Job Discussion Forums

[j3ssm3ss]

Hi there,

I'm currently working at a private summer school in the UK, which is excellently run and well paid. Because of the positive experience at the school this summer myself and my boyfriend agreed to stay on to teach closed adult groups till the end of September whilst waiting for the results of the DELTA (We didn't want to make any contractual commitments overseas which we I might not be able to honour because of retakes.)

We have both passed with flying colours thankfully but now need to find work in October, tricky with most contracts advertised beginning in September. My boyfriend has a wedding obligation at the end of November meaning we need to stay within easy-ish flying distance (or at least with the option of cheap flights back to the UK) until then. We've been considering the option of finding something short-term till xmas, then looking for permanent contracts further afield in January.

I have spotted a few posts along similar lines enquiring about short term contracts with mixed responses. To pre-empt the info requests/backpacker bashing:

- We both have a decent amount of experience on top of the DELTA (including University teaching, and an MA in Applied Linguistics in my boyfriend's case).

- We would be happy to teach YLs or adults, and have exam, academic and business experience.

- We don't mind a low salary if its temporary as long as it covers our living costs. We would also be happy to pay our own airfares if the country is affordable to get to.

- At the opposite end of the spectrum we'd also be interested in short term opportunities in places like the UEA where we can earn a bit of money before moving on, that would justify the expense of a flight home mid-contract - I appreciate this is a bit of wishful thinking though.

- We were particularly interested in Eastern Europe and Russia, but our minds are open to other places. We're not so keen on Western Europe though (Spain, France, Italy etc).

Would anyone be able to advise on sources of job postings for these kind of vacancies? Would people recommend heading to a country and looking for work locally? I'm a bit unsure of this tactic for a short-term role as I know it takes a while to get settled in a new place and find work this way, and also that decent jobs are less easy to come by when visas become an issue etc.

Any suggestions/recommendations of schools would be gratefully received.

[artemisia]

[Teacher in Rome]

I think Artemisia's advice is sound - who needs all that hassle just for a few months?

The only fly in the ointment would be the possibility of getting UK work for those few months - incidentally, probably the "deadest" months of the year for ELT in the UK.

You might be able to get some project teaching work in Europe. I'm thinking of the shorter corporate teaching contracts that schools often have - esp in Italy, but a) you'd need to be on the ground, and b) I'm not sure that the wages you'd get would cover your costs of moving over, finding somewhere short-term to stay (without lots of deposits, etc) and the hassle.

Before making any decision, why not look into countries that also hire Jan onwards? Then you could start applying for these roles, while doing something (even temping) to tide you over until then.

[j3ssm3ss]

Thanks for the advice guys, what you say makes a lot of sense and I appreciate it does seem a bit nuts us wanting to head off for such a short period, I know we're being pretty unrealistic. We are also looking for permanent contracts, its just a pain we'll have to limit our search to Europe because of this wedding. We have in fact both worked abroad before and are aware of the challenges of setting up in a new country. so It does make sense to stick around in the UK during this dead period (its unfortunate the school we're at now closes in Autumn). After studying full time for the delta then working flat out all summer, we're just really dying for a change of scene and to avoid the UK winter as soon as possible! Unfortunately our funds won't allow an extended holiday which would be lovely...

The project work sounds very attractive and its really this sort of thing (intensive courses, residentials etc) we're curious about. I did a couple of 3 month Westgate contracts in Japan a couple of years ago so I know opportunities exist, but having not worked in Europe before I wanted to investigate the possibility of equivalent opps.

If anything else springs to mind I'd be very grateful to hear from you!

[Teacher in Rome]

Well, in which case it might be worth contacting large companies with internal training divisions and training organisations in the cities that interest you and pointing out that you might only be available for the short-term. This week is the deadest week of all year in Italy (today being "ferragosto") but from end August to early September, people start coming back and look at their staffing needs - generally for the whole year, but there might be a couple of short-term projects here and there.

[artemisia]

Yes, I appreciate that getting work after Sept will be much harder in the UK but I still think it�s doable. It does help to be with a school that operates permanently through the year. I did that at one time in the U.K in the summer and then stayed on with them for a bit. You could ask your school if they can recommend anything. I can also appreciate the need to get away for a while (but then I�d want that to be purely holiday time!). I really would make setting things up for Jan (possibly sooner) my priority and start looking out for jobs now as TIR suggests.

One thought that occurs to me is English in Action (based in Canterbury). They do very short term work contracts abroad; the disadvantage being it may be too short (as in one week at a time). You�d still need a home base somewhere but could go on short trips, for which they pay all costs. I think they�d have a lot of teachers on their books, but it might be worth a go.

[j3ssm3ss]

Thanks Artemisia, that sounds promising, I'll investigate... The other thing I was keeping my eye out for were short contracts that sometimes come up with the British Council. I've applied for these successfully in the past but they've always clashed with other plans - I'm not familiar enough with their recruitment rounds to remember when they're likely to appear though.

We're leaning towards maybe heading to somewhere like spain for 3 months and crashing with some friends whilst looking for local work. Can't imagine we'd make much money but they said the cost of livings cheap and there's plenty of work around. I'm absolutely loathe to break contracts though its looks rubbish on your CV and having worked on the recruitment side as well I know what an utter pain in the bum it is for employers.

Fingers crossed and ta for the suggestions.

[coledavis]

You could approach schools in areas of high demand for native speakers. I have known school terms to start later than September in Kiev, based on having experienced native speakers. Do a good trawl, using both English and Russian search terms (use online software to translate your search terms). Then phone them, with cv ready to email. (Flight time: 3 hours if I remember correctly, but the journey from the centre of Kiev to the airport is relatively quick. You can get to Ukraine without a visa, but the school then has to sort out a proper one for you.)

[j3ssm3ss]

Kiev would be interesting! Thanks for the heads-up.

[coledavis]