I could start work on Monday.

Haven't been out of work since.

Ludwig · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 4:59 am Post subject:

I wish you well in your search for employment in Japan and HK with neither teacher training nor TEFL certification (and with only being available as from January)!

Taiping04 · Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 188 Location: East of Aden

You are probably busting to get out into the big wide world, but why not spend an extra year and get a teaching qualification? Then you really DO have a choice.
To answer your first question, it took me several months to find the job I wanted. You could find any old job in about ten minutes. Luckily I was employed all that time, so how long I took wasn't an issue.

darkchild · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 47

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I started looking for jobs around December, 1997. Got some training and surfed the Internet intensely for about 5 months. I lurked, I asked questions, I made files of information that I sifted from many sources...

Got interviewed in May in my US city (not from one of the Big Four) in reply to the first place I'd applied to (from an ad right here at the ESL Cafe), and was on a plane in September of 1998. That job lasted 3.5 years, which simply shows I had planned well and made the right decisions (for me).

Haven't been out of work teaching since.