I'm working in Taiwan until July and would like to move to Chiang Mai to live and work. My plan is to visit during July to seek a teaching job, but I'm not sure if this would be too early for the school semester beginning in October. At least one other person suggested it would be better to look in August.

I realise that I'm too late for the main intake since the school year starts in a week or so. However, I imagine that there is some turnover of staff during the year as well. For your information I have about six years experience in five countries and I'm a registered teacher in Australia, my home country. Further, I'm male, single and turning 56 next month.

Has anyone else had experience finding English language teaching jobs at this time? Is July or August better?

Thank you in anticipation.

Greg.

The most important thing you've written is you are home country registered - this puts you above an beyond 95% of teachers out there. International school year starts in August, there are 6 big international schools here and international programmes popping up, all looking for home country qualifications. Start looking on their websites now.

July is too early for mid term recruitment. Most Thai schools will have only just finished organizing the start of the new school year 2 months previously! However, you're more than qualified enough for someone to want to take you on whether they have a vacancy or not. They'd only be letting go of someone with no degree and never even bothered to get a TEFL.

I think that the last post was a little optimistic. You may find work at international schools but that is not guaranteed just because you have a teacher's license in your own country. I know quite a few people with similar if not better qualifications than yourself and younger who have a hard time securing descent work in Chiang Mai. At one of the State Universities here there were 10 people all with Masters degrees in Linguistics, English or Education interviewing for one position that was 40 hours a week 20 teaching hours and the pay was less than 30K a month.

I will concur that there are a lot of unqualified teachers in Chiang Mai, but that doesn't mean that you will be able to get their jobs. They will not usually pay more and the desperate ones will do a lot more for their work. In all of Thailand, Chiang Mai has to be the worst place for teaching, at least that is what many of the teachers I know say.

For international schools it also depends on what subject you are certified to teach. History and Science teachers have a few more options than PE or Art.

I would recommend doing a search and finding out the email for the Academic Directors of the International schools and write them personally. Responding to job ads is almost a wasted effort. I had one friend that applied to a school and they didn't respond for 4 months. Then when they actually needed a teacher, they were SOOL, because any qualified teacher isn't going to wait around for 4 months.

As with any job hunt, being proactive often pays off. You'll probably notice that the job listing for Chiang Mai are scarce. I have to assume the city is over-saturated with candidates. As a previous poster mentioned, relying on job postings is pretty much a waste of time.

A friend of mine, an American new to the field and possessing only a TESOL certificate, started his job hunt this past February. He just started submitting cover letters and CVs to all sorts of schools around Chiang Mai. I laughed at him, thinking "you seriously believe they're looking for teachers this far in advance?". I had heard pretty much all schools wait till the last minute to hire. Well, he ended up with 11 interviews and signed a contract for exactly the job he was looking for.

I agree with the poster saying that CM is one of the worst areas for finding open jobs. CM attracts a lot of ex-pats combined with its attractiveness will generate interest from professionals teachers elsewhere...

I have found that turning 50, you are pretty much excluded from universities and colleges even though one might have superior degrees and teachings experience. These types of schools can be selected evn though their criteria seems to be a pretty face than than competency.

I left a university job in the South at 49 just to live in CM. The university loved me there and could have stayed on until 60 - maximum retirement age for gov schools.. But I started at the university prior to 50 and 50 seems to be that magical cut-off number...

Thank God the US doesn't use 50 to select supreme court justices. Actually, they do but now the "good side" of 50...

I think plenty of international school opeings if patient and develp some contacts. The lang. schools and gov schools seem to be always hiring but money is poor and hours are long...

I guess there is something good about BKK after all...

CB

The most important thing you've written is you are home country registered - this puts you above an beyond 95% of teachers out there. International school year starts in August, there are 6 big international schools here and international programmes popping up, all looking for home country qualifications. Start looking on their websites now.

July is too early for mid term recruitment. Most Thai schools will have only just finished organizing the start of the new school year 2 months previously! However, you're more than qualified enough for someone to want to take you on whether they have a vacancy or not. They'd only be letting go of someone with no degree and never even bothered to get a TEFL.

Thanks, I'll keep that schedule in mind.

I think that the last post was a little optimistic. You may find work at international schools but that is not guaranteed just because you have a teacher's license in your own country. I know quite a few people with similar if not better qualifications than yourself and younger who have a hard time securing descent work in Chiang Mai. At one of the State Universities here there were 10 people all with Masters degrees in Linguistics, English or Education interviewing for one position that was 40 hours a week 20 teaching hours and the pay was less than 30K a month.

I will concur that there are a lot of unqualified teachers in Chiang Mai, but that doesn't mean that you will be able to get their jobs. They will not usually pay more and the desperate ones will do a lot more for their work. In all of Thailand, Chiang Mai has to be the worst place for teaching, at least that is what many of the teachers I know say.

For international schools it also depends on what subject you are certified to teach. History and Science teachers have a few more options than PE or Art.

I would recommend doing a search and finding out the email for the Academic Directors of the International schools and write them personally. Responding to job ads is almost a wasted effort. I had one friend that applied to a school and they didn't respond for 4 months. Then when they actually needed a teacher, they were SOOL, because any qualified teacher isn't going to wait around for 4 months.

Thanks, it sounds like a bit of a battle. I'll see what I can do with the Int Schools. My problems are that I haven't really taught much of my other subjects since starting in EFL.

As with any job hunt, being proactive often pays off. You'll probably notice that the job listing for Chiang Mai are scarce. I have to assume the city is over-saturated with candidates. As a previous poster mentioned, relying on job postings is pretty much a waste of time.

A friend of mine, an American new to the field and possessing only a TESOL certificate, started his job hunt this past February. He just started submitting cover letters and CVs to all sorts of schools around Chiang Mai. I laughed at him, thinking "you seriously believe they're looking for teachers this far in advance?". I had heard pretty much all schools wait till the last minute to hire. Well, he ended up with 11 interviews and signed a contract for exactly the job he was looking for.

I appreciate the advice. I'll probably need to come on over and see people in person.

I agree with the poster saying that CM is one of the worst areas for finding open jobs. CM attracts a lot of ex-pats combined with its attractiveness will generate interest from professionals teachers elsewhere...

I have found that turning 50, you are pretty much excluded from universities and colleges even though one might have superior degrees and teachings experience. These types of schools can be selected evn though their criteria seems to be a pretty face than than competency.

I left a university job in the South at 49 just to live in CM. The university loved me there and could have stayed on until 60 - maximum retirement age for gov schools.. But I started at the university prior to 50 and 50 seems to be that magical cut-off number...

Thank God the US doesn't use 50 to select supreme court justices. Actually, they do but now the "good side" of 50...

I think plenty of international school opeings if patient and develp some contacts. The lang. schools and gov schools seem to be always hiring but money is poor and hours are long...

I guess there is something good about BKK after all...

CB

Thanks, CB. I'll try to at least look and act younger. Bottom line, I think I'll need to be there and knock on as many doors as possible.