Is it normal not to find a job until now? Is it possible that either public or private schools will still be looking in Taipei? The job listings seem to have dried up, except for two private schools that are at the bottom of my list. So far, I’ve only had two interviews, both at private schools. For one school, I put hours into planning a good demo, but I misjudged the students’ abilities and guessed wrong about the style of class they were used to, and basically blew it. They said they might give me a second chance, but I haven’t heard back. With the second, there were red flags and I didn’t follow up with them.
I also had an interview with Teach Taiwan and another recruiter a week ago, and applied to a third. The first interview went OK, but I wasn’t happy with it. I did the optional recorded demo, but I’m not sure if it was good enough. I wouldn’t call myself enthusiastic as a teacher. The second interview went better. That is a recruiter for private schools, but the first thing the interviewer said is that schools may not want me or may not want to pay me much because I’m overqualified and they’d rather have cheap teachers.
With Teach Taiwan, they recruit for NTP, and there aren’t many schools I could commute to from where I live in Taipei. The second one recruits for private schools, but said some have filled their positions and others were busy at the end of the school year. The third recruits for public high schools, and said the MOE hadn’t released a list of open positions in Taipei yet, which seems odd this late, like maybe there aren’t any.
So have I waited too long? Should I accept the first offer I get even if the salary is below what I expect? Should I start applying to schools that are further away than I’d like?
I really don’t want to go back to cram school teaching. I was good at it, but it doesn’t pay nearly enough.