How to Search for an EFL Job - Teaching English as a Foreign Language

There are more than a few options when deciding to take your career abroad by teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). There are many well-established and credible Web sites to use, but there are just as many poor ones to be aware of. The best way to go about an EFL job search is by trusting your instincts, trusting user feedback, and doing your homework.

If you hold a TEFL certificate or an equivalent, the issuing institution should provide you with a list of useful resources. Bridge-Linguatec provides its program graduates with a two-page list of credible Web sites and descriptions of their contents (i.e. positions and locations offered). If your program did not provide a similar list or you are searching for a job without holding such a certificate, here are some helpful hints.

There are two ways of going about finding your EFL job around the world: direct recruiting through online job postings and recruiters specializing in placing teachers in schools. The latter option can have mixed results. Most recruiters focus on one country or region and will fill whatever position is needed in that area. This means that if you want to be in a small community, you may wind up in a major city instead. They also do not provide much employee feedback from prospective schools.

With the need for qualified English instructors around the world, there are more than enough job posts for direct recruiting so that you can cut out the recruiter costs. However, this means that you must actively search for a job rather than have someone else do it for you. The easiest way to avoid hassles of perusing job posts every day or so is to post your résumé online - most EFL Web sites have a section for job seekers to post a résumé and give specific information such as preferred location, preferred age of students, and expected salary. The difficulty with this method is that many recruiters and schools will contact you without ever reading the résumé or specific information. This means that if you want a job in Japan, there's a good chance that a school in Korea or Thailand will contact you.

The good old method of reading through job posts is still the best. It's simple enough to find Web sites with enormous databases of positions around the world. The problem is finding what you want. You can spend hours clicking on posts on a single site if you don't have a specific search requirement.

The first thing you should do before beginning a job search is decide where you would like to go. Narrow the search down to a few countries - you can always expand your search later on. Be sure to research the countries you desire to get a feel for standard of living, pay scale, and expectations of schools. Think about your reasons for wanting to teach EFL in a specific country; you will most likely be asked this question in an interview. Write down questions you may have about the school, work and living environment, health issues, and anything else that comes to mind. Be wary, if a job sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Above all, remain patient and understand that many schools do not speak perfect English and communication with administrators may be difficult.