How to Apply for English Teaching Jobs and Ace Your Interview

by John Fotheringham

Unless you drop in to apply in person, your documents are often the first “part of you” your potentional employer will see. Make sure you take the time and care to prepare documents give a good first impression. Don’t worry if you’re not sure where to begin; the following tips will show you exactly what to do.

We’ll then look at how to ace your interview.

Preparing Proper Application Documents

How you write and format your application documents, while seemingly unimportant compared with your experience and personality, plays a key role in whether or not you ever have a chance to even interview for a position. I know this first hand, having been responsbible for screening and interviewing applicants at a private language school. With classes to teach and prepare for, papers to correct, and other office duties to attend to, there was simply not enough time in the day to read every application thouroughly. The easiest thing to do is quickly scan the cover letter and résumé and decide based on the document’s “look and feel” whether to add someone to the shortlist…

Formatting

To make sure that your documents print out correctly, use A4 size paper, the standard paper size in most of Asia. This is true even when sending a digital copy as the school will usually print out short-list candidates.

And speaking of digital copies, it is always best to send PDFs instead of Microsoft Word files. This ensures that your documents look exactly how you want them to regardless of the other party’s computer screen or printer settings.

Your Cover Letter

If possible, always address the cover letter to the individual responsible for hiring new employees. If you don’t know their name, call ahead to find out. The cover letter should be short and sweet, with no typos and excellent mechanics. Include the following information:

• Why you want to work at their school instead of the myriad competing institutions.

• How you will add value to their teaching team (what special skills or experience do you have that can benefit their school?)

• What relevant schooling or work experience do you have that has prepared you for this job?

• Whether you are currently in Taipei, and if not, when you will arrive.

• When you are available to begin working.

Your Up-to-Date Résumé

If you don’t have a teaching-specific résumé yet, take the time to craft a new version that highlights any work experience, training or talents that relate to teaching. At the very least, make sure to include the following information:

• Your educational background

• Relevant work experience (Your part-time job at McDonalds during high school is NOT relevant.)

• Any relevant skills or interests (languages, management experience, etc.)

References

While not required by all employers, you might as well include references with your application. This shows confidence in your track record, and lets others sing your graces for you. This is especially effective in high-context, group-centric cultures like Taiwan.)

How to Ace Your Interview

If you get called in for an interview, that means the school is interested enough in you to invest their time in you (most school managers are very overworked, so their time is indeed precious.) Or it could just mean that they are desperate and will hire anyone who walks in the door… Either way, congratulations.

Focus on “paralanguage” just as much as the words you say

Less than half of human communication is expressed via our words. The rest is communicated via body language, eye contact and movement, handshakes and hand gestures, tone, intonation, pace, and pausing:

• When meeting the interviewer the first time (especially if they are from a Western country), make sure to give them a firm handshake and look them in the eye throughout the interview. And this is just as true for women as men.

• Speak at a somewhat slower pace than you would when chit-chatting with a friend, and make sure to pause between phrases, sentences and main points.

• Lastly, sit up straight but don’t look stiff. All of these elements combine to express confidence and poise, much more than bullet points on a résumé or any explanations or justifications you may give.

Be a few minutes early

If you are not 100% sure how to find the school, travel there the day before or plan to arrive in the general area at least 1 hour before your interview. And when it is absurdly hot—as it is most of the year in Taiwan—it is all the more important to get near the interview site early so you have time to cool off.

Remember: It’s just a job.

While you certainly don’t want to express this sentiment to your interviewer, keep it in the back of your mind. It will keep your nerves at bay, and help you present the most confident and honest version of yourself.

Dress for success

People do judge you by your appearance, especially the first time they meet you, and especially in Asia. While we cannot change our gender, ethnicity or age, we can control what we wear and how we groom ourselves.

So regardless of how hot it may be outside or what kind of school you are applying to, make sure to dress formally for your interview. This means a suit and tie for men, and a suit jacket or blouse for women.

Take your time

Most people start speaking faster when they are nervous. Even when you get the jitters, try your best to slow your rate of speech; it will express confidence and poise.

Be honest and direct

When answering questions, take a moment to think about the question first and then respond with an honest and frank answer. Avoid hyperbole or carefully phrased justifications of perceived weaknesses on your résumé.

Interviewers don’t want to hear canned answers that you borrowed verbatim from some Internet site; they want to know the real you.

Come prepared with your own questions

You want to show that you’ve done your homework and are generally interested in the company. Do some research about the company, school, clientele, etc. and ask specific questions about the company’s growth potential, teaching methodologies and materials, possibilities for promotion, what benefits are available, etc.

A Word on Prejudice & Racism

While you probably won’t encounter any blatantly racist employers, racial prejudice and insensitivity is widespread in Taiwan. Racial stereotypes here are typically fueled more by ignorance than arrogance, and can therefore be overcome through education and exposure. But the road to multicultural understanding and appreciation is long and windy. In the meantime, minorities should expect a more difficult time finding a good teaching job in Taiwan.

Most employers I interviewed all gave me the same story: “It’s not that we don’t want to hire people of color; it’s that our customers have certain expectations about what a native English speaker should look like.” While this may be blatant “buck passing,” it does reflect the pervasive Taiwanese attitude toward ethnic diversity.

And keep in mind that there is often a double standard applied to people of Asian-decent: although hired as native speakers of English, they are often expected to know and abide by local cultural norms much more than their non-Asian colleagues. Apparently some people have it in their minds that culture is a genetic trait…