Here in Thailand, for Jeremiah and Tyler, looking for work is not without its adventures. And heroes.*

*Thai MacGuyver = ThaiGuyver

Lynne and Courtney Circa 2007 - Cirie, Italy

Moving to a different country without a clearly defined plan is definitely the way to go, with one major exception: finding employment. On the job front, doing a little research before you leave can pay off BIG TIME.  It did for team Italy!

As of next week all four of us will be teaching English to Italian children at English immersion summer camps throughout Italy with a non-profit organization called ACLE.

JOB FACTS:

• I found ACLE through a Google search in 2007 and it was my ticket out of my corporate job.
• Lynne and I met in Italy working for this very same program three years ago. Our Jet Set Zero experience will be a reunion of epic proportions.
• Sarah and Perrin are ACLE newbies.  Hazing rituals likely.
• ACLE has an important mission: To prove that the “traditional Italian scholastic system of “chalk and talk” fails to stimulate the emotions and energy that an entertaining atmosphere can provide.
• Instead of  lectures and boring workbook lessons, we’ll be teaching English through songs, theater, art, games, sports and multi-cultural activities.
• ACLE + Italy = one delicious summer.

A lot more on our sweet summer job soon, but for now check out these excellent sites to begin YOUR international job search:

Jobs Abroad
Teach Abroad
National Association of International Educators (NAFSA)
Craigslist (Search Europe/International Jobs)
Dave’s ESL Cafe
Expat-Blog (read success stories and get tips from other expats)

After a long hard month of looking for work in Ecuador I finally landed a gig teaching English.  Up to this point I had sent out countless emails to schools and recruiters, had interviews but had yet to get any type of solid job offer.  Everyone would say, “Oh this looks wonderful, your CV and experience are exactly what we are looking for, we will give you a call!” and my phone never rang.  On Tuesday, I had an interview set up with the school that a friend of mine was working at and the interview was lukewarm at best.  The woman I met with who was also the director was dealing with a horrible case of sun poisoning and was a little reluctant about hiring me because I wouldn’t be around all year which is understandable.  I left the school feeling a little irritated since it had seemed like a done deal from speaking to her on the phone and via email and walked the 30 minutes back to my apartment when there I saw it, about 5 blocks from my house, an English school.  I decided since I was dressed for an interview and had all my documents in order that  I would march into that school and demand a job.  I walked into the building, asked for the school director and saw him in about 5 minutes time. He looked over my stuff, seemed pleased and told me he would call me the next day. Lo and behold, he called me that same evening at dinner and the next afternoon I was teaching at a university which was coincidentally one of my goals for the year. Lesson learned: if you shake enough trees something is bound to fall out .

(Version française plus bas)

I’ve been looking for a job for two weeks and I haven’t had much success so far.

I went to the ”Alliance Française”, the most official French language center for Ecuadorians who want to take French classes. Unfortunately I couldn’t talk to the program director who was out of town for the entire week. But, since I now knew her name, I decided to send her an email hoping she would get back to me first thing Monday morning. And she did. She said she would send me an application form, but that only applicants with a ”maîtrise FLE, a FLE master’s degree or a DAEFLE” were eligible to teach at the Alliance. (All those diplomas are the equivalent of a four-year TEFL degree.)

''El Ecovia''- a handy bus system to get around the city.

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