Arrange A Job Beforehand Or Not?

[nomade]

I'm planning to come and teach in Thailand this autumn and would like your opinions as to whether it's better to set up a job before arriving or not. I have a degree and a TEFL cert + years of teaching experience so I should be able to get a job no problem, but I'd like to work legally.

From what I can see you need a non imm B visa to get a work permit. This visa can only be got outside Thailand (I think) with a letter of engagement from your employer. So that would suggest you need to have a job arranged before you arrive. Also there is the question of getting airlines to let you on board with a one-way air ticket... much easier if you have the proper visa etc.

On the other hand, I've seen lots of people recommending you look for work once you get to Thailand. It means you can meet your prospective employer and see what the place you'll be teaching at is like. Also a lot of jobs seem to require a face-to-face interview, which is understandable.

So, is it best to find something once you arrive or not? What did the old hands do?

[Ijustwannateach]

There are two ways of setting up an initial job before arriving in Thailand:

1. Through the "real" international school network- in other words, the Harrow, the Shrewsbury, the NIST set. If you get this kind of job, you're set. All the paperwork will be fine, and the benefits are princely relative to cost of living. But your qualification ducks must all be in a row, and generally you must be living (and teaching) OUTSIDE Thailand to be eligible.

2. Any other way- any other school will probably be giving you a load of lies. Hate to generalize in such a negative way, but it's true. The only good thing it will do for you is possible get you the paperwork to acquire a non-immigrant B visa BEFORE arriving in the country. But considering the likelihood that you'll be getting cheated and don't know what's really a good deal on the ground, it would be far better to suss things out when you've arrived and bother to make the extra trip.

Good luck, either way.

"Steven"

[nomade]

Thanks Steven, that's more or less what I expected to hear. Sounds like I'll have to buy a return ticket!

I'm really looking for a job teaching adults rather than kids and, as I don't particularly want to teach in BKK, I was wondering about the Rajabhat Universities. I know the pay is crap but I've read they are more honest than private language schools. Would you advise "wait and see" for them too?

And if anyone has ever worked in one of these places I'd be really interested to hear what it was like. How big are the classes? What kind of teaching did you do... is the syllabus set in stone or do they leave you some freedom as to what/how you teach? Do you have mountains of essays to correct? Do you have to be "present" even when you have no classes? If so what other duties are you expected to do? What about holidays?

[mbkudu]

Nomade, you should follow Steven's advice. Go to Thailand, check things out, find a prospective employer that seems on the up and up and then you could go to Malaysia or Singapore for example to get the B visa. The last thing you want to do is find a school on the internet, sign a contract for a year and then later find out that it is a slave driving nightmare in Bangsaannowhere that pays you in sticky rice

instead of Baht. Good luck.

[Ajarn]

If you come in on a 60-day tourist visa, once you get a job, you can get that tourist visa turned into a non-immigrant (working) visa at immigration.

If you're considering Rajabhats, you'll basically be able to get a teaching job anywhere you want to live in Thailand. Many of them around, and getting hired if you're at least presentable shouldn't be too hard for you.

Rajabhats are all universities now, and all such universities pay the same for most English teachers on contract....17,500 baht, plus 8,000 housing allowance, last I heard, and that rate hasn't changed for almost 10 years...Some places, Like the Mahidol University International Program, can pay up to 1200 baht per hour for part time and full time farang teachers...About 60,000 per month

Teaching in universities can be pretty good. Mostly, you're allowed to do your own thing with your classes, and for the creative teacher, you can have lots of room here...or be tied tied tight to an inadequate text book on a teaching schedule so tight as to allow virtually no space for anything 'outside the box'... 'TiT' here, too.

The downside for many, if not most, of the university contract teachers, is the office politics among the Thais. Lots of shit going on, and farangs can often stay out of most of it, but it isn't always easy. Office power struggles going on, almost always among the Thai female Ajarns, in my experience, and I've seen some be very nasty and backstabbing....Best advice is to talk with other farangs working there to get the skinny on what's going on.

Anyway, good luck