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28 | Eight Easy Steps To Great Teaching Job In Vietnam Step six: pinpointing | 29

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH AVSE EMPLOYMENT PERSON

It’s true that the TESOL course at AVSE-TESOL in Vietnam comes with AVSE-TESOL has a designated employment person at its training centres
hands-on job support, but this doesn’t prevent you from helping yourself. in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The employment person at each AVSE site
If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to contribute to a decision-making will know: 1. where there are teaching jobs available at a given time; 2. how
process that will determine your immediate fate. to contact AVSE partner schools in particular geographic locations, and 3.
about employment conditions in different parts of the country (hours, non-
Once you’ve decided if you’re a big city, regional city, beach or rural cash benefits and suchlike).
person, find a decent map of Vietnam on the internet or at a book store and
start pinpointing possible locations. Gain as much information as you can I’d encourage you to build rapport with the AVSE employment person at
about each location; Wikipedia is an excellent place to start – and it’s free. your TESOL training site. You can do this by sharing your aspirations (see,
Next, narrow your choices down to three possible areas. Finally, search ‘Research, research, research’ above), keeping in regular contact, being
on Google and social media for job opportunities and teacher chatter in mindful that he (or she) probably knows the local job market better than
the three locations that are of interest to you. If you decide to ‘delist’ one you do, turning up for job interviews that have been arranged for you with
of your three ‘definite possibilities’, add a new one and thoroughly check partner schools, and most importantly, by being flexible.
the place out. I’d encourage you to reach out to prospective employers
on your own behalf, but make sure the Employment person at AVSE is Your interactions with the employment person at AVSE need to be
consulted beforehand. Why? You might be doubling up. collaborative. For example, you want a teaching job and the employment

person wants you to secure a teaching job. It’s your responsibility to ensure
the employment person is kept updated on the work that you’re doing to
help yourself find a great teaching job. Likewise, the employment person
has a responsibility to ensure that you’re kept updated on work that he (or
she) is doing on your behalf.

FLEXIBILITY

Let’s say that you have done all the right things from the day you arrived in
Vietnam. You were a superstar in the TESOL course; followed the ‘Research
and Rapport’ suggestions above, but there isn’t a teaching job available in
your preferred location – or there is, but the conditions don’t meet with
your expectations. What should you do? Grizzling is one option. Accepting
that ‘it is, what it is’ despite everyone’s best efforts is, in my view, a far better
option. Move on to Plan B, in consultation with the Employment person at
AVSE-TESOL; this is where the rapport that you spent time building will
bear fruit.

Being flexible when you’re looking for a teaching job doesn’t extend to
selling your soul. It’s about being realistic and recognising that you’re a new