Is it just me?

I am seeing a lot more jobs out there than I can remember in the past. Also, the pay seems to be going up and even if it doesn't appear that way, I've found from personal experience that just about everything seems to be negotiable ending in upward movement of the final salary.

Bottom line: IMHO, now seems to be a very good time to be picky and not afraid to ask for more regardless of what is stated.

Comments?

Stick it to the Man!

Seriously, I agree that it's a teachers' market and the schools are finally figuring that out (the ones that are gonna survive, that is!) Good news for us at last!

"Steven"

mopenyang, I hope you're right. I'm checking ajarn.com jobs database now, and since I don't know other parts of Thailand, I'll check what I know: the old Lanna kingdom.

One job in Chiang Rai, kindergarten. Lampang, one good job at 30K, one other at negotiable salary that's two weeks old. No jobs listed for Lamphun or Mae Hong Son. Here in big old, cheap Chiang Mai: London House, 25K; Wichai Wittaya, a good gig or two at 30K or more; part time at 200 per hour (really!); part time at 300/hour; and an old ad at 26K.

Yet, my mate who replaced me is now in his third year, the MEP project is abandoned, and he's teaching 23 hours per week of conversation, without air conditioning, at 26K per month, 11 months per year, being treated like a houseservant.

As Loaded says, the best jobs aren't advertised, but are spread by word of mouth, old boy networks, etc. Honestly, it's hard for me to get excited about 80% or more of the TEFL jobs in Thailand. Even if the wages are 40K upcountry and 50K in Bangkok, the working conditions usually are pitiful.

The salary posted on ajarn < the salary they will pay

The problem is getting the Thai administrators to understand the problem. They really don't get the concept of supply and demand. I sometimes get people who have a Master's and experience. The Thai administrator will tell me, she doesn't care, she doesn't need someone with a MA, so she doesn't want to pay more--she will pay more than scale for experience however.

I understand their wanting to be frugal, but I don't understand being down right miserly. They are just so used to being able to pick up almost anybody.

A second problem is that for some schools--those which employ a large number of foreigners, raising the pay means raising it for nearly everyone and this is a problem.

When I started working the range in pay was from 15,000-50,000 Baht per month for basically the same qualifications. It took the school a couple of years to get things on a scale that was (at that time, at least) reasonably fair.