Job Discussion Forums

[chrisandcarla]

Hey everyone,
My husband and I are going to Vietnam next week to take a TEFL course, and then are hoping to find jobs. We both have BAs, are around 30 years old and from Canada.

We're wondering about the chances of getting a job in a smaller center (somewhere besides HCMC or Hanoi). Is it possible? Are there any cities/towns where its easier to get jobs? Our plan is to take the TEFL in HCMC, and then travel up the country, stopping in cities along the way to check out the job markets. If we reach the border of China, I guess we'll go to China...

Does this sounds reasonable? We don't care about night life-we're boring and married , and will be happy if there are even just a handful of people who speak English in the general area. We mostly care about nice scenery.

[toiyeuthitmeo]

tell us more about your tefl course, as some can be dodgy. also, tell us how much of a holiday this is to be for you two, versus a job. cheers.

[chrisandcarla]

We're going through TEFL International. Not a vacation (although hopefully we get at least a little time to travel around eventually!). We're really looking forward to trying out teaching. I've taught piano lessons, tutored ESL, and taught workshops to ESL students. My husband is a bit more nervous about teaching, but hopefully he loves it! And even if he doesn't, its healthy to have some tough experiences in life to help us grow etc. etc.

[ajc19810]

The job market in the smaller cities/towns is actually not too bad, but as you would expect the salary is lower than major hubs like Sai Gon, however there is a very high demand for private classes which pay well, with this and the high demand from businesses and r2Qesorts for english you can make ok money, but like anywhere in Viet Nam it takes time before you can stumble across these deals.

Phan Thiet, Mui Ne is where I am and is a good example of the smaller town job market. There are only a few english schools here, Hugo, Sunflower, APC, Tri Cong and a couple of other smaller setups.

Hugo is a small school which hires 1 teacher from a non-english speaking country, saying that the students love his classes so all the power to him. This is common in smaller towns for schools to do this. I was speaking with them 6 months ago and wages were $10ph.

Tri Cong last I heard (about 1/2 year ago was paying around $1000 month with accomodation inc, accom being a small hotel room)

APC is a pretty big setup and i believe you can go through their Sai Gon branches to find employment. Last teacher I spoke to there was on about $16p/h. But that was a while ago. Going through those types of bigger franchises in Sai Gon/Ha Noi is a good way to find employmeny in smaller towns

Vung Tau is a good option, there are more schools there and has a pretty reasonable expat crew.

For smaller towns the best advice I can give is to just show up and start searching, but this is really like anywhere in Nam.

[Oh My God]