[quote=“Namahottie”]How many people have hit the glass ceiling while living here? I feel as though I have it with teaching, and just have come to a point where I am exasperated in trying to make an effort to create something that seems, futile at times. I have made efforts to apply to jobs that I have skills for but can’t seem to get in the door for the interview, or maybe to the reviewers don’t think I have the exact experience they are looking for. I feel that I have gained all that I can gain from teaching English on a personal level, and I’m trying to break out before it becomes a ‘pick up a paycheck’ situation.
Has anyone been here before? If you made the career transition how did you do it? Thoughts anyone?[/quote]
Just quoting to remind myself of what the OP actually asked. Don’t want to go off at a tangent too much.
I think we all agree that being an employed teacher is a dead-end. It’s not that there’s a glass ceiling, it’s that you’re climbing a very small heap. There’s just nowhere to go, and if you want progression you need to move out of it.
And it has been discussed elsewhere that teaching experience in Taiwan counts for very little when you try and get back into the real world. So getting out of teaching may not be easy, especially after a few years.
I assume, as you mention interviews, that you’re talking about switching careers in Taiwan? So what do you have to offer a potential employer? I feel that I have a lot to offer, but I expect that anyone reading my CV would form their opinions based on their own pre-conceptions.
Basically, and this is not just a TW problem, if you don’t fit the profile they are looking for then employers often just reject you out of hand. You need to have the right piece of paper, the right experiences in the right places, and present yourself in just the way they want you to. It doesn’t matter that you know you could do the job. Credentials are everything and many employers are looking for just the right size and shape of cog to fit into their machine. I think we’re all familiar with the problem, but solutions vary.
I have a friend who has done exceedingly well out of teaching without going to all the trouble of starting his own school. He’s published a few text books, which are sold by his school, and he lectures big classes of students who have come to see the superstar. He’s ‘just an employee’ but he has a lot of control over his situation and makes substantially more than any other teacher I know. He has moulded the place he works around himself, instead of pushing himself into someone else’s mould to get a job. Basically the school does his marketing and administration for him.
He has more talent, skills, and commitment than me so I’m not going to even try and emulate him. But that doesn’t stop me learning from the example. How to make a successful career out of teaching, and climb onto a bigger heap, is a different topic - because I get the impression that you’ve had enough of it anyway - but being successful at one thing is much the same as being successful at another.
Like Jefferson said, you have to work at it, and, like someone else said, you have to be lucky, and, like someone else said, you need to define your goals first. More on that in a minute. 
I’m doing the career transition thing myself, but not by jumping from one thing to another. I do enough teaching to support myself, and I don’t look at it as ‘just a paycheck’. I really do enjoy it and feel good about it, and I like my students and myself for doing it. But it’s not the be-all and end-all of my life, my future is not a series of English lessons leading me into middle age, nor is teaching taking all my time. Because it’s a manageable amount of time I’m still happy with it, but the key for me is to have a deadline.
I have set a date at which I will leave Taiwan and give up teaching, and I tell people about it all the time. It forces me to get my act together. You may have a better way, but it’s what works for me. I have 14 months to reach my goals, and time set aside every day/week to do the necessary work. I can’t just complain, I have to be pro-active in managing my situation.
In theory my professional life will evolve into something different as the ratio of teaching to ‘other’ swings from 9-1 to 1-9.
What you choose for ‘other’ depends on you, and I can’t really give you any suggestions other than to try and ease yourself across. Try finding some p/t work doing what you want to do, even if it doesn’t pay well. It creates opportunities. Don’t do more than you have to of what you don’t want to do. It takes your energy and time. And try to like whatever you have to do until you don’t have to do it any more.
