Thoughts On A Job Post, Part 5

I’ve omitted details so that this ad is not immediately identifiable. The purpose of this is to share the thoughts of an experienced teacher (me) who’s found her own jobs before on a random job ad. Of course you should investigate any opportunity you’re interested in thoroughly yourself – I don’t mean to slam nor endorse this ad…

• XYZ Language School is the largest and most respected School of Foreign Languages in this country [perhaps hard to back up but there’s some safety in a larger school]. As a member of the ABC Organization [you can’t always infer quality by association but usually this means that they meet at least some standards] we offer job opportunities to language teachers
• The majority of our classes are adult General English classes, but we also have a very active young learner programme[are teachers required to teach kids and how young?],in-company classes [is travel time reimbursed?], Exam classes (TOEFL and IELTS), Business English classes and ESP programme. Variety of programmes offered by XYZ provides our teachers with opportunities to show their best [this does help with subsequent jobs: you can get a feeling for, say, exam prep, before committing to a job where you do only that]

• Professional development: XYZ has a monthly seminar programme [this is generally a good benefit – it’s not an obligation every week to attend a seminar, but it’s available once a month]. Teachers attend seminars on a variety of EFL topics related to their day-to-day teaching concerns. These seminars are given by DOS, ADOSes [this implies that there is more than one person to provide academic support – which is very important] and teachers themselves. We also run occasional EFL workshops on demand. Furthermore, teachers are observed regularly by senior members of staff as part of our ongoing commitment to teacher development [if you’ve worked at a school that does not regularly do observations, you can realize this is a good thing]. In addition, we regularly invite authors and teacher trainers from Oxford and Cambridge University Press who give seminars and trainings for our teachers
• Career opportunities: XYZ values its teachers and is proud of their work and professionalism. [whether or not this is actually reflected in their practice you will find out, but the fact that they care enough to say it – just to think of it – is good] As the largest school in this country we can offer our teachers excellent opportunities for career advancement. Our management team consists of Senior Teachers, Assistant Directors of Studies and Director of Studies. This team provides guidance and support for teachers and is constantly revising and improving our educational systems and procedures. Although we do recruit senior staff from outside the company we believe strongly in internal promotion and if you are a dedicated ELT professional thinking about a senior position, this is definitely the school for you! [many schools will not even offer the potential for advancement, so if you’re interested in it, this is good]
We are inviting native speakers of English from UK, USA, Ireland and Canada to become a part of our team.

Qualifications Applicants must have one of the following qualifications:
• Cambridge CELTA
• Trinity TESOL
• MA in TESOL
or equivalent qualified and be committed to delivering high quality lessons and focused on own development.

Compensation 9-month long contracts [what does this mean for your housing if you want to return after the summer or after a month or two break?] with competitive salary, a bonus system, visa support, paid accommodation [shared?] , airfare subsidy, paid holidays and health care [it is very worth it to get more detail on these – what does visa support mean – what expenses are you responsible for]. Immediate start. [this always makes me wonder “why?” but some locations are just not popular EFL locations so they may not have a wide pool of applicants]

Contract covers 100 actual hours (60min) per month, consisting of 90 hours of teaching plus 10 hours of other types of educational work. [I’d find out what other work this includes and I’d also ask what happens if they don’t have 90 hours of teaching work per month to give you – will you be asked to make it up the next month when they do? What is the maximum number of hours you can teach per month?]