Job Discussion Forums

[silverdolls]

I will be getting my MA in Applied Ling. degree sometime in July. Will it be too late to apply at SQU by August? Thank you.

[veiledsentiments]

It's not to late to apply "for" August, but very likely much too late to be hired for August. SQU is almost never desperate enough for teachers to have to do such a quick hire. If you graduate in the summer, your best chance to get a job will be for second semester. And, I haven't noticed that they have been doing much mid-year hiring lately.

And just in case you were thinking to apply before you finish the MA... don't. You risk the strong chance that it will not be recognized until after the end of your first contract... and you will be hired on the lower scale.

BTW... in the past, it was a requirement at SQU that you had to have one year of teaching experience AFTER the MA. So, this might be another glitch if it is still in effect.

VS

[silverdolls]

[veiledsentiments]

You could apply, but you may or may not be hired. For instance, if they have applicants with an MA plus experience or a BA/CELTA/lots of experience, you would be way down the list.

The reality is that applying - before or after your MA is complete - is no guarantee of a job. SQU is the primo job in Oman, so there is plenty of competition for jobs there.

VS

[urbanversion]

VS are you, at present, working in Seeb?

[denise]

They are anticipating being short-staffed in the fall, so much so that they are even offering short-term contracts, and teachers received an email encouraging us to tell friends & contacts to apply. They might, just might, need & be willing to do quick hires. (The shortage may only affect the fall semester, though... course loads are always lighter in the spring.)

d

[veiledsentiments]

Are they going to a local hire/"adjunct" type of system Denise? Every fall semester these universities invariably have more students than they expected... a teacher or two that didn't show... etc - questions that they can't know until days before classes start. But, immediate foreign hires for these positions are nearly impossible.

For silverdoll's information, how many teachers these days don't have MAs? I know that a number even have PhDs in the Language Center.

VS

[urbanversion]

[lostdegaine]

It doesn�t hurt to apply. While SQU usually has plenty of applicants, sometimes teachers hired accept and then change their mind at the last minute, or the personnel department is extremely slow processing the visa and people give up in frustration and go somewhere else.

Remember, as usual in the Middle East, the only teaching experience that counts in assigning your pay grade is that done after the Masters. As a new MA, you would probably be on the lower end of the pay scale.

The problem with staffing at SQU is that in the fall they need many more teachers than they do in the spring because of the way the students move through the system. SQU needs to stagger enrollment so that one group of students begins the foundation program in the fall and another group starts in the spring. Every time this idea is brought up it is shot down by management as impossible to sell to the administration.

Short-term contracts in the fall will probably only be offered to local hires for one semester, though I�ve heard some teachers are trying to get the Language Center to let former staff come back for one semester on consultant contracts. It seems like a good solution to me. The LC would get dependable, experienced teachers and teachers who weren�t quite ready to dive into full retirement could teach one semester and then have 8 months of the year for other projects.

[veiledsentiments]

[veiledsentiments]