If I am unemployed how can I pay to get a job???

I have recently received my TESOL Certification. What I find so unbelievable unsettling is after contacting schools and emailing all of my information listed on my CV and Cover letter and not to mention my references, I encounter that Countries like Japan or South America ask almost the impossible. For example, some want a non refundable processing fee and others what the hungry unemployed job seekers to fly to a different country just to have an interview.

My questions are how much are we to exhaust our credit cards??? Are we really living up to our self worth after achieving our education and later becoming TESOL Educators.??????? However, what I am strongly stating is that after submitting all of the valuable information the employees should do the back ground check and they should accommodate the candidates in which they are scouting for. Why should anyone for ......lack of a better expression... be strung along waiting like little puppies in a cage waiting to be picked ???

Yea, Zondra, your experience sounds horrible. However, I don't think it is typical.

For my first job in Prague, I simply bought a one-way ticket and showed up. Obviously, that made it much easier to interview and I managed to find a job within about a week. This was about 3 years ago.

More recently, I started to look for jobs in Asia. I focused particularly on Japan and S. Korea. I had 2 phone interviews with Japanese schools and 3 phone interviews with schools in Korea. I was never once asked to fly anywhere for an interview or asked to pay any sort of processing fees. That just sounds like a red flag to me.

All 3 Korean schools I interviewed with offered airfare paid up front, accommodation, and 1 of them even offered settling in money. The latter is quite unheard of, I think, but most Korean schools offer housing and flights. For the most part, Japanese schools offer none of those benefits. However, I ultimately came to Japan to teach for Westgate. They do actually pay for flights, but the flight is reimbursed over the course of your second and third paychecks. The only cost I incurred was the initial cost of my flight. Other than that, everything is taken care of.

So what I am saying is, do not get discouraged! If you want a job in Asia, it is totally doable without any upfront cost and without flying anywhere to interview. I don't really know about S. America though. My advice is to just go! I know it sounds like a scary thought, but the best way to showcase what you are offering is in person. I do have one friend teaching in Colombia. He went to schools in Cartagena and applied. One school actually offered him a solid, full time gig on the spot and he took it. He has been there for almost 2 years now and loves it!

DON'T GIVE UP! The job and the adventure is out there! Just stay strong, be bold, and you will find the perfect post, I know it!

I am thinking you really should not be paying for ANYTHING....the only exception I can think of is for shots, and your inbound ticket (which they SHOULD reimburse you for!!!) Also maybe a certain kind of Visa to get in the country, but once again you should have it in writing (in your contract most likely) that you will be REIMBURSED. Be wary of all and any recruiting company!

Ok, as I said before, you should not expect for all schools to pay for or reimburse your flights. The only exception to this is in Korea and sometimes in Japan. Other than that, it will be on a case by case basis. When seeking jobs in S America, you must remember that it is a continent that is not flush with funds. You are lucky enough to have a job that pays a living wage down there as many of their citizens are not so fortunate. The same goes for most schools in SE Asia. In Europe, there is so much competition for jobs, the schools have no incentive to pay for your flights. If that is your demand, they probably have hundreds of other applicants ready and willing to pay their own way. When applying for a job in the states that is across the country, would you expect every company to pay your way? Sometimes, but not always or often.

Education is not big business. While they are almost always willing to pay for or at least help with the Visa process, the same cannot be said for flights. But yes, be wary of recruiting companies. Do your research and contact the school itself and find out exactly what they offer.

Don't feel like your alone Zondra. I am in the same situation you are. Try to stay positive that you will find a job to save money for airfare. I know it's not easy but we both have to try :)

This story has two sides. I have been overseas teaching for 7 years now. So I have seen A LOT of these types of situations.

From one standpoint, absolutely you should not have to pay ANYTHING to get a job. The agencies or schools hiring you are making money from it, guaranteed. The places wanting a fee are sharks, out to get money on both ends. They liken themselves more to international talent agencies or recruiters for aerospace technology firms. It's silly. They are actually HOPING you pay and never show up, thus the "non-refundable" bit. Sad to say, but in my experience, 90% of the hundreds of potential teachers I have talked to over the years never actually leave home. That is a fact. Not for lack of opportunity, but it takes a lot of guts to get on that plane and leave your comfort zone. The agencies looking for deposits bank on that, and if you do show up, they will simply triple that money by introducing you to a school.

On the other hand, I also know firsthand that for every great teacher a school gets, they get 10 that don't work out and 100 applications.... Literally. Many foreign teachers find AFTER arriving that they weren't really cut out for the traveling life, or aren't quite able to adapt to the conditions. Of the 10% that actually make it overseas, at least half bail before the end of their first contract. Whether due to poor schools, conditions or even climate and pollution, people back out.

Now picture a school with a good reputation, charging BIG bucks to the parents eager to give their kids or themselves and advantage, sometimes working 2 jobs to pay the high education fees, and the teacher either doesn't arrive on the plane as they said they would, or walks out and goes home 2 weeks after starting..... Not only does the school have to pay back all the students, but their reputation suffers DRAMATICALLY in a very competitive industry. Too many canceled classes due to teacher problems and the school is done for.

If the company is advertising a high salary or in a major metropolitan area, they will need some way to weed out the good candidates from the risky ones. That often means making things more difficult to see who is most serious.


So what is the answer? You got me. I came initially as one of the traveling teachers, not planning to stay more than a year and checking things out. I found a decent contract, though certainly not as high paying as Korea or Japan, but it was enough to live comfortably and travel. The company babied me and took care of everything except initial airfare, which was reimbursed later. Then AFTER that contract, while here, I found the REAL ESL job market and the process became MUCH easier. Experience and availability for demo classes and interviews opened up the jobs that would never be advertised online.

You must remember, that the good jobs are NOT advertised online. My current salary is the same as a 3rd to 5th year high school teacher in Canada, yet my cost of living is 10X less! The company would never have hired me site unseen. I had to be here, experienced and ready to prove it in a demo class. Sight unseen can be scary even when just buying things online, let alone hiring someone. I am even still nervous about buying things online, like Ebay. You never know what it will ACTUALLY look or work like till you have paid and it gets there.


Long story short, don't pay anyone to get you a teaching job. That's one of the first things they taught me in the TESOL course and it stands true to this day. However, companies that have been burned in the past may want you to jump through hoops just to prove you are ACTUALLY going to come.

My advice is to find a company that will send you a contract first and make your way over. You wont find the "best" jobs this way, but if you try to look exclusively for the jobs that are high paying, sight unseen, be prepared for a bunch more hassle and possibly a fee....

Good luck in any case.