Jobs of the Week June 30, 2013

GOOD

Wrinkly Gus is happy with these jobs!

1)Earlybirds – China

jobs@earlybirds.cn

Sounds like a sweet deal. But other than the name of this recruiter, is the sentence at the bottom of the post that really grates against my kisser. You claim you are not a recruiter, but what you describe IS what the job of a recruiter does. No matter if you have ‘personal’ relationships with universities. You are sending out job posts in order to recruit teachers for those specific posts.

It’s like a pig dressed up as a woman, saying it’s not a pig.

Insulting to my intelligence, but still sounds good.

Job details

2) Semyung University – Korea

ktw5797@semyung.ac.kr

Alright! 4 day work week! Low number of students and contact hours! Though, a position more suitable for (somewhat) experienced teachers with qualifications.

Sign me up! But negotiated wisely for adequate pay. Remember: you’re an educated person, don’t let them lowball you.

Job details

3) Kangwon National University - Korea

langcntr@kangwon.ac.kr

Low pay for the type of qualifications and experience this place is looking for. With that in mind, low contact hours, ample vacation time and partly-furnished housing. No mention of flights...

Give it a go if you’ve got at least a year teaching experience with BA or MA...though, I’d negotiate for a minimum of 2.5 Won/ month.

Job details

BAD

Angry or pooping? Or pooping angrily?

4) WithAble Recruiting – Korea

withable3@gmail.com

I’m sketched out by the gmail address. But with that in mind, this recruiter has a range of jobs for your perusal. Different locations with salary between 2.0 – 2.7 million Won. However, some of the contact hours reach upwards of 30 (for kindy, no less) and require you to work 10 hours in one day. Will you lose your sanity teaching kindergarteners 6 – 8 contact hours per day and remain in the office for an addition 2-4 hours? Salary is pretty low for the work demand.

Keep looking.

Job details

5) Orange Education Co - Korea

eduorange@hotmail.com

If a stable, reputable recruiter for the last 11 years, why are you still using a Hotmail address? The website offers suitable information about aspects of the job (contact hours, pay, holidays, etc). Be careful though, since Orange Education Co. is a recruiter, the demands of the director/ principal of language institutes may differ than what is stipulated on the OECo. website. For most of the jobs, there seems to be high contact hours with low pay and are looking for Kyopo teachers (F visas) and E2 visa holders already inside Korea.

As well, misspelled words and grammar errors proliferate on the job posting.

Beware.

Job details

6) ACE Recruiting Agency – Korea

acecareer@hotmail.com

Go to the ACE Career website, under Recruiting Info, and you will read about teacher’s home leave after signing another contract.

I don’t like the unpaid 14 day home leave for teachers who will re-sign. That’s how you pay back your loyal teachers?

I find that extremely offensive, especially when most other institutes pay you for vacation time.

No thanks.

Job details

NOT WORTH IT

[witty caption redacted due to the image speaking for itself]

7) Expertise Education – Beijing, China

hr@expertiseedu.com

No mention of contact hours. Salary is disgustingly low. Look elsewhere. Also, this company should think about renaming it since it sounds so much like the disreputable Education Experts in Saudi Arabia.

Pass...

Job details

8) China TEFL Network (CTN)

admin@helengroup.com

This post is sloppily presented. Reading it makes my eyes hurt, and my heart as well when I read the range of salary offered at the different schools.

White space is important when reading. Organize the information into salary ranges. Learn how to write links in your job post. It's much cleaner...unorganized noob.

No thank you.

Job details

9) Korea International School Beijing – China

 kisbwj@gmail.com

You had me at the salary! But then made me think twice about a small detail you tried to sneak past me.

Yes, 20 contact hours per week is good. Yes, the housing and pay are great too.

But... you have to submit weekly lesson plans. Any good teacher has a lesson plan, but I think you will have to submit highly detailed plans for approval. If you are making the curriculum from scratch, you’ll easily be working 60 hours per week in preparation and teaching.

Go sit on an egg.

Job details

10) British Academic Centre – Moscow Region – Russia

recruit@bc-english.ru

No mention of contact hours. No mention if provided housing is shared or not. No mention of the amount of vacation time. Pay is little more than slave wages. Also, it’s located in the Moscow ‘Region.’ You could be out in the boonies.

Likewise, go sit on an egg.

Job details

i-to-i TEFL Survey 2013

A nice survey recently just put out by i-to-i TEFL which provides 393 TEFL  teachers' views about where, and why they are teaching among others.

Some of the questions are obvious enough, with obvious enough replies. Although, I would've like to see where, exactly, are those 'All Other Responses' are teaching. Considering it is about a quarter of the pie-chart, that would warrant a more thorough explanation.

Russia? UK? USA? Australia? 

Nice survey, but not very insightful.

National Careers Service

A comprehensive website devoted to the job-hunt. The site provides advice in regards to anyone seeking any kind of career or employment.

What I found useful was the C. V. section. There is a C. V. builder, advice for what to write (and leave out) in each section, as well as explanation of what some key words mean when you come across them in job adverts.

A great, useful tool, especially for fresh graduates looking for that first job, but have loads of questions about the hunt. 

5 Reasons to Research Employers/ Recruiters Before You Apply for a Job

1) Fees/ Scams

Do I have to pay a fee?

Am I being scammed?

He said I'd have a job if I sent $5,000 via Western Union

You do not want to send anyone money to secure you a job. And sometimes this information is not explicit in the job posting. You have to browse the website (if the employer/ recruiter has one) and determine if there is a price tag involved. As these employers/ recruiters do provide a service for a fee, this is not a scam. However, I suggest candidates do their own search for reputable employers that offer a comprehensive employment package without you paying them any money.

Furthermore, people will try to scam you. You should research any names of contact persons, employment organizations and email addresses. 1) Google is a highly proficient search engine, barring you enter in the proper key words in your search; 2) Use websites to check if they are scams. For instance, ScamAdviser and Scambusters allow you to check if the website is legit. Scamchecker provides a list of points to consider if the website is a scam or not. Consumer Fraud Reporting and Scamdex provide general information about internet scams. More specifically related to TEFL jobs, my blog helps you understand the strengths and weaknesses of particular jobs, sift the good from the crap, and has information available to candidates about potential risky employers/ recruiters.

2) Reputation

Is the employer/ recruiter reputable?

Not a Bad Ass Reputation

Teachers have good and bad experiences whilst working for any employer. If you discover complaints on a forum, like Dave's ESL Café, you have to determine if they are valid. What is the person complaining about? Low pay, a massive number of contact hours or personality conflicts, I think, are not valid complaints. First, you do not have to sign the contract if you do not agree to any terms therein. Second, people will clash no matter what the job is…it's life.

However, complaints like inefficiency of HR, not being paid salary, bonus or severance in a timely manner, not being reimbursed for costs, like airfare, medicals or visas, and overtime hours not compensated for, are only some examples of valid complaints.

After research, and you still question the reputation of the employer/ recruiter, do not send your resume. Look elsewhere…

3) Job Information

What are my duties?

A very important duty...deciding on which shoes the boss should wear.
But it's not  related to teaching!

A teacher should, of course, be responsible for teaching. Overtime hours must be stipulated in the contract and the corresponding overtime pay. If your duties involve extracurricular activities, including, but not limited to, organizing games, attending school functions outside of normal workday hours, creating textbooks for which will be used by other members of staff, you need to get this explained in writing. You do not want to arrive at a new job, finish teaching for the day and then your boss demands you wash her car or hit the street.

If she's your employer, well then, you should maybe think about washing her car.

 

4) Employer Information

Who - exactly - am I going to work for?

That's why you research...to avoid working for a Chechen terrorist. 

My biggest pet-peeve, one that screams the employer/ recruiter is not reputable or smart enough to invest in purchasing a website, is the use of free email accounts. Send your resume at your own risk.

Is there a website for you to research the mission, vision and goals of the employer? Are there pictures that show where you'll be working? Can you contact other teachers to ask them questions about the job?

Recruiters work on commission. The bad lot will promise you everything under the sun just to get you to sign the contract so they get paid. When you arrive to start work, you might find conditions are bottom-of-the-barrel bad. Trust only what a recruiter says if you can verify it by another source: teachers who work for the employer, message boards and unbiased reviews from a Google search. 

5) Personal Preferences

What do I like/ dislike about the job prospect?

Yes...you've got to decide!

You have to manage your expectations before sending your resume. Expect a worst case scenario, and ask yourself if you still could work there. 

Can you last a seventeen week semester if you're teaching thirty contact hours? What happens to your salary if your contact hours drop because student enrollment has dropped? After six months, will I want to flee the country? Can I live on the salary offered if a sizable chunk of that money is going towards renting a flat? What is my savings potential? Are promotions available?

These are just five of the reasons anyone should conduct research about potential employers/ recruiters. You should brainstorm other aspects to think about which may be of personal value to yourself. If you have other points you'd like to suggest, I'm all ears. After all, this blog is about helping the underrepresented TEFL teachers share information about employers, good and bad. 

Why I Hate Employers with Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail Email Addresses

The embodiment of  companies that use free email addresses.

Because it screams they did not invest any time, effort and/ or money in producing a company/ school website. Or they are scam artists.

It is near painless to have an online presence nowadays. It speaks of laziness on the part of the employer.

You could be cultivating a quality impression instead of doing this

If you promote yourself as a reputable employer, then produce a quality, informative website for candidates to browse at his/ her leisure.

People that run scams use free email addresses like the ones offered by the above mentioned companies.

Advice for job candidates: Be wary of corresponding with anyone using those free email addresses. They are either trying to scam you, or are low-quality employers.

Use your goddamned critical thinking abilities, people!

Deplorable Jobs of the Week May 5, 2013

GOOD

1) Oxford Language Center - English Teachers Guatemala City, Guatemala: July-December 2013

The post is straightforward and provides all the necessary information for a candidate to make a sound decision of whether or not to send off her resume. The contact hours (22-25) are explicit and the number of working days (5 and a half...which is quite high for only making $500/ month.) Only a BA is required. However, a candidate needs to question the post not mentioning accommodation. If you have to pay your own rent, that’s going to take a huge chunk of your salary. You’ll be breaking even at the end of the month if you don’t adjust to the typical Guatemalan way of life. The job is requiring only a 6 month commitment. It’s a chance to experience a fantastic country, and get your foot in the door. You could query other language institutes in the area and line-up a solid Business English teaching job once you finish your contract. A good job for noobs from North America.

Job details 

BAD

2) ILA Vietnam - Summer School Teaching Positions Available at ILA Vietnam

Despite offering a well-written job post by a reputable company, it lacks some basic information any candidate would have to question. First, the salary is an hourly rate. Do they guarantee a minimum number of contact hours so that you’re not left eating your shoe by the end of the month? How many students in each class? Is accommodation provided or accommodation allowance added to your salary? Will you be required to travel to other institute locations to teach? Will ILA pay you for travel time? I do like the subsidized CETYL and DELTA courses on offer. Quite valuable, and I think worth it to help offset the costs.

Job details 

NOT WORTH IT

3) Kawader Al Tanmiah - Teachers Needed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

No mention of salary range, vacation days, contact hours, number of students in class, or which university you will be working for. The housing allowance is vague: is that your total housing allowance for the year? As well, when they request your certificates to be verified, they need to be more specific so as to give the candidate a heads-up. In order to secure a Saudi visa, you need your TEFL certificate and any degrees you possess to be attested. It’s a long process that requires time. As well, the yahoo email address makes me wary of sending all of my personal documents to this company.

Job details           

4) Yu Chia – Taiwan Buxiban (Cram School)

What I like: 20 contact hours per week, provided accommodation despite paying a low monthly rent.

What I don’t like: Not even the typical 60,000 salary. 53,000. Where did they get such an arbitrary number? No mention of flight reimbursement. The 30,000 severance is not enough to cover a one-way plane trip back to North America. Sneaky-sneaky. At the bottom of the post, it reads: ‘Be physically fit as to work nine to twelve hour days and remain active with children.’ A 60 hour work week? That’s a lot of overtime. And yes the post mentions you will be paid for overtime. But I have to wonder, what do they consider overtime work? For instance, if you are preparing lessons or decorating the classroom or participating in extra-curricular activities, those are not teaching hours. I assume this school would only pay for overtime contact hours. It is a Buxiban. They are a business. They will squeeze every ounce of energy out of their teachers in order to get their money’s worth. Also, contact email is a Hotmail address. No website for the school. Be warned!

Job details 

5) Afghan Turk International School

Self-explanatory...

Job details 

6) TeachingChile

Never pay a recruiter to secure you a job. There are thousands of reputable jobs out there that do not require you to pay any kind of fee. Yes you may have to foot the bill for airfare and visa costs, but the reputable employers will reimburse you. TeachingChile can go screw...just like English-and-Skype.

Job details 

7) Ballenger-Atherton Group - ARAMCO Contractor seeks English and Linguistics  

Congratulations! We have a new addition to my Shit List!

Come on? Really? The pay is not ARAMCO by any means. A standard, legit ARAMCO teaching position includes a 2 week vacation every four months. You get round-trip tickets for EACH VACATION. Cost of living and accommodation allowance, which is 65% of your base pay, is given to you even if you are staying in provided, free accommodation. These sons-of-bitches are criminals, just like the other bad apple recruiters working for ARAMCO. They are skimming off your salary and paying you this bullshit. Do not send your resume to these bottom-feeding scum. Really? Gmail address? Sloppy, sloppy criminals.

Job details 

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  

Thailand

1) Prime Teachers Bangkok                                                              GOOD

If you are from the UK, you're in luck! A sweet job awaits your consideration. Despite not mentioning the contact hours, the job package is enough to make me swoon (with envy as I'm not British.)

Job details

2) King's College of English (Thailand) Co Ltd                                   NOT WORTH IT

You want me to teach how many hours and for how much pay?

Job details 

South Korea

Week of April 22, 2013

SOUTH KOREA...lookin' damn fine this week!

1) ENI School

GOOD

Low salary for teaching kids. High contact hours. Low vacation time. Good unshared furnished apartment. 

Job details

2) OK Recruiting  

GOOD  

Recruiter. Good variety of jobs. Just be firm with your preferences, as they may try bait and switch.

Job details

3) SeoulESL Inc.

GOOD

Recruiter. Wary they don’t list the school/ institute name, as you can’t research info before the interview. Some contact hours are 120/ month = 30/ week.

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4) YBM

GOOD

Good salary, opportunity for o/time, subsidized language lessons, housing allowance and key money. Good fit for 0-2 years experience. Multi-locales offered in Korea.

Job details

5) Planet People

GOOD

Recruiter. Good range of jobs. Again, specify and be firm on your preferences.  

Job details

6) Chonnam National Uni. Yeousu Campus 

GOOD

Excellent package on offer for Native Eng Speakers with 1 year experience and Bachelors Degree. But location is out in the boonies, if you don’t mind. 

Job details 

China

Week of April 22, 2013

1) Wall Street: English                                                                   GOOD

Reasonably passable, except weekend work; do you have 2 consecutive days off, or will you only have 1? Not specified. 35 contact hours is huge for that kind of money when part of that pay has to go towards housing. 
Job details 

                                                      

3)Asia Experts Network Limited (aen)                                          BAD

Recruiter. Fair job details, however, what turns me off is ‘In some cases,’ give a range or define the parameters. This makes me think everything is up in the air, and decided on a whim. Under what terms would you not receive your ‘bonus?’
Job details

4) Shanghai Euroway Training Centre                                            NOT WORTH IT

Quality of the post is bad. Misspellings, incorrect grammar. The pay is way too low, as you are expected to use part of your monthly pay to rent a flat. Hours good, but 7 days unpaid vacation...please.
Job details 

5) Nanjing English First Training School                                         NOT WORTH IT 

No mention of salary, contact hours, visa reimbursement, or severance pay.

Job details

6) Disney English                                                                           NOT WORTH IT 

Pay is moderate, but should be higher if teaching children. Contact hours include nights and weekends. No mention of days off in a week. ‘Deliver private lessons as required.’ This sounds to me like unpaid teaching that is scheduled during your down time. The license for Rosetta Stone Mandarin is a joke. IF they are using Disney’s name legally, they should be able to provide free onsite face-to-face Chinese classes, or at the very least subsidized. No mention of the number of vacation days that are paid. No mention of severance at the end of the contract. Return flight is calculated in your monthly pay, which is bananas. ‘Robust academic training’ means they will put you in a fishbowl and micromanage your teaching. Observations constantly.

Job details

7) Prime Teachers (Recruiter)                                                       NOT WORTH IT

No mention of number of vacation days, contact hours or flight pay or reimbursement.

Job details

8) Ba Zhou Petroleum No. 1 Middle School                                 NOT WORTH IT

Terrible pay, similar to local pay, but you’re a foreigner with foreign bills to pay, massive class sizes, ridiculous statement about 7 years and no ‘accusations of abuses.’ 1 foreign teacher currently. Worked with 20 foreigners, but of course, 19 of them were not retained. Airfare reimbursement, but what about outward, or return flights? Travel allowance is 30, 000 RMB which has to be a typo. No mention of number of hours you must be on campus (40 hour work week?)

With such a sloppy presentation in a job posting, what else is sloppy about this job?

Job details

Why I hate the forums on Dave’s ESL Café

I was doing some research about writing a blog posting about BKC-International House (IH) Moscow, when I came across this retarded forum on Dave’s ESL Café.

For what started out as a straight forward post about this noob chronicling her honeymoon period at the said organization, the other members quickly lambasted her, and the forum became nothing more than a back-and-forth that was the equivalent of ‘You’re a liar!’ ‘No, YOU'RE a liar!’ for 6 goddamned pages that spanned 2 f&^king years.

Someone glued my hands to my face and it hurts!

Mysteriously enough, at the beginning of the post there was a mention of a lawsuit filed by the member against BKC IH Moscow. When I clicked on the link to the blog where I could read more about the context of the lawsuit, I saw the following picture.

This is why I hate the job forums on Dave’s crap website. Not only does he let any crap employer post any crap job advert that may prove to be misleading or downright false, the members to the site do not know how to control their emotions. Rather than getting ticky-tacky, remember you are there to share information. 

Other than the pettiness, I was struck by the candidness the member expressed in detailing information about her first impression at BKC-IH Moscow. Usually members only get specific in private messages (PM), which leaves other members who might have the same questions in the dark. Transparency people, it’s what’s for dinner…every goddamned night of the week. And that’s a good thing. 

No one likes pettiness for dinner every night

Yanbu, Saudi Arabia from ESL Employment

This job review analyses the posting from ESL Employment. 

Let’s keep this short and sweet. This posting is best served to mid-level teachers with 2-3 years experience and a CELTA/ TEFL/ TESOL.

You might think the 6 month contract is an advantage. This way, you can get in, work, save some money, and get out of there in time before you lose your sanity.

No. A 6 month contract is not a good thing. 

You’ll be working – technically – illegally on a business visa. It is not the same as working on a resident visa. Why would Virtual Vision Solutions do that? Because it saves them money from paying and processing your resident visa and Iqama (Alien Resident Card.) And because it allows them to take further advantage of you, the employee.

 Because you’re working illegally, you have no recourse if they bring you to a labor camp and force you to stay there with 10 Bengalis and no kitchen or shower, claiming that is the furnished housing they claimed in the job advert. 

As well, they could force you to work extra hours and perform duties outside of the scope of teaching. Getting an exit/ re-entry visa won’t be possible – you’re stuck inside Saudi for the entire 6 months. As well, at the end of the 6 months, you will NOT get a severance pay, again because of working on a business visa.

Flights? Not mentioned. Employers are supposed to pay for your flights in KSA. If they expect you to pay, and claim to reimburse you, you’ll never get reimbursed.

What institute/ university/ company are you going to work for? ELC, but what does that stand for? Minor background about the company posted with the job would be helpful.

Not to mention you’ll be working in Yanbu, which makes Riyadh seem like Paris. The air quality is terrible up there, more conservative, and even less to do. But of course, you can always drink goat’s milk, eat figs and pray a thousand times per day.

The 13 – 14,000 SAR / month on offer here is the same as other job posts. Look for another job in Saudi with equal pay, furnished housing, transportation provided (or allowance) and a 12 month contract with severance...if you are so desperate for money you're eating your shoe.

But most definitely, not ICEAT at the Preparatory Year Programme at King Saud University.

Good luck to you. 

TEFL Internships in China

Read this job post in its entirety here at Dave’s ESL Café.

Ok, so at first glance, everything seems good. You, the new graduate who’s just received his/ her BA in whatever, decide to go into teaching. You’re serious about it, thinking it could be a worthwhile profession. But you don’t know the first thing about teaching English. So you browse Dave’s ESL Café, where you find the posting linked above. You send your CV (resume) and interview for the internship. Lo and behold, you’ve got the internship! But you have to pay the program fees! The what? That’s right.... surprise, surprise.

If I hadn’t done some snooping on the company’s website, TEFLinternships.com, I wouldn’t have uncovered the hidden little tidbits of information they were withholding from its prospective internship applicant.

You have to pay the program fee of: $888.

On the company’s website, TEFL Internships, it touts the TEFL certificate as something worthwhile. Instead, after researching, the certificate is more worthless than the paper it’s printed on.

The TEFL online teaching website, http://teflbootcamp.com/, promotes itself as being an international member of ACTFL, IATEFL and the College of Teachers. These are worthless assertions. Anyone with a credit card can join these organizations. By placing these organizations on their webpage, it’s leading prospective consumers to believe these are accreditation bodies. This TEFL online certificate is not accredited by the British Council, University of Cambridge, Oxford, hell- not even Kaplan! 

It is, however, accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) which any company can get, but only if it honours its guidelines and pays the membership fees. The main guidelines are that members of the BBB don’t lie to consumers, disclose physical address of their company, and refund customers their money if customers aren’t satisfied. So not one – absolutely NOT ONE – educational body has accredited or endorsed the online TEFL certificate. Rubbish. Absolute rubbish.

Aside from this advertising which provides customers with an opportunity to misinterpret the institutional bodies as endorsers or accreditation bodies, the website looks so schlocky. The online 'class' was created by a single man (not the plural tutors the website would have you believe) with yes a Masters in Education and a PGCE in TEFL and with over 15 years of experience, but those qualifications alone do not warrant his ability to write meaningful teacher preparation textbooks. Instead, this fella created some e-books with little to no content inside them (I bought his TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS test preparation textbook four years ago and found only content which could’ve been gleaned from a friggin’ Google search.)

Don’t waste your time with this company. Remember: never pay a recruiter for anything. Let alone the $888 this whack-o company is demanding to place you in an internship and give you a worthless online TEFL certificate.

And yeah you can find legit jobs on Dave's, but you have to sift through job postings like this. Don't take the job posting as absolute truth. Research by checking the companies involved websites. 

Stay far, far, far away from TEFLinternships!

Greenheart Travel Job Posting from TEFL.com (South Korea)

You can read this job post here.

Usually this company, Greenheart Travel, charges teachers for the program. However, for this job in South Korea teaching in public schools, there are NO CHARGES.

Greenheart Travel does offer a TEFL certificate, but I wouldn’t go for it. First, you’ll have to pay for it ($480), and I doubt the quality would be very good. Wait until you’ve worked two years in Korea, and then do the CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults). You don’t need any experience/ or any certificate to step foot inside a Korean public school classroom. The first week is difficult to adjust, but there are loads of resources available to help you online. Just do a Google search.

The one drawback to this post, and any teaching post in Korea, are the seemingly insurmountable hoops you’ll have to jump through in order to teach in the country.

The government now requires an FBI background check, which takes 3-4 months. And Greenheart Travel, nor does any employer in Korea, reimburse you for the cost.

A CLEAN CRIMINAL RECORD is a must. Just as the posting says, not even an underage drinking misdemeanor charge when you were 20 years old. The government of Korea is very restrictive and are just looking for an excuse to turn away a Waegukin (Korean word for ‘foreigner’.) The best teachers have made mistakes, but use them as a learning experience. Don’t even apply for a Korean teaching job if you have a questionable record. Apply to a different country that’s not as strict.

The compensation is similar to other good jobs on offer. With no teaching experience and no TEFL certificate, you’ll be on the bottom rung of the salary scale. Don't listen to the warnings: if you're savvy enough and careful enough, get some private tutoring on the side to supplement your income.

30 days of paid vacation is good to start with.

You’re not working in a Hakwon, or language institute, but a public school where you’re paid on time, and the working conditions can be predictable. (There are exceptions to this rule. If given the choice, I would choose a public school over a Hakwon any day of the week.) Furnished apartment, severance pay and flight allowances provided. Though you’ll have to ask in the interview with Greenheart Travel whether or not you’ll have to pay for apartment utilities.

Remember: You are using a recruiter. Make sure the contract you sign for Greenheart Travel matches the one you’ll sign at the public school on your first day. If they don’t match, or there are any surprise clauses that were suddenly written in, don’t sign and call the recruiter. Be firm with your public school employers. If they see you are weak willed, that your spine will break under their pressure, soon enough they’ll want you to work extra hours, possibly on Saturdays, teach a faculty member English for free, design textbooks etc. And then you’ll find yourself working 60 hour weeks at the same salary stated on your contract. If you don't mind being pushed around, then I guess you are a jellyfish. For others, don't let them take advantage of you because you are young and inexperienced. There’s nothing wrong with being assertive, but do it in a polite way.

For newbie teachers, give it a go. But don’t forget to ask some thorough interview questions. 

Horizon Recruitment ESL Jobs in China

Read this post here from the ESL Employment website.

Read more about Horizon Recruitment here.

There are a lot of jobs to choose from, but if you are just starting out (i.e. you just graduated with a BA) I would suggest applying for one of the jobs in a university. Specifically this one here:

The salary is quite high in relation to the other university gigs in China. 16 hours is stated as the maximum, but in the interview make sure to get that stated in the contract. Also, make sure the contract the recruitment company sends you matches the one the university will want you to sign once you are present in the country. If they don’t match, don’t sign, and call your recruitment contact in China.

3 to 4 hours of teaching per day is a great way to get your legs wet, so to speak. You’ll have enough time to plan your lessons fully before each day begins. You’ll have enough time to research what to do in the class, that is, if you are greener than grass.

In the interview ask:

1) How many office hours will I have to keep? What is the total number of hours I have to be on campus?

2) Will I be required to perform other duties? (Ones related to teaching English, such as running clubs, ESL tutoring for Chinese teachers, writing supplementary materials and/ or textbooks)

3) Is pay salaried, or if I teach less than 16 hours will my pay go down?

4) What is the tax rate for my salary, and am I, or the university, expected to pay it?

5) What amenities are included in the housing?

6) Am I responsible for paying utilities?

7) Will I have to share housing with another teacher?

8) Will I have to pay for internet access, or does the university provide that for me in the furnished housing? (No matter if internet access is provided or not, if you want to have free-wheeling, unblocked internet access to the fun websites as you would in the USA, make sure you buy a VPN and set it up BEFORE you enter China. Go here to read about VPNs.)

9) Location of the housing?

10) Are plane tickets bought for me? Or are they reimbursed? When will I be reimbursed? When will I receive the money to buy my return ticket back home?

11) What about severance if I complete my contract?

12) What is the recruiter contact number in China? Name of contact? Email address? Location? (Before you leave on the plane, check the contact information by sending an email and calling on Skype, which involves a minimal cost. If the contact info. doesn’t work, tell the recruiter. If problems start, walk away from the job. You don’t want to be stranded in China without help.)

This is just a taste of the questions you should ask. Think of others that relate to your personality (Cultural issues, free Chinese classes, monthly train/ bus passes etc.) to ensure you have a comfortable stay.

Once you arrive though, things could change at a whim. But you’re taking a calculated risk here. Get all the answers you need before, and then deal with the problems once you arrive. If the work/ cultural situation is not to your liking, you’ll still have some piece of mind knowing that you were as prepared as you could’ve been. Curveballs will come from places you weren’t expecting...no matter how prepared you are.

The most important part during this phase of job recruitment is to research and ask questions to start off on the right foot.

Newbies, give this a go: apply for this job. Good location, high pay, minimal hours at a university. It’ll look great on a CV, and give you the experience you so desperately need. Be firm with the recruiter if they try to change your mind by suggesting a different city.

If you don’t like the answers to the questions you ask, always, always, always walk away. Don’t agree to something if you see red flags waving all over the place. 

English Language Instructor International Company for Education and Advanced Training (ICEAT)

Job posting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia here

The working day and work week is standard. 4 hours of office work is what you are supposed to do. I know a few teachers who worked at this university previously. The bottom line is that you are supposed to be in your office. However, you can do errands, go out for lunch or for a coffee during this time.

Additional cover duty was an issue. The teachers I knew complained about this a lot. Cover duty was on a rotational basis. Since there were 180 teachers on the payroll, teachers were scheduled to work 7:30 am - 5:30 pm about once a month. However, when a teacher did not show up for cover duty, another teacher was called in to cover for the cover teacher! Worse, the teachers that did not show up for cover duty received no warnings, no pay deduction, not even a stern talking to. Just something to keep in mind if you are thinking about joining this 'team.'

A great classroom environment? Could've changed in the last year or two. Teachers complained there were no whiteboards in their room, let alone projectors, or working computers. If the technology was in the classroom, there were technical difficulties or were not functioning altogether.

Cleaning crews rarely cleaned the rooms adequately. Trash being taken out and white boards being cleaned were never done. Rooms were never vacuumed. 

Student Background section is completely misleading.

They are not the best students you would find in Saudi Arabia. The really wealthy and smart kids study abroad. So what you've got are the bottom of the barrel. If these students really worked hard and wanted to make the most of their academic opportunities, they would've studied English more, paid for a tutor and passed the proficiency exam to allow them to study at the real campus of KSU.

These students are not motivated at all. They are not excellent in picking up the language. If they were, they would not be in the PYP.

A summarization of their behavior:

Rampant cheating during exams; talking nonstop in Arabic; lethargic and unmotivated to learn English.

Classroom management is a mountain for teachers to climb there.

 Compensation:

Salary is good to average, but nice to see they provide round trip airfare for you and 3 dependents.

End of service indemnity is pay for completion of the contract. Usually calculated at number of days worked. Somewhat less than  a full month's salary.

30 days paid vacation is nice in addition to the university approved holidays.

Verdict: only for the desperate.

KSU is a place only for the desperate. Ask yourself how badly you need the money. Remember you'll be working in Riyadh, not Jeddah, and not even closer to the Eastern Province where Damam is bearable if you can venture there. Riyadh is a giant dustbowl with not much to do if you aren't Muslim. Walking around the malls and getting drunk on the illegal hooch at the compounds is not very good for your health, physically or mentally. There are desert trips you can sign up for, but of course, it all depends if you like that sort of thing. Embassy parties are once a month, so you can Embassy hop to the different ones to get your drink on. Other than that, there's not much to do. Groundhog Day for 11 months? Can you handle it?  If so, then you will save money, but you have to weigh that against the boredom you'll experience.

This employer took my friends' passports two years ago. Most likely they continue doing that as is the unofficial custom of employers in Saudi. So that means no weekend trips to Bahrain for a booze fest on a whim. You'll have to apply to your employer to access your passport at least a week in advance to get an exit visa. All very much a very big pain.

If you have a Masters in English, Linguistics, Modern Languages or Education, look elsewhere. You can get more money and better benefits in Saudi. Or choose the UAE where it's still boring but they allow accessibility to booze, dancing, looking at hot girls wearing more Western style clothing. With an MA you can work in the universities in the UAE. Some very cush jobs available.

GOLDSTAR TEFL Recruitment/ Wall Street English

Here's a job posting found here

Analysis

Anything over 24 hours for the less experienced teacher is a sure fire route to teacher burnout. You don't want to be overwhelmed, get stressed, and contemplate fleeing the country in the middle of the night. It's a terrible way to begin your career. Even with the lesser number of contact hour option B, it's still going to take a teacher some time to get the gist of the lesson. Although, the posting says all lesson plans are prepared for you, more than 5 hours is necessary for teachers, even experienced ones, to get the flow of the lesson plan, i.e. how to transition from one activity to the next.

Finding a new apartment in 30 days is stressful enough, especially in a new country. One of my past employers provided the first 30 days free stay in a hotel, another 5 days. For both I needed to find an apartment. It was impossible for me to find an apartment in 5 days, extended my stay an extra 25, paid the extra amount out of my own pocket because I didn't want to settle with an apartment. In truth, in that short of time, you will settle for any crummy condition. But forewarned, you'll be spending the duration of the lease in such conditions. Choose wisely!

That's correct! No costs for the recruitment. But what about visa costs? Are flights to China reimbursed? Are flights provided at the end of the contract, or at least the money to buy them?

Posting omits days of working week - you could have one day off, or dare I speculate, work every day as language institutes schedule classes around when students are available. 

Omits if these hours are guaranteed teaching hours - with a small amount of students enrolled for ESL courses, your 30 teaching hours could shorten, and with that, your pay.

Omits duration of the contract - assuming it's a year, but still worth asking about. 

Here's what this person said about this recruiter and company: 

(from:  http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2134070) 

Kereru makes a good point about the split shifts. Most language institutes will require teachers to work when the students have free time. This means in the morning and at night. 

The final verdict would render this job suitable for teachers to send his or her resume. The job does require a teacher to have a TEFL certificate, so teachers without any experience yet should not waste his time.
With that in mind, he or she must take adequate stock about what their work and personal expectations/ limitations are. She must answer questions about adjusting to a (possibly) new country and culture, energy level to sustain over 30 contact hours, working months worth of possible split shifts and the limited vacation days. However, the company does allow an incentive bonus for teachers, except how managers determine who gets the bonus can be quite political at times. This posting provides good information that outlines standard working conditions for language institutes in China, with this one seemingly better than average. Submit your resume, and during the interview, make sure you ask pertinent questions. Especially about who foots the visa costs, flights and raise questions about the omissions brought up in the analysis.