You've gone to all the trouble of creating a beautifully presented resume and having all of your documents scanned and sent everything through with an outstanding cover letter. And then you dodge simple questions by email or don’t reply at all. If there’s one way of alerting a prospective employer to the smell of a rat, you’re doing a great job if you’re guilty of either or both of the above. There’s no smoke without fire and I think that it’s high time for criminal reference checks to be made a compulsory part of the recruitment process because that will stop you applying for positions altogether. And that will save everyone’s time.

Quick Rant

I'm an English-born South African Citizen. I have never ever throughout my entire life spoke any other language than English. I'm an author of a book on the shelves written in English. Why would Thailand persist that I have to do a TOEIC test before they'll look at my application for a teaching licence. I not only hold the National Teachers Diploma from South Africa but also have a BA Education degree accompanied by 21 years teaching experience in English as a foreign language. I also have a TEFL certificate obtained in Bangkok. Yet they persist that I do this so called TOEIC test that non-native speakers have to do. Could anyone out there please enlighten me in this regard?

Rob

I would like to share my experience as I feel it needs to be shared. I do not have a college degree and I have moved gracefully from one great job to the next great job. I currently work at a top international school in Bangkok and make 60k amonth with a housing allowance thrown in. Some teachers make around 70-100k here with the same housing allowance and other benefits. I have more of an assistant teacher role with the school and support teachers in the classroom. Work permits and visas have never been an issue. The school simply just takes care of it. I'm tired of all this negative feedback about problems for unqualified teachers. This is Thailand. If the school likes you, they will easily find a way to make any government or immigration issues non-existent for you.

I also teach private students on Sunday for three hours at 1,000 baht an hour - so add about 12,000 per month to the 60,000 baht I get from the school.

1. My advice is to apply for the top jobs at the best schools and be professional, well-dressed, clean shaven. And always have a good attitude.
2. Always provide a reference letter from previous employers you have worked for - especially any teaching gigs.
3. Remember to do your homework on the school via the internet and make sure you have a basic understanding of the schools ideas and philosophies before an interview ie: mission statement on website, principal message or any interviews you can find from the principal online by searching his or her name, community involvement, news feeds from the school etc etc....
4. Always make a follow up call to the school or person you sent the CV too and make sure they were able to open your documents from your CV and proceed to respectfully request a time in thier schedule for an interview.
5. After the interview send a follow-up thank you email first thing next morning so you are on their mind with a polite and professional thank you to all persons that were at the interview.

I have also found that voluntary work is held in high regard so it always helps to have this in your arsenal as I have an eุxtensive service record here. Forget any salary around the 30K mark unless you just have to take something or just don't care about money. But you deserve more than that!

Ajarn says - you've done well for yourself Richard, no doubt about that. But there will always be the odd person who finds themself in the right place at the right time and takes advantage of a rare opportunity. It certainly sounds like that was the case with your 'international school opening'. I'm not going to let one man's good fortune change my current opinion that it's getting much tougher here for those teachers without degrees.

richard

I have just been reading about the changes to the law for unqualified teachers and thought i might give my opinion....as an unqualified teacher. I've only had about two years experience teaching in Thailand and I lived in Bangkok from late 2008 to mid-2010. In my limited experience it was surprisingly easy to find employment without a degree.

When I moved to Bangkok in 2008 all I had was a college diploma and a 40 hour TEFL certificate. My first port of call was the agencies, all of which offered me numerous positions across the country. Then I went to the language centres, again the most important thing to them seemed to be my appearance (im 25, blonde haired, blue eyed), which was kind of disconcerning, but i wasnt about to complain.

Throughout my time in Thailand I worked in numerous jobs, a semester here, a semester there and for most of them no paperwork was ever done. I worked in a primary school for one full academic year. They managed to get me a visa, work permit no questions asked.

Ive not been in Thailand since 2010, and after reading a bit on ajarn.com, teaching does certainly sound like a much harder thing to get into now. By contrast however, I have a large number of friends in Thailand, teaching English, without a degree. The general consensus from them is that there is a shedload of work out there at the moment and they've had very few problems in finding employment.

I had messaged one friend saying i was heading to Bangkok later this year to do a TEFL CELTA with one of the well known agencies. his reply was: "Lot's of work over here, but choose the school carefully....don't even bother with a TEFL certificate."

When he said "choose the school carefully" it kind of made me think about how few qualified teachers must be available to these schools if unqualified teachers can just pick and choose where they want to work? Personally I don't think that the situation in Thailand will really change for a number of years. Thai schools will always find a way around whatever regulations are put in place.

I am still heading to Bangkok to study the CELTA after which I'm studying for a bachelor's degree at one of the universities in Bangkok commencing in October. I am absolutely certain that i will still be able to work alongside my studies and have a relatively comfortable lifestyle. So maybe I'm wrong, maybe it is impossible for me to work out there now, but I seriously doubt it.

Ajarn.com says - the question is Rob, is there the 'right work' for unqualified teachers? Or are unqualified teachers getting the stuff no one else in their right mind would want to do - and probably for good reason.

Rob

Dave is absolutely right (Get with the program, Ajarn Postbox 6th August) The writing has been on the wall for non-degreed teachers since at least 2006. Why on earth couldn't you guys see it coming? I certainly could.

I knew that even if I wanted to spend a forseeable chunk of my future at the mercy of unscrupulous employers, drifting from one 30K job to another, and teaching English to a nationality that isn't the slightest bit interested in a country where I have no rights whatsoever, I would have to go home and drop thousands and thousands of pounds on a university education. And probably have to sleep on my Auntie Doreen's sofa as well.

It all made perfect sense to me.

Hugh

In response to 'Thailand's ill-timed implementation of the provisional permit' (Ajarn Postbox 7th August 2012) I am not wanting to get into the debate as to whether or not a degree makes a better teacher because this is certainly not about that but I would like to respond to the article in question.

The writer commented that the change to the provisional permit for teachers and the requirement that applicants must hold a degree is ill timed. Really? It should come as no surprise to anyone. The writer comments that it will cause problems getting ready for ASEAN 2015 but the reality is that it is a requirement of the 2015 integration (the same with all the other countries) and that it be done and it must be implemented by that time.

Contrary to the writers opinion the soon to be unemployed teachers won't be going to China, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam (or any other ASEAN country) because their standards already require a degree (associate and a TEFL cert in the case of Taiwan) for anyone wanting to be a (legal) teacher.

The writing has been on the wall since 2006. Six years after the fact there is no excuse for anyone to not have a degree if they want to be a teacher. Get with the program or fall off the bus. Pick one.

Dave

While I think that Thailand's move toward teacher licensing is a positive thing for students, it seems to me that the TCT's implementation of the new 'provisional permit' (to replace the old 'waiver' letter for not having a teaching license) will have disastrous effects on the availability of foreign teachers, especially NES, in Thailand, with only 2½ years before AEC 2015 begins. In my opinion, this implementation is ill-timed.

If I'm correct in my assumption, when a foreign teacher's current 'waiver' letter expires, then that teacher must meet the requirements for the new 'provisional permit' if the teacher doesn't possess a teaching license. This conversion process will probably take another year or so, given that some 2-year 'waiver' letters have probably been issued earlier this year. The 'provisional permit' states that all foreign teachers must have a degree. Consequently, non-degreed foreign teachers cannot be hired at primary and secondary government schools, except for the 10K program (I think).

Many non-degreed teachers will soon leave for China, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam. My school is losing a competent non-degreed NES (whose 'waiver' letter expires the end of August) before Term 1 ends. An agency has supplied my school with 5 different foreign teachers for M2's two MEP classes, and Term 1 hasn't finished yet. Where is the continuity in learning? How does this help the students prepare for AEC 2015?

There are some competent non-degreed NES teachers in Thailand, and their exclusion from being job applicants increases the current serious depletion of available NES in Thailand. Teacher agencies are having a difficult time finding NES for EP and MEP programs because of the implementation of the 'provisional permit', so this situation will only be compounded in 2013 when more 'waiver' letters expire for non-degreed NES.

If Thailand wants its students to learn English by 2015, then Thailand must increase the supply of NES, not decrease it.

Ajarn Jim

Please remember that Thailand is still a developing country. Give the Thais time to develop their own social conscience instead of trying to impose your own values on them. The all-inclusive society which you may or may not enjoy in your home country took hundreds of years to develop, and in many cases (although underpinned by law) still doesn't function properly. Please also remember that you are a guest in a foreign counrty, and you have been granted permission to work - how easy was that? I'm sure a Thai person would face many more hurdles to become legally employed in your home country.

I'm actually just a realist, and I also belong to at least three groups which are regularly discriminated against in job ads here (race, age and gender). Am I bitter? No, I only apply for the jobs that suit me, and where I suit the employer. So please stop moaning about how badly foreigners are treated here. It's not that long ago that South Africans weren't allowed to use the same bathroom as a white person in your own country. Give Thailand a chance to catch up. A still developing economy will not withstand the restrictions placed upon it by a Western mindset - or do you want Thailand to go backwards, but with a clear social conscience?

Ajarn.com - these are all great comments, but if we have a situation where one poster is having an on-line conversation / argument / disagreement, etc, etc with another poster, then it becomes a discussion forum and not a letters section. Thank you for your understanding.

Del

As a ‘non white’ American (Hispanic), I was a little discontent about Del’s views on employment here in Thailand (Racism? Ajarn Postbox 31st July 2012) Since living here in the country since 2009, I’ve seen first-hand the ill treatment of foreigners (specifically when it comes to race). For me, gaining employment here was not an easy path and at first, it was very difficult for me to get a job most pointedly because I was not Caucasian (not because of a lack of qualifications).

I eventually landed a job and finally got my foot in the door with the profession I wanted to do, but in the end, the school and agency were just not optimal. Three years later, after some trials and tribulations I’m now happily wired into a great school in Bangkok. The company treats their foreign employees well, holds no reservations about having a diverse group of teaching professionals, instructors enjoy a nice salary, good co-workers to work with, and I would not trade any of this for another job. I’m very happy where I am now but will never forget the road I had to take to get here.

However, when I read comments like Del’s and see ads like the one that accidentally made its way onto the site, it only opens some of the old wounds and scars I’ve had to experience in the past.
I have worked alongside people who have sounded very similar to him who openly critiqued foreign teachers of other ethnicities I worked with, and questioning his or her relevant candidacy to a particular position. By the way, as a minority I speak with a crystal clear accent being brought up on the east coast of the U.S, have multiple credentials, (including a teachers’ license), and a lot of experience in the classroom.

I would love for Del to be in my shoes when I was looking for employment and then trying to spout these same views. Equality is something that he’s apparently not in favor of by his voiced opinion of so called “pampering”. How do you know pampering exists? Are you an employment expert? To quote, “Why do people feel so aggrieved so easily?” Why? Well simply because it’s unfair and unequal treatment.

When you have foreigners who are only cherishing a Thai kind of mentality and using veiled racism to get his or her point across, they’re only trying to say one thing without actually saying it.
To take another quote, “Every employer has an idea of how their ideal candidate should be, and if this includes race, gender, age etc, why not include it in the ad?” Essentially, the only sound byte that’s said here is, “Embrace discrimination in 2012”.

I would like to personally commend Bangkok Phil’s efforts to work on behalf of all foreigners here in Thailand in regards to employment. Thank you also to your action to the most recent problem with that one employer conspicuously posting the rather disconcerting ad a few days ago. Your service is of great appreciation and much respect to you sir.

Jeff

Regarding the letter on 'blatant racism' (Ajarn Postbox 31st July 2012) In the past I have been judged so much not by what I can bring to the teaching and the students but by the color of my skin - which I am proud to say is brown. I am an Indian.

There was an instance several years back when I was asked to teach at a private language school in addition to my regular job. I loved the high school students and loved the teaching. The students were doing well.But after a week the owner came up to me very apologetically and said I might have to stop. I was baffled and asked him if there was something wrong in the way I taught. He said the students were happy but their parents wanted a 'farang' teacher to teach them. I was upset since I really liked the students- they were a wonderful bunch.

So now, who's to blame? My two 'takas' worth of advice. Let us keep the focus on educational credentials , pronunciation, sincerity and work ethics when hiring English teachers. The world is going global and so must we!

Sudharani Subramanian