Jobs Week of April 28, 2013

Good

 Language Link Vietnam

Good, straight forward post with all the pertinent information you need to make a reasoned decision to send your CV. Pay is average range for school in Vietnam. I like how they guarantee you a minimum number of contact hours.

Job details 

Bad

Brainsmart Training & Development 

The pay is low, even by Malaysian standards. Usually the range for jobs is between 5-7,000 MYR, which is about 1,600 – 2,300 USD. No mention of a website for you to conduct your own research. I did find a short company bio here. No mention of contact hours. I’m wary of the gmail address. As you know, if the company was legit, or not a start-up, they would've provided a company email address, like someone@brainsmart.com. Just an example.... Not a good post, but maybe it is worth your time to get some answers to your questions.

Job details 

International House – San Diego

No mention of pay. No website. Still worthwhile to email your CV if you’re around San Diego.
Job details 

Not Worth It

TeachingChile

TeachingChile is a pay service. You should never pay anyone to secure a job. Even for recruiters in Korea, China, or other countries, the applicant is not responsible to pay the recruiter fee. That is the obligation of the school or institute.

 Job details 

English-and-Skype

You can read my previous post about this company here. They’re obviously hurting for teachers, because this is their 7^th post just for the month of April alone. 

In a nut shell, the application is lengthy. They schedule a phone interview to ask you inane grammar questions, some of which you already answered in their online application form. Then they schedule a teaching demonstration via Skype. Then they make a decision on you as a candidate. Why can’t they interview you via Skype and ask you questions about your education and work experience and some hypothetical ‘What would you do if...’ type questions to see how you as a teacher would respond. That’s a normal job interview. Instead of screening applicants with stages, I wish the heads of EAS would just use their head and discern the truth. 

This company is not Cambridge or Oxford. It’s an online company. Stop the bullshit. Change your marketing, interview and hiring tactics. If you want to develop a good relationship with teachers, sincerely listen to them during the interview, make your decision based on what you hear.

Job details 

Teacha Language School

The pay is low, but typical for Thai schools seeking candidates with 0-1 year of experience. The kicker is they don’t provide accommodation or a subsidy to help offset the costs. You will be breaking even if you continue to have a western life style. You might save a few dollars if you immerse yourself in Thai culture, living and eating as they do. This job is not worth your time because the post provides no details about the students. Will you be teaching young learners only? Adults? How many in a class? There are better jobs in Thailand that offer better pay, lower contact hours and provide accommodation allowance. Keep looking...

Job details

E-Communication online teaching in Japan

Similar to English-and-Skype. Their application process puts you through the ringer. This company constantly has a job advert on TEFL.com website. They must have a high turnover rate of teachers leaving and/ or quitting. Caution: if you are not Caucasian, this company will not hire you.
Job details  

English and Skype Online Teaching (Russia)

This posting is already displayed in its entirety, but if you want to check, you can read it here at Dave's ESL Café.

 

 

I hate these types of job postings. No, I'm not being a cranky new mom because some little baby was keeping me up all hours of the night. Let me explain…

The name of the company just grates on my nerves. 'English and Skype?' This screams to me, 'Me and my friend started this company who know nothing about ESL or education. We wanted to maximize profit by using an already established program that is free. Whoopee for us! We're super smart.'

However, if you were a teacher who had bad experiences teaching online with Skype, then you would know there is no Whiteboard option on Skype, where a teacher can write notes that are also visible to the student on his/ her screen. Also, Skype does not allow you to record the lessons, which is invaluable for students who want to review the lesson on his/ her own time. Skype is good for talkie-talk with friends, relatives or significant others, but not worthwhile for conducting online English lessons.

If this company was as exclusive as they tout themselves to be, they would've developed, or at least purchased, software conducive for teaching.

Also they want teachers to work a lot of hours which translates to they don't have teachers...most likely any teachers. Requesting upwards of 20 hours screams it is a start-up company.

This is what chaps my…kisser. The exclusivity of this crap company is evident in this posting. They think their … don't stink. But their posting has the opposite effect. You obviously can tell (you're a discerning prospective employee) that the presentation of the job posting is utter garbage.
 

They don't hire non-native English speaking teachers. Fine, whatever,  a company can require that.

The pay is dismal $10-13. 45 minutes....I could get a better hourly wage working for a Chinese company.

Personal experience...

The application process is just as retarded as this company's name. 

You click on the link here and you are brought to this application form which has a laundry list of questions related to grammar and your teaching expertise. So I wrote more than the word limit to answer the question items comprehensively. I attached my resume, and a few days later was granted a phone interview. 

The kicker...

The phone interview was nothing more than a grammar quiz! I thought I had already answered those retarded questions on the online application.  Even if you are an inexperienced teacher, you would've felt disrespected because the interviewer was speaking in this sing-songy pre-school teacher voice.

'Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay,' she said. 'What is the verb tense of this sentence: John goes to school.'

'Are you kidding me?' I asked. 'I thought I already answered this on the application!'

Their response: 'Well, we get a lot of applicants who lie on their resume. So we have to double-check.'

If this company is worth their salt, they would be able to weed out the liars from the pack by examining CVs. And if your company's name is English and Skype, why didn't they conduct the interview on Skype rather than via a phone call?

 

Don't waste your time. Don't even 'dare' to send your resume. Even if you do get hired, this company, which is so retardedly named, will not be around long enough to get and retain students when there are numerous other companies in Russia that provide a better, more quality online learning experience.

Crap! Crap! Crap!