Sad commentary on how completely f**ked up the economy is in the USA. Don’t believe the news media…the economy really isn’t much better than it was 4 years ago. People going back there really have to brace themselves for a bout of misery.
I read your story with bemusement. In January, I left Seattle (Federal Way, actually) to come to Thailand with my Thai wife in hopes of regaining employment after a year without a job. I completed my TEFL and am now in the process of finding work. Thailand, though, hasn’t really gained a piece of my heart yet, as it has all the problems you mention above. I miss the states and have considered returning. Your letter, though, reminds me of what I left. I took my first trip to Worksource, as well, and met guys my age (57) from my same career (auditing) who have been out of work for a couple of years or more. Reading your story reminded me that perhaps I should work harder at getting used to Thai traffic, dogs and running chickens, and even take joy in teaching kindergarten. Thank you.
Being an ESL teacher was a means to an end for me. I wanted to get overseas and that job could get me there. At the time it was a fairly smart move. I was making about the same that a recent college grad could make in the U.S., and in 2007 the economy wasn’t great so I could weather that storm. It was when I tried to make a career for myself that I ran into trouble. There just wasn’t much for me with my degree outside of ESL. I made the decision to come back to the U.S.
Someone really should make an idiots guide to the current U.S. economy for overseas ESL teachers. I heard about how hard it was for some people, but I had a degree and 4 years of work experience. Worse comes to worse, I could have been an admin assistant. I was blindsided.
No one told me that as an unemployed person I would have a harder time getting a job. No one told me that as many as 500+ people can apply for a job on a company website in one day. No one told me that if I applied for more than one job on a company website, the system would flag me as a risk, making my application passed over. No one told me that the time I spent on those applications would simply be a waste.
I did finally get that administrative assistant position and was earning only a little more than minimum wage. I felt depressed and embarrassed with myself. I knew I was a great worker and definitely management material.
Later I decided that maybe I could use my education experience to get a job in higher education. That actually worked out quite well and I am a program manager at a top-50 university.
I don’t know what is the best advice to give others…being an overseas ESL teacher is tough because the skills don’t easily transfer here. The longer you do it, the larger of a black hole you get on your resume. That being said, dealing with reverse culture shock, living a life extremely monotonous compared to your overseas one, and feeling worthless because you cannot get a job is quite tough. It might only get tougher and that extra year spent weathering the storm might put you in the thick of it.
My advice to returning teachers:
-Do not waste your time applying on company websites
-Seek positions in higher education, primarily in staff-related positions
-Use an employment company or 5 to help you snag an interview
-Contact EVERY person you know who is employed and ask them for help. Suck up your pride and just do it.
-Simply having a BA or MA does not qualify you for a position, even as basic as an administrative assistant.
Hope this helps some people.
Wow, this is a humbling and honest entry! It is so easy to become disenchanted living in Asia and feel the urge to head home, as I am currently feeling. The only thing that reminds me why I live here is reading and hearing about others in the same situation and their difficulty back home as well. I have far less experience and education than you and come from Washington as well (wanting to work in non profits when I get there as well.) I want to move home so badly some days but I know life isn’t peachy there, just because there are dishwashers and English speakers.
Good luck to you on your journey at home! It sure is a crazy world we live in where it is harder to find a good job in our homeland….
Jesse
Sorry to hear about you situation, tough. But there is a lesson here. While being in Thailand one should not assume it is a permanent vacation, instead one should to keep up one’s skills and qualifications. Having a year or two of ESL teaching abroad on one’s resume might not hurt much, and could even be a benefit for someone seeking an entry level job early in one’s career.
But 10 years of teaching English is generally going to be a hindrance to finding a job back home in mid-life. If one is not qualified as a teacher back home, teaching one’s own native language is unlikely to have produced the skills most employers are looking for. Unless one is an English teacher, having the ability to explain ‘went’ is the past tense of ‘go’ is not the type of qualification most employers are looking for when searching for managerial staff.
Teaching English in Asia provides many benefits, but most of these benefits are intangible and are not financial. Those thinking of teaching English abroad should go into it with eyes open and a realistic understanding of the industry and how engaging in this professional will affect one’s future.
By Jesse, In a room on 2012-05-28