Job Discussion Forums

[tammy]

Hi there,
I guess you could call me a semi-newbie. I was offered a six month contract in Turkey pretty much straight after I completed my CELTA. I accepted it and off I went to have a fabulous time. It has now been about 5 months since my experience in Turkey came to an end and I'm back in the UK looking for a job once again. Unfortunately, I haven't been so lucky this time and it seems to be taking a bit longer to find that perfect teaching job.
I was offered a position in Italy at the beginning of the year. I spoke to the lady on the phone and she offered me the job and said she'd call me in a few days to confirm a start date, which would probably be in a couple of weeks. It seemed to be just what I was looking for and so I accepted it, faxed over my documents and informed some other schools I had been liaising with that I was no longer looking for employment. About a week or so later, I received an email from the my new employer saying that they were unsure of a start date. "It could be next week, it could be next month, we just don't know." I haven't heard from them since.
About a week ago I received an email from another school I had applied with. They said they were interested in my application and would like to speak to me over the phone, so we arranged to speak on Wednesday last week. When they didn't call, I emailed them and they responded saying that there was a change of plan and they would call me on Monday. They didn't call on Monday either so I emailed them again and, so far, I haven't heard anything from them - I'm pretty sure I won't hear from them again.
Is this normal? Does it happen quite a lot? Are these people even looking for teachers or are the just having a laugh? Maybe it's normal and I don't know about it cos I got lucky last time with my job in Turkey. I know that the esl field can be a pretty tough one, but I'm starting to get quite disheartened by this unprofessional attitude.

[Glenski]

I wouldn't label the whole industry of TEFL from two bad experiences. You will always find bad eggs in any industry. There are obviously thousands of us working in EFL. Keep trying. How many places have you applied to, anyway? Have you considered polishing your resume and cover letters? The vast majority that I see (just to help people, I'm not a recruiter) are in pretty bad shape.

[Gordon]

Tammy
If looking for that perfect teaching job, as you said, than you may be waiting for a long time. I'm sure it's just an expression, but you may want to expand your job search a bit. Where do you want to work? This field is like all the others, people want you when you already have a job. Once you're unemployed people don't look upon you as favourably. If I had a 6 month contract and knew I wasn't going to renew, I would've started looking for a new job about 4-5 months before my current contract was to expire. Like Glenski said, go over your resume again and make it look really sharp. Gaps don't look so good. What have you done for the past 5 months?

[ls650]

[shmooj]

[Roger]

Tammy's experiences sound a lot like he was being kept on hold by Chinese recruiters!

[Lanza-Armonia]

Sorry to hear of your bad time. Just as others have said, there are 1------'s of jobs and only so many teachers. If you want china, check out www.chinatefl.com, it's a great starting place for newbies (-ish). www.teachinjapan.com for NOVA in japan or www.kidcastle.com.cn is another one and.........and........and.......

Put your CV on chinatefl.com and I can garren-damn-tee you'd see tens of replies a day plus.

There is just SOOO much oportunty to ba had, and damn it girl, be greedy, see the world, learn the lingo, ganbei every chance you get...live life

LA

[Lynn]

Story of my life, Tammy. I had steady work in Japan, but as soon as I got back to the states, I have had very sporadic work teaching ESL. As of last week, my schedule was like this:
School A: 12 hours of group classes, 1.5 hours private lesson(very unstable)
School B: 4 hour class on Sunday
School C: 6 hours group lesson
School D: 2 hours private lesson (also unstable)

I also taught a German student at his house 1.5-3 hours a week. This was in cash, off the books.

Then I just got fired from school A this week. So, bascally, I'm down to 10 hours a week of stable work. I think it's very hard to get a "real" job teaching ESL in our home countries. Even if you have a masters degree, you can only pick up a few hours at a community college.

I suggest you do a non-esl job for the time being, and maybe pick up a few hours here and there with ESL, since that's the way it usually starts.

As for gaps in your resume, don't worry about it too much. I've had huge gaps in my resume. I just said something like, "I did it to take time to reflect and see if ESL is really the feild for me. Now that I've taken some time off, I've realized more than ever, that teaching ESL is what I want to do and I'm very commited to realizing that dream."

[matttheboy]

European employers (especially Italian and French) have a tendency to get in touch with you just so they can see what�s out there even when they have no intention of hiring. God knows why, but they do it and it�s very irritating....

If you�re looking for a a place with a European language you should try somewhere in South America. I worked in Quito, Ecuador for a few months, got paid about 4 times the average local wage, now speak spanish and had a very fun time. If you have any experience you can get a job pretty easily...if you�re looking for a Euro language and culture then Argentina�s your place although work�s a little scarce. Still if you have any savings at all you can live like a king for almost nothing (Euro quality for Peruvian prices!). Quito was more expensive...

Good luck and don�t be discouraged by idiot schools who think they can treat teachers like cattle, they�re not all like that i promise...laters, matt

[scot47]

Lynn is right : there are few opportunities "back home". To survive in tis game you often have to go and work in that strange and complex place, "Overseas".

It took me a few years to adjust to the reality of spending a life in exile.

[matttheboy]

one more thing, Tammy...

I don`t know where you are in the uk but if you`re anywhere either Brighton or Bournemouth there are hundreds of jobs. Come March, manmy schools are hiring for the summer and it`s very easy to get work. Most let you work week to week and don`t tie you down to long-term contracts, which isn`t a problem if you`re a half decent teacher and thje students like you as you won`t get laid off.

In Bournemouth, working a double shift (5 contact hours a day) will earn you enough to live (works out about 12 grand a year) and you only have to stay as long as you want, get more experience and become more marketable when going for better paid overseas jobs....good luck, matt