The negative interview mindset
Is it sometimes too easy to get a teaching job in Thailand?
A growing number of foreign teachers (particularly male) think that it's so easy to get an English teaching job in Thailand that all you have to do on interview day is turn up. Ajarn.com looks at a common mindset behind interviewing for TEFL jobs
The all important interview itself
How to perform well on the day
Interviews in Thailand seem to range from a Thai person simply checking to see if you have the right “look,” to more in-depth conversations between the candidate and one or two people responsible for hiring. I personally rarely spend less than an hour with a candidate for a job at my school, and often far longer.
Arranging an interview
Getting your foot in the door
Once an interview is scheduled, KEEP YOUR APPOINTMENT! You put yourself in a bad light by canceling an interview, or even changing the time, unless you give ample notice and have a very good reason for doing so. Changing your appointment time with a prospective employer even once is unadvisable; do it twice and you have effectively killed your candidacy.
Where are all the teachers?
Is there a severe shortage of warm TEFL bodies?
Is there really a chronic teacher shortage in Thailand? As 40,000 baht a month jobs go begging, Ajarn.com asked ten teacher recruiters their opinions on why there seems to be an acute shortage of quality teachers at present. Is it really a case of accepting the first farang that sticks his or her head around the door? No individual people or specific schools are mentioned.
Career services corner
Help in finding a job
As the head of a well-regarded English program at a government school in Bangkok, Thailand for the last 1.5 years, I have been largely appalled by the thousands of resumes I have seen, e-mails I have received, and the lack of interviewing skills of most teacher candidates I speak to.
Before you teach
What every teacher should do and know before opening day
The first thing every teacher should do before starting a new job is to inspect; inspect beyond the usual school tour that is part of most interviews. Ask to be taken to the classrooms you will use. Look at where you will teach. What do you have? Are there whiteboards or chalkboards? Do you have any type of technology to aid you in teaching? Is there air conditioning?
December 2002
A year-end selection box of TEFL snippets
Featured this month is corporate work, Mr Micheal from Siam Computer, how to dress to impress at interviews and mingling with rich English teachers.
Divine right
Can anyone realistically teach English?
Some people believe that every native English speaker is born with the ability to teach English. Unfortunately a high proportion of people with that belief appear to want to be teachers.
Manic depression
Looking for jobs in the concrete jungle
There's been more comments recently about how hard it is to get a job. Part of the problem is the rather disinterested or negative attitude of some teachers who simply believe that it's their god given right to be able to land a dream teaching gig with minimal effort.
More Dwight and Goodwill to all men
Over the previous few months I’ve been accused of many things
The star of last week's LIBeL is still hounding me - a few more insightful questions from Dwight in NYC. Plus re-training hookers - Goodwill Bangkok, a charity based in, not surprisingly, Bangkok - offers free training courses for girls looking for a way out of the bar scene.
