Job Discussion Forums

[dagi]

So, after doing some extensive research I managed to find adresses of language schools in Turkey who also do German language courses. Some have been mentioned on this board.
Now I've sent off a bunch of applications (cover letters+CV) weeks ago and nobody responds. It's not that I just say 'Hello, I speak German and do you want to employ me.' I've got the qualifications and teaching experience.
Is it normal that schools just don't respond? What are your experiences with job applications?

[crashartist1]

opps, my mistake. lets try this again.

[crashartist1]

Dagi, one problem that I can foresee for you is that you are applying at the wrong time of the year. Right about now most schools are gearing up for a low point, which is the summer, during this point which rock bottom is felt by most language schools is in August, numbers start to drop in May and continue until August then spike in September. No it is not normal for you to not to get any responses, but you must also realize that most of language schools don�t care about you unless you are in the country or give a date for your arrival and contact information about where you will be staying or who you will be staying with and then when you do show up you will get plenty of responces. People like Molly at English Time (no German there), I am sure get resumes from people with Ph D�s in TESOL and claim that they are coming next week and simply never show up, half of applying and getting a job is walking through the door. I myself, in a small Turkish city, get a lot of emails from people wanting to come and work, people with loads of experience and people with no experience, but the person who walks through the door is going to be the person I will hire. Chasing after email ghosts is a waste of your time when we have centers to run. It might be more difficult for you because teaching German isn't as strong of a market as English is currently. Some schools like Berlitz teach multiple languages but the number of students re very low so you wouldn't get contracted but get an hourly rate, also unless you are a native German speaker (are you? I don't know) you might be even harder pressed finding a job because even though you might be able to teach German better then a German in a grammatical sense, the Turksih mentality is that they can't learn from you because you are not native, the Turkish English teachers run into this problem all the time and for the most part they are the best teachers of all of us.

[whynotme]

dagi,
i PMed you

[dagi]

Crashartist, are you saying it'd be better to just pack up and go to Turkey then? What I don't get is, that last autumn I was in contact with a international school and they told me to apply in spring. This was because it takes ages to get a residence permit/work visa.
BTW, I am a native speaker but studied in the Netherlands. When it comes to practice this was a good choice, cause my teacher training was entirely aimed at teaching German as a foreign language.
Somehow I can understand what you say about hunting 'e-mail ghosts', but if you at the end of the day hire the people who walk through your door, how do this people get their visas?
I don't just want to travel and hang out somewhere, my intention is to really live and settle for a couple of years.

[crashartist1]

99.9% of the teachers in Turkey do not have work permits or residency permits. They simply leave the country every three months and come back in, it is really that simple. Residency permit take 1 week, no problem, you don't have to say you are working or anything like that, just give them your address and 460YTL. Work permits are a different story, they take a few months and the school you work for has to do the leg work on that one, but you will pick up the bill, I think another 400YTL (my company paid for mine )
If that company told you to apply in the spring then I have no answers for you. Before what I said about the summer being a slow period I think stands true for most places. If you PM me some more information I might be able to help you with a Universitat arbiet.

[teacherdude]

Dagi,

from my experience if they want you, they'll fall over themselves to communicate with you. I even had schools call me long distance etc.

However, if they don't need you - for what ever reason, they simply don't bother to speak to you or have the courtesy to answer your follow up emai.

Quite a few years ago, Eng. Time was in constant communication with me. I requested speaking to a teacher to get some feedback. They had the teacher call me at their expense.

After two weeks of communication, I explained that it would take three months to get the Visa. I would be willng to wait if they would.

They never answered me. I sent another email - no answer.

A year later, after leaving the school that DID answer me, I was hired by ET. I was told by the recruiter that they weren't willing to wait that long for me to get a Visa. However, of course no one had the courtesy to email me and tell me as such.

Rest assured if they want you for the period that you'll arrive, theyWILL contact you.

Regards,
TD

[dmb]

Dagi, have you applied to teach English or German. Just interested.

[molly farquharson]

teacherdude, I would be curious to know who you corresponded with at ET.

Re work permits, they are a mess, but some people are inquiring now about jobs in the fall and I tell them if they hurry up and get their paperwork done they MIGHT have a work permit by then. It is a problem for people who are getting their TEFL certificates in the summer. However, ET is trying to get ikamets for the teachers, which is better than border runs.

Re no word back from schools, I try to include in our postings that only CVs of interest will receive answers, as we get lots of CVs. However, when our head teachers respond to them, often it is the prospective teacher who does not respond, so it works (or doesn't work) both ways.

[dagi]

[quote="dmb"]Dagi, have you applied to teach English or German. Just interested.[/quote]
I applied to teach German, cause that is what I have studied for. Also I am a bit reluctant to apply for ESL jobs as I have no TEFL qualifications and am not a native speaker.

Then, this week I got a reference letter from my vice-principal. He is an ESL teacher at my school, which means he studied English for 4 years. The reference letter was written so poorly that there is no way I am ever goint to present that to a prospective employer. There were really 'stupid' mistakes in it, like spelling, the date, sentence structure, etc.
Reading it I thought "Hell, if he can teach English I certainly can."

[teacherdude]

[quote="molly farquharson"]teacherdude, I would be curious to know who you corresponded with at ET.

Molly,

the person I spoke to back then was Nur Kosova(sp) that was in 2001.

A year later I spoke to some man about working part time. Was called a great deal. Then when they realized my schedule was not cohesive with theirs.....NADA....nobody had the courtesy to return my phone call or emails.

Can't remember his name...but had puffy hair and has been elevated to the 7th Floor. (I did hear one teacher refer to him as ther "perm.")

TD

[molly farquharson]

Both are gone now. I think I know who the perm is (not the perv, right ) We are always looking if you want to give it another try I think the head teachers we have now are pretty good at following up. often it is the teachers who don't (not that you wd be in that category)