Job Discussion Forums

[haopengyou]

I just got a response back from Kojen re: teaching in their school. They told me that I would have to get a tourist visa to go to Taiwan and then I could get an interview with the school to see if they would hire me. Is that true for all schools in Taiwan?

[Taylor]

Hello Haopengyou,

I've never heard it expressed exactly how you put it, but I'd say that's pretty much standard operating procedure for Taiwan.

Probably 95% of all 'foreign' teachers got their jobs this way. That is, there is no real job offer until you actually show up at their door, fill out an application, and do a brief teaching demo (usually to staff members).

It will be nice to hear what others have to add.

Taylor
Kaohsiung, 10 years

[markholmes]

My 'interview' with Kojen (in 2001 mind) consisted of them sending me some questions and asking me to record my answers onto a cassette and send it to them .I got the job

No, I don't think that is normal for Kojen, Hess and many chains. I had a couple of telephone interviews with other schools.

[cspitzig]

My interview last year was in the US, by telephone. I wanted to have a job before moving to the other side of the planet. I realize this limited my options. It meant risking getting stuck with a crappy job. The other way, I'd be risking not finding a job at all.

My interview was about 15 minutes of talking with the school's manager. She didn't ask me many questions. She asked me so little that I was concerned about it. If she doesn't try to see if her foreign teachers are good, does that reflect badly on the school? But, the school is good. I haven't seen many schools here, so I don't have much basis for comparison. It's a good job, though.

[TJA]

OP:
Seems a bit of a stretch, and different from "normal" for the larger schools/chains. However, I think there is a new "normal" coming into effect because of the current economic conditions, and this could be part of it. As in Japan, when NOVA went under, I think schools are finding a larger number of people are looking for (perhaps) fewer jobs, and employer demands may be increasing accordingly. Maybe this is their way of weeding out the wannabes from the committed?

My advice - if you honestly back yourself as "I'm great & they couldn't not hire me", then it could be worth a shot. But I'd have a plan B and plan C, just in case.... It is a sizable investment to fly over here, so do yourself justice and make the investment worth it, if you decide to go ahead with it.

TJA

[123Loto]

[timmyjames1976]

[ESL Hobo]

OP

I got my first job here with JumpStart. They hired me without an interview out of Thailand. We had a pretty good year, then I moved on to another school, just to see what else was out there. I signed the contract in Thailand and faxed it back to them. good luck.