How to detect a bogus teaching job in Thailand

When I say bogus I don't mean that the job isn't real, I mean that it is a revolving door of a job that is kept open not to benefit students or teachers, but in order to secure government grants to hold the position in the school when the school has no intention of actually providing this job in a quality way. It is expected that the teachers are going to quit and therefore no attempt is made to accommodate the teachers (or the students) and the grant money ends up getting re-allocated to the administrators of that school.

tl;dr = this job is intentionally terrible and was never meant to be something that encourages potential candidates to maintain long-term employment.

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First of all, how do I know this? Well I have been in the Thai school system for around 5 years and my school is one of the "revolving door" schools. I am one of the few that has sticked around in the position and this is because I am in it for the work permit. They and I have some sort of agreement because (and I can only assume this) they have to show that they have SOMEONE that has been around for a while. I barely ever work there and the other jobs that they receive grants for well those teaching positions are filled for a month or so at a time and I have witnessed the now ex-teacher's information being submitted as if they still worked there.

The school will continue to submit the paperwork after the teacher has left the school and the money keeps flowing to the school. Since these teachers have not worked here for quite some time and the salaries are always paid in cash, it is presumed that the administrators must just be pocketing the grant money, or using it for other parts of the school (which I doubt is the case.)

Here is what happens and why you should be suspicious

For starters, if the job is being offered by an agent rather than directly by the school, this is always a bad sign. I'm a big fan of agents for some things, but if the school doesn't have the know how to find their own teachers via a Facebook post or some other form of recruitment, then you can be guaranteed you (as the teacher) are going to receive little to no support once you work there.

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The listings are extremely generic and most of the time don't specify a specific location of where the job actually is. This is because these agents work in a very large network and have schools all over the country that are in on what I believe to be an absolutely massive scam.

In almost all cases, the "great working environment" is really far from "great." Normally, you will be thrust into a sample lesson with a crowded classroom of the best students in the school with an administrator or two observing from the back. This classroom and these students are NOT what you will be working with if you accept the job. The actual classroom will have far more students in it and there will be no oversight from an administrator. Your actual classroom will be chaotic with very little in the way of control unless you implement it... which is extremely difficult to do if you do not speak Thai and it is presumed that you will not be able to do so.

Offered the job immediately

This is a harsh reality of life just generally speaking: No job worth having is going to hire you after just knowing you for 15 minutes and teaching in Thailand is not an exception. The reason why you are offered a job so quickly is because they don't really care if you are good at it at all. The "interview" and sample lesson are likely gauging how manipulable you are, and how much of a "yes man" you are. If you seem like you can be duped, they will offer you the job.

Work visa keeps getting pushed back

Many people stick around hoping to get a work visa and therefore get the golden ticket to not having to deal with the ever-changing immigration rules in this country and the administration is very aware of this. Once they start giving you the run around about when and how you are going to obtain your work visa, you can be all but assured that they don't actually have any intention of getting you one in most cases. The reason being that it is quite complicated for them to actually get one of these and with some paperwork manipulation they can manage to get you other visas that are short-term but reliable for them.

Classroom doesn't receive materials

As tough as teaching is, it is even more difficult if you are not provided with any materials to do this job. I have seen some new teachers come into my school and they are not so much as provided with functioning white board markers. I don't know how we can be expected to teach anything when we cannot write things on the board but what normally ends up happening is that the teachers will come up with some silly games that keep the students occupied long enough for it to be the next lesson. I do find it a bit frustrating, infuriating even, when the Thai teachers (and even me) run around the school with their own white board markers because we know they will not be provided. It's such a small thing, but this is a good indicator that the job is bogus if they aren't even giving the basic materials required to get the job done at a minimal level.

I made it through this gauntlet and only once the only other longer-term teacher resigned was I finally offered a work permit, this took about a year. In that time at least a dozen other teachers had come and left, normally in about 1 or 2 month cycles. Some of these teachers' paperwork is still now submitted to whoever it is that provides the funding to the school.

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I realize that this listing is quite old but the enthusiastic nature of the ads are all the same. They try to sell you a dream but what you are actually going to get is a nightmare.

There are a ton of jobs available at all times in Thailand for teachers but unfortunately most of them are not very good at all and I don't believe that the job is actually meant to be kept by the candidate applying for it.

The "real jobs" unfortunately are few and far between and the people that have lived here for a while know where to get them and normally will keep this a carefully guarded secret offered only to their friends.

In my next episode I will show you how you can gain access to these jobs without the assistance of an agent who is there primarily to rip you off.