Why you're not getting that job

[John V55]

Just a short opinion on why that elusive employment doesn’t materialize.

If for instance you’re a French non-native English speaker looking to teach English to others to whom it is also a second language are you surprised your offers are a bit thin on the ground? If you wanted to hire someone to teach you French, who would you be looking for? A native French speaker, or a Russian who can speak French? As a Russian in Europe you’d get the interview, but not the job. In Asia you wouldn’t even get the interview.

Some things just require thinking about.

In Asian schools they already have Asian teachers who teach English and for a lot lower salary than Europeans will take. In many cases they teach English from the same books they learned English from themselves. Most of my work revolved around grammar, which is why they were looking for a NES. I suppose my point is, how many foreign teachers do you know who teach your own language in your country? Additionally, if they can get a non NES Filipino to do the job for 15K Baht, why would they give a European non NES 30K to do the job? Or, if you’re over 60 in a country whose retirement age is 50, your chances of employment are going to be more than limited. Or, if you have no experience of teaching, how much do you think you should be paid because you have a degree and are you surprised it’s not happening?

I personally think its pointless banging your head against a wall. If you’re getting repeated rejections or no replies at all, then the answer lies in something that’s not required and you can either change that, or not. What you can’t change are your age, colour or passport … I can’t see the point of just continuing to send an ever increasing amount of applications for employment where you’re obviously not wanted. It’s almost certainly not your resume and you can test that by omitting your age if you’re older, your colour if not Caucasian and/or state your location as being in a NES country and watch the offers come flooding in. You’ll soon discover why you aren’t getting offers.

I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s the reality of it and it works both ways. There’s no Caucasian running to South Africa wanting to be a farmer, or applying to Australia for a work permit over 40. There are certain things that just don’t happen and it’s having a plan B that is important. Always look for alternatives and spend your time on those, rather than chasing a dream that isn’t going to happen.