Whether you’re a job seeker looking for your next TEFL adventure, or an
employer searching for that perfect TEFL teacher, TEFL Job Boards have become an
important aspect in the world of teaching English abroad. This blog is as seen on the i-to-i TEFL blog.
Discovering Job Boards
TEFL job boards are probably the most interesting websites in the world,
at least to me they are. I remember when I first discovered that you could
teach English and live abroad (it was after a conversation in a pub, naturally)
and I began to scour the internet for TEFL job boards. It was like discovering a
secret treasure map in my granny’s knickers’ draw, not that I’ve ever searched
through her underwear garments, but you can imagine the shock. There were lists
of jobs all around the world saying that I could teach English, get paid, and
live abroad. What could be better? Photo by normanbleventhalmapcenter
Once I’d got over the surprise that my dream of travelling the world
while getting paid could come true, I became angry. Why had no one at my school
or university ever mentioned about the world of TEFL? I thought back to the
conversation I’d had with the sixth form career’s advisor.
“I think your best bet is to work as an admin assistant, or librarian,”
the goofy muppet had said.
“Oh right,” I said, “Yeah, I guess I could be a good librarian, I do
like books,” I added, naïve as I was.
My experience of job boards
Despite finding out about the world of TEFL job boards, I didn’t
actually use them at first. Mainly because back in 2003 a lot of companies
preferred to do their recruiting locally and the countries where I wanted to
teach, Mexico, Ecuador, and Brazil, were a bit behind the times. I searched for
jobs on the internet, but had no success. I went anyway, walked round with my
CV to all the language schools and managed to find six different jobs over a
nine month period. I stored the secret job board map to the back of my mind.
Towards the end of Brazil I started peeking at job boards again. Reading
about jobs around the world gave me a buzz; it made the future look exciting. I’d
planned to go to Australia next, but after that the possibilities were endless.
Before I left for Sydney I applied for a few jobs and luckily got an interview
two days after arriving. The job didn’t work out but I eventually found a great job in Sydney via a job board.
Once I’d realized that Australia wasn’t the place for me, I went back to
the job boards. Thailand was next. I got three job offers via a job board,
chose the one I liked the most, and set off for Bangkok for my next adventure.
Despite a few problems in the school I had a great time in Thailand, learnt a lot about teaching young learners, and
really started to become a teacher. Towards the end of Thailand it was back to
the job boards again. I got myself a job back in London starting for when I
arrived; perfect timing.
Since then I haven’t needed to use job boards much; I’ve only had two
more jobs and both of those I got in Seville by walking around with my CV.
However, many friends have used job boards to find TEFL jobs. One of my best
mates has just landed himself a job in Mexico (now they’re not so behind the
times) working for a great company in Mexico City and he’d having a ball.
Find your own TEFL treasure map
So my advice to you is start searching for your own TEFL treasure map. i-to-i launched their job board on the 6th of June. I’ve
had a sneaky peak and it’s extremely user friendly. Once you’ve registered your
details you can find jobs in Thailand, Korea, China, Russia, Turkey, France,
Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica and Mexico. There’s a huge world of jobs out there
waiting for you. Good luck. Labels: finding a job teaching, i-to-i blogs, job hunter, job seeker, look for job in tefl, teaching English jobs, tefl job boards
