I placed an ad for a sub and (among others) got this reply. No attachments.
[quote]Hey,
If you still need someone to sub, I’m totally available. I have no job until next month, so anytime you need me, I’m good. My number is 09XXXXXXXX. My name is XXXXXX.
Thanks a lot,
XXXX[/quote]
OK, it’s polite enough and actually written in comprehensible English. So the guy is not a complete retard.
But he’s putting the onus on me to write back and request a CV. Absolutely no attempt to sell himself, no consideration of the employer’s point of view. What am I supposed to do, write back and ask for more information? Surely an ad is a request for information. Is it actually necessary to put “I will not hire random strangers to teach unsupervised without knowing something about them” in bouncy red letters before people start behaving like they really want a job?
My system is much more appealing to a prospective employer:
"Hey Loretta dude
If you still need someone to sub, I’m totally available. I’ve been available for months after getting the sack for leaving my used needles in the classroom. That laoban was a real asshole. The kids fucking loved me. They could play all the time while I slept.
You may remember me as the bloke who ate all your wee slices of toast at the last f.com Happy Hour, and dropped a beer on your lap.
I have no job until next millennium, so anytime you need me, I’m good. My number is 09XXXXXXXX. My name is Jimi.
[quote=“Loretta”]I placed an ad for a sub and (among others) got this reply. No attachments.
[quote]Hey,
If you still need someone to sub, I’m totally available. I have no job until next month, so anytime you need me, I’m good. My number is 09XXXXXXXX. My name is XXXXXX.
Thanks a lot,
XXXX[/quote]
OK, it’s polite enough and actually written in comprehensible English. So the guy is not a complete retard.
But he’s putting the onus on me to write back and request a CV. Absolutely no attempt to sell himself, no consideration of the employer’s point of view. What am I supposed to do, write back and ask for more information? Surely an ad is a request for information. Is it actually necessary to put “I will not hire random strangers to teach unsupervised without knowing something about them” in bouncy red letters before people start behaving like they really want a job?[/quote]
Did you ever think he might have been - GASP! - suggesting you call him?
I see no reason to criticize this person’s approach, unless you are the AD or DOS of a school or an HR person and it’s a formal situation. Maybe they’re sick of selling themselves to people they’ve never even spoken to! I suggest you hire them on principle, and let us know the outcome!
If you want a job - even a part-time gig - you sell yourself. Providing no information at all - not even an “I have been teaching for so many years” - is idiotic. You won’t go all out for short-term teaching, but you’d be pretty dumb not to realize they need more information before calling you.
If you want a job - even a part-time gig - you sell yourself. Providing no information at all - not even an “I have been teaching for so many years” - is idiotic. You won’t go all out for short-term teaching, but you’d be pretty dumb not to realize they need more information before calling you.[/quote]
I’m fine with people saying that, in their opinion, the guy should have done something more; but to call him "dumb"or even to bother starting a thread about him (or her) ostensibly for their shortcomings in such a casual and private matter is so…Lame? …Limp? …The dark side of the flob - esque? How shall I put it?
BTW, no disrespect of Loretta intended. I respect you, just not your post. Is that OK? Or is it nuke time?
BigJohn, nice post, but I feel you forget the valuable input most of us have learned from negative criticism.
The responder to Loretta’s call for a sub probably meant well, but didn’t do the best job of expressing it. We’re entitled to object.
And seeing as a part of flobbing is about venting, I feel it’s quite okay for anybody - including Loretta - to discuss this as long as names are not used.
A call for a sub is usually viewed as a favor to the teacher who needs the sub, though, not as an application to an “employer”. A CV would be more expected, in my view, had Loretta’s ad stated “Looking for a teacher to work with me on a long-term basis substituting for classes as needed”. Subs everywhere are mostly place-holders, no matter how good their qualifications, for a lot of different reasons. Since the average perception of an English class in Taiwan for many is “apple-banana” and sticky balls, I can see why someone would simply supply contact details. It also sounds as though the person wasn’t sure whether you still needed one, and maybe didn’t want to burden you with the paperwork in that event.
So, in Taiwan, among English teachers (the foreign community, I mean) – I wouldn’t have written it that way, but the main reason would probably be my age, not the feeling that it demanded a highly formal reply. If I were 15 years younger, I might have answered that way, I suppose. (Of course, all this without knowing how the original ad was worded, either.)
It was just a sub class, so the most reasonable thing to do would be to call the person and talk to them about their qualifications and the job. Therefore no CV is really required. Maybe he’s used to being hired on the spot.
It has honestly never occured to me that you can provide absolutely no detail about yourself and expect to be hired for anything. I’m astonished. Do things really work like this?
So what should I say to the conscientious, well-organised people who took an extra 15 seconds to attach the CV that they already have stored somewhere on their computer? “Woah, dude, you are, like, so overprepared! Take it easy, it’s just a sub gig.”
High School. Not kindy. A real school. In the event, the school asked me for the CV of the person I was sending before accepting them. Lucky some people think like me, even if we’re wrong.
[quote=“Loretta”]I placed an ad for a sub and (among others) got this reply. No attachments.
[quote]Hey,
If you still need someone to sub, I’m totally available. I have no job until next month, so anytime you need me, I’m good. My number is 09XXXXXXXX. My name is XXXXXX.
Thanks a lot,
XXXX[/quote]
OK, it’s polite enough and actually written in comprehensible English. So the guy is not a complete retard.
But he’s putting the onus on me to write back and request a CV. Absolutely no attempt to sell himself, no consideration of the employer’s point of view. What am I supposed to do, write back and ask for more information? Surely an ad is a request for information. Is it actually necessary to put “I will not hire random strangers to teach unsupervised without knowing something about them” in bouncy red letters before people start behaving like they really want a job?[/quote]
This is one of the most silly posts I have seen here in quite a while. I hope Loretta is joking, mostly because I cannot stop laughing after having read the post. As has already been pointed out, subbing is an informal arrangement at best. People do not “apply” for sub gigs, per se; they agree to do them. Loretta, your attitude is what an old professor used to call generic interference. Generic intereference mainly applies to writing, when a writer employs the rules and conventions of the wrong genre. Here, however, you are committing the error in your attitude, as you seem to think you are an employer advertising a long-term, progressive position. You don the persona of a hiring manager, complaining about someone not providing a CV and stating that you “will not hire random strangers.”
Reality check, Loretta: You are not a hiring manager and you are not providing anyone with any level of employment to speak of. Subbing is largely done on a voluntary, if one has the time basis. Usually the sub is doing the regular teacher a favour. The prospective sub provided the information and used a tone completely appropriate for the genre. It’s you who is out of order.
High School. Not kindy. A real school. In the event, the school asked me for the CV of the person I was sending before accepting them. Lucky some people think like me, even if we’re wrong.[/quote]
I’ve lost track of how many high school gigs I’ve done. Glad to hear you think these are the “real schools.” I guess that makes you better than the people who work at kindies, right?
If the school wanted a CV, it was up to you to state it in your ad.
While we have no real indication about the actual ad, I would heartily guffaw in the gob of any that asked me for a CV for a sub job. High school or not. Perhaps some measure of experience might have been proper in one’s reply, but it’s hard to say given the vacuous tone of the original post.
I concur with the general commentary that the emailer should have provided a few more details about his experience but that a CV was unnecessary unless asked for. I don’t know if things are so different now but when I taught a decade ago subs were exceptionally difficult to find. Those in need did not usually have a list of candidates to choose from and a simple “yes, I can do it” was more than sufficient to get the work.
The person chosen to sub, do they actually have the correct visa status and education to take on this kind of work? More importantly, is that even a concern for your “high school, not kindy, a real school”? The person in question would have to be a licensed teacher on an open work permit for everything to be on the up and up from the school’s side, if I understand correctly.
Oh, never mind: Yes, this is really how things work.
Probably about, oh, I don’t know… maybe 99.578% of sub ads are from 22-year-olds wanting 10 days in Thailand and forgot until the last minute that they need to provide a sub, so indeed, a phone number is all they need. Good on Loretta for demanding more, but a big belly laugh at how he so completely failed to understand the dynamic. He should have asked Brian. He would have known what to do.
