In part one of this series I explained some easy unofficial rules of the teaching industry over here in Asia. According to my pals in South America and Western Europe they are more or less the same. However, the qualifications tend to be a bit higher over there and I have never been there so I'm not going to attempt to claim that is a fact. Anyway, if you are interested in reading the "getting started" article, you can do so here.

I failed to mention in the first volume that these rules only apply to people who come from native English-speaking countries. Unfortunately, no matter your level of proficiency, it is much more difficult for people from other countries and can even be problematic for South Africans and people from Ireland. I do not know why.

If you have already followed the rules in part one, you should have no problem finding a job unless you have a criminal record. It may take a bit of time and you will need to be appropriate for the position but to put things in perspective I had never taught children in my life and I was hired immediately by 3 different schools and had my pick.

Progression

Don't burn any bridges

As I mentioned previously, you need to be careful to not choose the wrong job and there are plenty of them. This used to be a difficult task but these days you can ask in any area's FB group and someone will give you the real scoop on which schools are to be avoided. However, even if you do find yourself in a less-than-perfect job, stick with it. This is essential. Nobody wants to hire someone who walked away from a job. At the bare minimum you need to be prepared to assist the school in finding a replacement before you change to another job or outright quit. If you do a runner (and please don't do this as it is horrible for the kids) you better not even put on your CV / resume that you ever even worked there.

Letters of recommendation are extremely helpful in this industry and obviously some employer that you screwed over is not going to write you one of these.

Start investigating new positions before your current contract is finished

This seems like common sense to me but so many people don't bother and it is something I can't understand. Most schools will actually appreciate the fact that you are currently employed and are unable to come by for a visit. With today's technology it is quite easy to arrange a Skype or WhatsApp interview with the necessary parties.

If you find that you like teaching in Thailand or Cambodia you will almost certainly find better teaching conditions and much higher salaries in just about any of the other countries around here. I am not going to speculate as to why this is but it seems that Thailand and Cambodia often-times serve as "springboard" positions that are used only as some experience on the CV / resume. Employers in the more sought after countries are very aware of this, so don't worry about it reflecting negatively on you.

If possible, avoid using an agency

Agencies are kind of a bane on the teaching profession and to be honest they aren't really necessary anymore. If you use an agency it could even be regarded as lazy on your part (no offense to anyone out there that used an agency,) and the agency doesn't provide this service out of the goodness of their hearts. Many of them pay themselves by taking money out of your salary and I don't know about you but I don't like the sound of that.

You can find out so much using social media and if you simply find the major areas where jobs are generally offered, and this is no great mystery as they tend to be the larger cities, you can easily find someone who will give you inside information and if you establish some sort of online rapport before arrival, now you have a "guy on the inside."

At the minimum get an online TEFL certification.

This is quite easy to do in your spare time. I did mine just in the evenings while i was still teaching at a local school. You are able to complete the modules however slowly you want to for the most part.

This certification isn't required by many schools but it certainly sets you apart from the crowd compared to those that don't have it. It is neither terribly difficult nor expensive, so I can't see any particularly good reason to not do it.

Aim for Taiwan and Vietnam first

Korea and Japan pay better than these places but the much higher cost of living in Japan and Korea negate the increased salary in most instances. Vietnam has loads of private after-school agencies that pay quite a lot right out of the gate and once you pass the probation period you will find that as long as you live reasonably there is no reason why you can't be saving a thousand dollars a month after all expenses.

The teaching conditions such as how many children per classroom tends to be much more amicable in all of these countries and this, combined with the increased salary will really start to make you feel like you are doing something for your future, rather than just living in the now. Many jobs will also include round-trip airfare reimbursement for teachers that complete the contract. So do yourself a favor and fully investigate the happiness of the current employees to insure that you don't end up trapped in a bad job just to get the airfare.

If you like your current job consider staying there

This is a bit of a tricky one. In the past even though I actually liked my first job in Thailand I still sought out other positions in other countries and some of them hired me without ever meeting me. I used this as leverage with my current employer and managed to secure a much higher salary boost than is normally offered to 2nd year teachers. This wasn't a dirty tactic, it was just a fact of life: Either they were going to make me an attractive offer or I was going to resign. They offered me 5 times the salary increase and also a housing stipend in order to not lose me. Since staying where you are is normally easier that moving - I took it.

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Overall I don't think that these steps are terribly difficult to follow but so many people here have done it in a way that i consider to be wrong. These people never fought to get paid what they think they are worth and mostly just became jaded and kept living paycheck-to-paycheck for many years until they finally gave up entirely and moved back to their home countries.

There ARE good jobs in this field but they are not going to be handed to you. A friend of mine was recently promoted to a position in the Middle-East after several years in Thailand and Vietnam and now he is going to be getting paid nearly $5,000 a month with all food and housing provided. Also he doesn't have to pay any taxes. That's a pretty special job and it isn't beyond any of our reach. You just have to play your cards right.