I must admit I’m a bit overwhelmed on this whole find a job thing - lol! I keep on hearing from everyone to not bother with having a job here and to find one you come here. Needless to say as a lily-white Canadian this bothers me a bit. The job market is obviousily hot in Taiwan right now, I’ve already had two people wanting me to come to Taiwan ASAP, thats how deparate people are. The question for me is will the job market continue to be hot at the beginning of October? You see I would like to work here for another month and a half to build up some cash reserves. If i come now I’d have enough for a plane ticket and a couple hundred in my bank account. More if I sell my car but thats not an immediate guarantee(although if any Western Canadians are reading this I have a '89 Honda Civic!). Fortunately I do have a friend in Taiwan willing to help me at first, but its nice to have a back up… Any advice anyone???
If you really want to work, I’m sure you could start work the first week you get here. The hostels often have jobs posted on bulletin boards. At Taipei hostel, they had postings everyday. There will be fewer jobs in October because school will be back in session then. If you really want to strike will the iron is hot, do it now.
You’ve more or less asked this question before and if you read through past posts it’s been answered again and again. Believe it. A native speaker coming from Canada will have no problem finding work, whether it’s August or October. Keep in mind, most of these language schools are year-round and don’t run on a traditional school schedule. Many have 8 or 10 week terms, sometimes with staggered starts. Others continuously accept new students. Each school’s terms are different, so there’s usually a school somewhere that’s starting new classes, or has lost a teacher, and is hiring.
While most people advise waiting until you get here before signing on with a school, you can chose to go with a school. I did it that way myself. Yeah, the pay was a bit lower, but I had great co-workers and a good year. I picked up privates for extra cash. Coming without a job lined up would’ve been too stressful for me. I also specifically chose a school with a training program and structured curriculum so I wouldn’t worry about lesson planning in addition to adjusting to a whole new environment.
Again, there’s the possibility that you’ll hate the school you go with, but you should be able to get out of it one way or another - as I mentioned before, check the contract.
So stop worrying and decide which way you want to do it!