Business by Janice

It’s been some time since I’ve written a post related to the language training sector in Madrid so I thought it was time to remedy the situation before my TEFL readers completely abandon my blog!

The beginning of a new academic year is always unsettling for everyone, especially  for teacherswho anxiously wait for  timetables to get confirmed, but this year seems to be flowing really well. All our company clients are confiming to restart classes, we have new clients on board and the best bit of all is the quality of teacher profiles that we’re seeing. There seems to be a boyancy in the market that is reflected in all areas;my contacts in the sector are saying the same.

Teachers are applying who are properly qualified, with exceptional experience and it appears that the tightening up of “illegal” teachers, (those without working papers) has had an effect as we rarely receive CVs from teachers without papers now.

Are we at last seeing the start of a period where more participants in this market are taking it serously? I hope so. Even the clients are getting in on the act and CARING about the profile of teachers who  are assigned to their classes. This is great news.

Or perhaps our school is seeing the fruits of the long term investment in a humane and professional culture which ultimately attracts the type of client and teacher we  want to work with?

Although many of the teachers this post could be dedicated to won’t read this, I would like to say thank you for your professional applications and communication, and to your dedication to improving your skills which ultimately raises the reputation of our profession.

One tip I would like to give to teachers still looking for work - if your CV hasn’t had a response from a school you’re keen to work with, send it again - even though I myself organise the CVs I receive into appropriate electronic files, it’s often about timing. If I’m running out of available teachers so decide to do another round of interviews and several CVs land in my inbox that day, it’s often those teachers who will be contacted for interview.

And be assertive; follow up with a phone call. We receive so many CVs that some slip through the net. A quick chat on the phone may be just what is needed to make the difference between getting invited to interview or not. It doesn’t always work, but you have nothing to lose.

Here’s to a great year in English language training! I won’t be around much longer as I make my move  to Business Coaching but it would be very satisfying to leave with the feeling of “we did it”; we survived the recession, we came out the other side stronger, more positive than ever before and with an improved skill set all round.

The TEFL sector is dynamic to say the least. A busy school dealing with company and private classes sees their class vacancy list change almost daily as classes are covered and new ones come up. For this reason it’s very difficult to make committments to teachers very far in advance especially mid academic year.  Perhaps it’s related to the recession, but in our case we are receiving applications several months in advance of the teacher actually coming to Madrid. I’m all for planning ahead but teachers often run the risk of their application getting swamped and eventually going unnoticed if they try to secure a post too early.

Even though our applications are filed appropriately it’s human nature to fix our attention on those CVS which just arrive at the time we are ready to recruit.

Even planning for the new academic year, when we know we will need a large number of new teachers can be problematical if we interview too far ahead. People’s circumstances change and on several occasions we have made a committment to a teacher for a full time contract and they have then not followed through.

So what is the ideal time to send in CV for the new academic year?

While we are still in the previous academic year, our attention is on wrapping things up and organising summer intensive courses. Any CV sent before June will just go into the “file” often buried “forever”. My recommendation would be to contact schools in early July with a follow up mail or phone call approximately 10 days later. September is also a good month. Some may think that this is leaving it a bit late but there’s still a lot of shuffling around going on at the beginning of September and many company clients don’t even start classes until October.

One last point, face to face interviews are always the most effective. When teacher supply was scarce last year we promoted telephone interviews because we were desperate to get teachers into Madrid. With the recession the situation has changed dramatically. To be successful in securing a teaching post it is necessary to be here, to send your CV just at the right time and to be available immediately.

For the last two years the EFL market in Madrid has been challenging to say the least.

There has been a severe shortage of  teachers which has led to many without qualifications and working papers getting work. Another effect has been  teachers suddenly dropping classes  as they are offered 2€/hour extra in the academy down the road etc.etc.

But then the famous “crisis” came along. I’m not sure what it’s like in the rest of Spain but here in Madrid there has been a total turnaround in demand and supply. All of a sudden teachers are in abundant supply as multinationals cut their training budgets and hence their demand for language classes.

Ok, you’re saying, this is all very obvious and to be expected, but I was inspired to write this post thinking more of  those teachers coming to Madrid to look for work. What are the implications of the current situation for incoming teachers?

Firstly, if you are non EU and don’t have working papers for Spain, you are going to find it very difficult to find classes. I’ve received quite a few emails from American teachers already expressing this. However, a large supply of legal teachers available in Madrid is not the only reason why non legals are feeling the pinch. In general the Spanish authorities are tightening up in lots of areas which is making schools take a long hard look at the way they are doing things.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, in the last few months we have had the following:

• A visit from the local police to check our “licencia de actividades”
• An inspection from the Ministerio del Trabajo on the correctness of the baja of a teacher
• A visit from the “Departamento de Consumo” of the Town Hall to make sure (and help us get in order-  what a civilised way of doing things!) that we weren’t in breach of the laws governing consumer rights.
• Calls from company clients to ask for the TCS (the document proving that teachers have had a contract) so they could complete the offical paperwork necessary to claim the Government training subsidy.

The point I’m making here is that SPAIN IS TIGHTENING UP. Recruiting non EU teachers without papers is one of the most serious things that an academy can do. Many are no longer prepared to take the risk, and with the market being as it is at the moment, most academies don’t need to.

Another implication of the effects of the crisis is that in general, in order to be more competitive in the labour market, people improve their skills and qualifications. And this, of course, applies to teachers.

The proliferation of short TEFL courses might be ok for getting you a job when there are lots of classes available. But when there aren’t, no reputable school is going to give a weekend TEFL course a second glance. What we want as a minimum is ALWAYS the full 4 week long TEFL (I’m referring to the full time course here). We have always, and will always want this. Teaching is complex and you are simply not prepared for it properly with a mere weekend’s training.

Economic recessions lead to readjustments. Leaving the emotional side apart, of people losing their jobs and houses etc, recessions are necessary, some would say even good, as they cause economies to strengthen and move forward. I have a couple of friends who are economists and when I ask them about the “crisis”, it always strikes me how calm and fatalistic they are.

So where may we see readjustments in our market?

If the current situation stops non EU teachers comng to Spain, it means they won’t suffer not finding work once they’re here and it prevents schools from being tempted to hire them and running the risk of being prosecuted.

If the current situation encourages new teachers to get a better TEFL qualification, it means we will be sending better  teachers to clients and the quality of the sector in general will improve.

This is what we are crying out for in Madrid - BETTER QUALITY LANGUAGE TRAINING.

And finally, looking at this whole issue from the business side of the school, what implications do we have there?  That’s easy. If there is less demand for classes, those schools who are not offering a good service need to get their finger out and start offering one, otherwise they will go out of business.

What are we talking about again?  - BETTER QUALITY LANGUAGE TRAINING.

In a word, there would be chaos.

One of the most frustrating parts of running a business is when there exists an obstacle which hinders you from satisfying a demand and therefore from selling.  I often ask myself, why can’t American teachers get work visas when the demand for English is so huge?

It doesn’t make sense.

I haven’t done a great deal of research into this, I presume the Spanish government believes that there are enough qualified Spanish teachers of English to satisfy demand and that’s why they won’t give any quota on this immigration category.  What the government don’t appear to understand however is our market works; how many times have you heard clients say they want a native? Ok, they might accept a Romanian or Polish teacher (who are usually excellent with grammar by the way),  but a Spanish teacher of English is largely frowned upon.

We would love to employ American teachers, I love their work ethic, they’re generally enthusiastic and hard working but  the risk is immense, it’s one thing to have an inspection and to be found to have some errors in the contracts of European teachers and quite another to be found to be “employing” illegals. The fine can close your business. Is it worth the risk?

Apparently, for lots of schools in Madrid, yes, they feel that it’s still worth taking the risk, although I believe more and more are becoming cautious and  saying no. I’m amazed however by how many American teachers come here to do TEFL and then believe they can get a job when they know they will be illegal.

The ideal situation would be for qualifed non EU teachers to receive work visas of one to two years. Everyone would be happy, schools would have a wider choice of teachers and could therefore pay more attention to finding the right teacher for  a certain profile of class, the non EU teachers would at last be able to work for the reputable schools, clients would get their classes covered more quickly and those Spanish teachers of English whose strong accent gets in the way of giving effective classes wouldn’t be affected as they rarely got assigned classes in the first place!

Does anyone out there reading this know if there’s anything happening about this situation? Does anyone or group of people even have the energy never mind the time to lobby for action in this area?

I know we don’t live in a perfect world, and in fact, the TEFL world is much less than perfect in many respects, but when we have such an imbalance between the demand for English and the supply of teachers who can teach it, surely SOMETHING  can be done.

… a very pertinent question, and if we get down to the nitty gritty we could ask, would I employ a teacher who didn’t have TEFL? (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)

When I interview I’m looking for a teacher who satisfies certain basic criteria:

• they are aware of the importance of setting learning objectives
• they confidently tell me what they think about when planning a class
• they have a reasonable handle on grammar, at least knowing the difference between certain tenses
• they talk about error correction techniques and how they recycle previously taught language
• they take needs analysis for granted
• they are aware of what type of activities motivate different student groups

I’m also looking for people who have excellent communication skills and an assertive personality.

Could a teacher satisfy the listed criteria without having done a TEFL course? It’s quite possible.

However, unless the teacher has an exceptional CV with many years teaching and other professional experience, and their covering letter has really caught my eye, it would be difficult to move to the stage of being invited to interview with our school. Like any skills based qualification, TEFL acts as a sceening device and does indicate to us that the teacher at least knows the basic teaching techniques.

I remember when I first started teaching I did some private classes before doing my CELTA. The before and after was amazing and quite frankly I felt gulity that I had actually charged people for my classes pre CELTA, I knew NOTHING! That’s another reason why I’m sceptical about all the week end and on line courses that have suddenly appeared on the market. How much can you really learn in a week end? And it can’t possibly compare to a full 4 week course. In my interviews I always ask the teacher for their opinon of the course and nine times out of ten I get a strong reaction saying that they found the course extremely challenging.

There’s also the personal development angle. If you’re serious about doing something, shouldn’t you try to do it to the best of your ability?  So if you want to teach and be taken seriously you need to do a TEFL course. Some people may say that the cost is prohibitive, but as mentioned above, there’s a TEFL course to fit every pocket and SOMETHING is better than nothing. At least it demonstrates some commitment.

Here in Madrid as I’ve mentioned in another post, the demand for English is HUGE, which means that there is work for every type of teacher, TEFL or no TEFL. And I think that is a big shame as it’s lowering standards and consequently damaging the reputation of our industry.

So please, if you are thinking of going into teaching, take yourself and our sector seriously and get TEFLed.

It’s the beginning of September so we’re all busy trying to fit ourselves into this giant jigsaw puzzle of timetables.

If you’re a teacher and new to the city or looking to change schools you’ll be sending your CV to lots of places.

I thought that this week would be good time to give those teachers who read my blog some tips and hints on how to make sure your application for a teaching post stands out.

Nowadays most teachers send an email with their CV attached and I have to say I do prefer to receive Cvs this way instead of a phone call, I think it’s more professional.

So here are my tips for getting noticed and getting that interview:

• Include a solid email heading that SAYS something. For example, “TEFL qualified teacher looking for full time work” or Teacher with 6 years experience seeking work“. In both these examples the words “TEFL qualified” and “6 years experience” grab my attention and I would open this mail before any others.

• Make sure you include a brief covering mail to introduce your CV which includes the most important and relevant points. A sentence here  about your personality is fine but please, just keep it to one or I will lose interest and I’ll  find out about your personality at the interview anyway.

• If you’re not already in Madrid, include in the mail the date you will be arriving and available for interview, this helps us to prioritise our responses to all the applications we get.

• Mentioning your teaching strengths is ideal so we immediately get an idea of your profile, whether you’re suitable for Young Learners or companies for example.

• It’s very helpful to tell us in your mail where you found the school so we have an idea of how our publicity is working

• Try and keep your CV to two pages maximum

• There is no need to include educational qualifications below A level

• Be specific about your TEFL qualification, what type it is and it’s duration, especially if it’s the full 4 week course, these are the ones we prefer. There are many short courses now on the market and if you’ve invested all that money in a 4 week one, make sure it’s clear.

• Make sure you include dates so we can clearly see from your CV how much teaching and work experience you’ve actually had.

• Be clear about your nationality and if you aren’t from the E.U. please let us know if you have working papers for Spain or not. This saves me time getting back to you to ask you.

• Keep details about hobbies very brief

• Any information which demonstrates assertiveness and initiative is very welcome

• Tell us if you have a car.  We’re desperate for teachers with cars as many companies now operate from out of town business parks.

Remember, we are most interested in your TEFL qualification, teaching experience, your legality to work and your availabilty.  If you express this information clearly and politely and you tell us exactly what type of classes and timetable you’re looking for you’ll get lots of interviews arranged very quickly.

Good luck!