Finding a Job Teaching English Abroad #1
The Job Search in TEFL
I hope you already read the previous post about finding a TEFL position that fits well with the skills and experience you may already have. That approach is simple and moves you in front of the pack of people just looking for “any old job” teaching English.
The point I want to make today about the job search, and it was mentioned in the previous post too, is to not apply only to schools that are advertising. In fact, your best strategy is to apply to schools that are not advertising. I landed three of my last four college/university teaching positions at schools that were not advertising at the time
There are many reasons why this is the best strategy, but I will highlight the two most important ones.
Schools often don’t like to advertise and interview candidates.
Schools don’t usually have human resources staff who take this time-consuming task for them. The person responsible for fielding applications, questions and sorting out interviews and hiring is already busy with their full-time job teaching. Other teachers are not usually too excited about being asked to “sit in” on interviews either.
So . . . interviewing and looking for new people is not a favorite task among teachers – at any school. The department head would be very happy to have a qualified candidate walk in the door and present themselves for the opening that may be coming up soon or that already exists. Or have your resume/CV and smiling photo arrive in the mail.
The Numbers Game
I had a friend once who was looking for a job in a language school in a city that had about ten major schools. Most of those schools had about four to eight teachers. Those schools rarely advertised as they were looking for a native-speaking foreigner and most of the schools had no idea how to get one without using a recruiter.
Yet my friend was hesitant to knock on a couple unadvertised doors.
Let’s look at the numbers though. Ten schools with an average of about six teachers each. That means sixty teachers all rotating in and out. That means – on average – one opening every week.
Most people will give a month’s notice for that kind of job and so we have at least four openings that schools know about at any one time. So about a 40% opportunity that any school you go to will have an opening coming up or an opening right now that they need to fill.
And won’t they be relieved that they don’t have to do a load of interviews?
Ted’s Tips™ #1: Don’t wait for a job to be advertised. Beat the crowd and just go get it.
Ted’s Tips™ #2: Schools and especially colleges and universities often know when other schools have openings. If you are polite and conduct your search in a way that reflects well on your – they will often tell you about another school that has an opening if they don’t.
Why fight the competition? Just out think them.
Tags: find job teaching English, Job Search Strategy, Job Search Teaching English, jobs teaching English, TEFL Job Search
Uncategorized | Ted | 
September 8, 2009 9:48 AM
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