Teaching Abroad: You are what you wear!

Notes from the General Manager, By Diane Jacoutot

A US woman is suing her former employer because, she claims, she was fired for being “too hot looking”.  Working at a lingerie warehouse, 29 year old Lauren Oades (allegedly) offended her religious male employers by wearing provocative clothing that clearly displayed her, um, assets and was fired because they couldn’t stand the heat of her hotness. She held a press conference wearing a form fitting black sequined mini dress and studded black boots causing the media photographers to crash into each other as they photographed her holding a pose.  I think she got their attention. Which is clearly what she was after!

Whilst in the US it is not usually legal for employers to fire you for dressing in a sexy way, this is not true in many other countries around the world. At Teachanywhere we often get asked about dress codes from teachers going to local international schools especially in the Middle East. What to wear to school?

In Muslim countries the general rule for men is to wear at least a shirt and tie but ideally a suit and tie. (Don’t worry, everything is air conditioned).  In the Middle East, as in many other traditional societies, you are judged by what you wear. So if you saunter in to school wearing trainers and a t-shirt, you will not only put the fee-paying parents off who expect a high level of professionalism and might demand a transfer for their son or daughter,  but you won’t do your career any favours either.

For women going to local international schools, I recommend you wear very conservative clothing at school. Not even a hint of cleavage, shirts that cover your elbows  and always cover your bum and knees. Most women working in state schools in the UAE or local international schools in the Middle East pick up very inexpensive longish skirts that come almost to their ankles and loose fitting shirts. Many others visit the inexpensive seamstresses to design their own. So don’t bother trolling through racks and racks of mini-skirts at home – plan a day of shopping when you arrive. Now, if you wear trousers, you should definitely wear a shirt over them that is long enough to completely cover your bum. 

Abayas, the over-dresses worn by many Muslim women,  are not usually required though I know quite a few women working in state schools wear them anyway out of respect for local custom and frankly, because they are easy to throw on. (I found this).  Non Muslim women do not usually need to cover their hair.

In other countries, if you are teaching in an international school you are usually expected to look professional and any dress code will be in the staff handbook. Assume the suit and tie route and its female equivalent. When in doubt, go conservative rather than sexy or casual.  You will make a better impression and get off on the right foot. Save the sexy and casual for the weekends.

So much as Miss Oades was within her rights to dress as she liked, I don’t think she was particularly culturally sensitive and certainly her choice to look sexy cost her more time and money than she originally bargained for.  Was it worth the cost? Only she will know after what will probably be years of litigation.

So tempting as it is, I don’t recommend you follow in her stiletto’d footsteps. You are, I believe, what you wear.

Employability and Teaching Abroad

Notes from the general manager by Diane Jacoutot

The BBC posted an article this week which interviewed several jobless young people, one of whom applied for 1,639 jobs last year and didn’t get a single one. Although the latest figures show a slight drop in unemployment in the UK in the first quarter, the rates still remain high and are not expected to fall significantly in the near future.

 As most western economies adopt austerity measures to counter the public spending that was a response to the global economic crisis, unemployment is bound to rise. If we are spending less, there is less money changing hands in taxes and company profits so companies and public sectors again tighten their belts, usually resulting in job losses. It’s a vicious circle that many great minds are trying to figure a way out of.   I hope they do, and soon.

I did a quick survey of unemployment rates around the world.  The rate of unemployment is the percentage of people who want to work and are able to work but cannot find a job. It’s usually a good measure of how well to capacity an economy is running.  It’s often referred to as a lagging indicator – because companies are often reluctant to hire even when the economy turns around. They hedge their bets.  Here’s what I found:

·         UK: 8.3%

·         US: 8.1%

·         Ireland: 14.7 %

·         Canada: 7.2%

·         New Zealand: 6.7%

·         Australia: 4.9 %

·         South Africa : 23.9%

And because so many people ask about working there and I get tired of telling them that there is little hope, Spain: 23.6%

If this makes you feel bad, perhaps you will feel better knowing that things could be worse. The unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is estimated to be 95%. Some countries, on the other hand, are looking quite healthy. Qatar is at 0.5%, Thailand, 1.2%, Kuwait 1.5%, Switzerland 3.5% and China 4.1%. 

As I always say to the Teachanywhere team, some people go abroad because they want to. They want the cultural adventure or the professional challenge that can only be had by teaching in another country. But many people go abroad because they need to, because they cannot find a job at home. Most of the time this latter group come to us insisting on familiar safe-sounding ‘holiday’ destinations such as Dubai, Spain or Singapore but this is exactly where they will face the most competition for jobs because everyone else is thinking the same thing. Or they will set their sights too high thinking, “well I’ll only go abroad if I can get super high money, a promotion or the best school in the best spot” not realising that they are in competition with many other people who have more realistic expectations, actually want to go abroad, and are more qualified for those jobs.

So what can you do if you are suddenly unemployed? Here are my tips:

1.    Act sooner rather than later. Having a gap of a year or more out of teaching severely affects your marketability. International schools want someone with up to date knowledge.  If it is unavoidable, do some supply (substitute) teaching ideally within your subject/level to keep current.

2.    Don’t restrict your search to only well known locations. Go where the competition is less fierce.

3.    Do your research. Understand how much money you can expect to be paid, and understand the cost of living against the employment package. Setting your sights on only jobs that pay the same or more than you are currently making is a false economy if the cost of living is high or the employment package sub-par. You an often save more in a country with a lower cost of living even if the salary seems less. Think savings potential rather than salary.

4.    Prepare yourself for a cultural journey. Psych yourself up for it – it’s one of the great benefits of working abroad. Teachers who are reluctant can’t answer the typical interview question:  “Why do you want to work at my school/in my country?”.

5.    Work on your CV. Check out our CV tips here.  Make sure you have a full work history and explain any gaps in employment on your CV. If it’s complicated, write a nice cover letter or introductory paragraph explaining anything unusual in a clear but concise way and keep emotion and (attempts at) humour out of it.

6.    Listen to our feedback. We are not infallible, but we are in a position to have an eagle’s eye view of the international school job market.  So if we say, “to teach in the UAE as a secondary teacher your degree must match your subject”, or “to teach in this school in China you need at least 2 years of UK or IB experience” or “You will only get considered by a local international school” then take that on board.  I am not saying that people have never proven us wrong, but I am saying that it doesn’t happen often.

7.    Finally, be prepared to play the ‘long game’ to achieve your goals.  If you don’t have a lot of the right kind of experience to get yourself the job you want today, take an intermediate step that will enable you to get there next time. When I was a junior engineer at IBM a senior manager once pulled me aside and told me that the best advice he ever had been given was to always think two steps ahead.  And he was right.

We are all hiking through the dense forest of life. We can only see the path to the next bend and have no idea what’s around the corner. Perhaps leaving your job at home which seems devastating now, will set you on a life changing journey abroad... but there’s only one way to find out.

Teaching Abroad: The Health Issue...

Notes from the General Manager:

In the US, a woman donated her kidney to her boss, and was fired shortly after the operation.  According to the suit filed by the NY Human Rights Division, Deborah Stevens worked at the Atlantic Automotive Group, but returned to work with nerve damage due to the surgery, was berated for taking sick days and then fired by the boss who had benefited. I wonder if she will sue to take the kidney back?

I have been in the US all week helping my disabled parents move house, and to celebrate the 80^th box packed and unpacked, we went out to a local chain restaurant.  We got to chatting with the waitress about health issues (as you do when you are with your elderly parents- it’s unavoidable) and she mentioned that she has no health coverage because it’s too expensive.  She is one of almost 40 million working Americans in this situation and it occurred to me that medical care is one of the many unrecognised perks of working abroad.

International schools usually provide some form of medical coverage to their staff. Whether it’s as simple as an agreement that they will pay your medical bills, or a government issued medical card or even top of the line, gold-plated expatriate medical insurance such as Bupa Gold, it’s always worth asking about even if it’s not a make-or-break decision point for most teachers.   There are a couple of questions to ask, again not because you will walk away,  but so that you can plan ahead. 

1.    Does your medical coverage cover me when I am travelling or back home on summer break?

2.    Does your medical coverage cover my xyz pre-existing condition?

3.    Is the coverage for emergencies only or preventative care?

4.    Is there a co-payment (a fee charged to you at the time of medical service), and what is it?

The thought of needing medical attention abroad is scary for most teachers because they don’t know whether they will find a half-mad, nominally-trained witch doctor or a glistening state of the art medical facility with good food. Most imagine the former.   I can say that in my experience, for most common problems, and problems common to the area, teachers find that they are well cared for. I was talking to the head of HR of the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in Kazakhstan last week who had a stroke last month whilst working in Astana, and he said he had never had such great treatment. The doctors were speedy, highly trained and spoke flawless English and when he had his doctors from Belfast review the files, they said “we couldn’t have done any better”. And he didn’t pay a cent for it.

Now I’m not saying that you should go abroad to get your ailments treated. This is not an opportunity for medical tourism. Schools are hiring you to work and if you are too sick to work they can easily send you back, especially during your probationary period when your teaching, attendance and attitude are being carefully evaluated.  On top of this, many insurance policies don’t cover pre-existing conditions and most countries require some form of medical check before your visa can be issued, which screens for many things such as HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis as well as other chronic ailments.

The best idea, of course, is to stay healthy, but if you should need medical attention whilst working internationally, you will be far better off than my waitress and 40 million other Americans.

A man walks into a doctor's office. He has a cucumber up his nose, a carrot in his left ear and a banana in his right ear. "What's the matter with me?" he asks the doctor.

The doctor replies, "You're not eating properly."

Wishing you the best of health,

Diane Jacoutot

General Manager

Teachanywhere: Home or Away?

Notes from the General Manager, By Diane Jacoutot

A missing parakeet was returned to its owner in Tokyo this week, after it told the police its address. The owner, a 64 year old woman, had previously lost a parakeet and vowed to never have it happen again so the first thing she taught it was where it lived.  Clever.  As long as she likes the parakeet.

I left the confines of Teachanywhere London this week and returned to the States to help my parents move away from the house in which I grew up . It’s been interesting to pick through the dusty bits and pieces of my life, and that of my family, trying to decide what to move, and what to give away ...or toss in the bin.  Among the things I found were my Barbie dolls, old photographs in settings I had forgotten, letters from boyfriends I don’t even remember anymore and keepsakes from my first trip to Europe when I backpacked through with my Eurail pass at 19. Even then I had a desire to fly the coop.

I guess one of the things about living abroad is you really can’t take it with you. Unless is small, packable, weighs far less than 20kg and can be squeezed in between your socks and your comfortable shoes. You ask yourself not just ‘do I want this’ but ‘do I want this more than these other 10 things’. It makes you prioritise what’s important. I contemplate each thing I pick up from my childhood,  size it  and weigh it....  before usually deciding that someone else can benefit from it far more than I, and I’m left with a small number of very special items that are really worth lugging around the world.

There are good things and bad things about living abroad. On the negative side you are usually far away from family (though I realise some might see this as a plus but not me). On the positive side it makes you really evaluate where you have been and where you are going and what’s coming with you. And even if you can’t hold on to too many physical souvenirs, you will have tons of memories.

And these pack very nicely indeed.