Job Discussion Forums

[monstamunch]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to head to Barcelona in early September in order to try and secure a teaching job there for the next year.

I was planning to visit twice- once to hand out cvs and attend interviews, and finally to move over there for good (or at least a year)!

My question is- is it advisable to email a decent number of schools before I travel out there, and arrange interviews in advance- or should i just turn up at the school armed with a cv and try and arrange an interview in person for sometime in the next couple of days?

I'd prefer the first option as it'd be less of a leap into the unknown- but i welcome opinions!

thanks
alfie

[leez]

hi there,
perhaps my situation is similar enough that this info is useful. last summer i spent 12 weeks teaching in a language institute in san juan, costa rica. in order to maximize my teaching experience, i traveled to costa rica the christmas before so that i could 'check out' my options. and BEFORE that trip, i set up appointments to interview. it was good to correspond beforehand due to the winter school break; many schools were closed, etc, and you might find this beneficial in your search. why go to a school if the person you must see is out for a week? contacting ahead of time might save time!

so..for me, it was good to research as much as i could, then do a fly-by before actually committing to a particular school.

good luck to you!
xo

[spiral78]

For Spain, it certainly won't hurt to introduce yourself via email in advance, but it will be rare to get any real responses until you are standing in the office, CV in hand, looking professional and reliable. You are likely to find that most of your emails go unacknowledged, but of course it can't hurt.

You might even want to be a bit wary of anyone in Spain offering you a job sight-unseen. This can often be a sign of an employer the local teachers won't work for, for some probably-sound reason.

[robertokun]

Yeah, I'd also say just go. The internet makes it so easy to send CV's and apply for jobs that it's almost becomes meaningless. With the economy and the industry the way it is nowadays, employers have hundreds of the same emails in their in-boxes right now. One more isn't going to make a big difference to them. If you really want something, you've got to go get it.

[monstamunch]

Thanks for the replies guys. I sent out numerous emails to schools but have received very little back! I'm going out to Barcelona on Monday for five days to see if I have more luck, so fingers crossed.

Any tips on things to consider when 'cold calling' schools would be greatly appreciated.

cheers
alfie