Friday, March 18, 2011

How Make Your Resume to Teach ESL in Korea the Best It Can Be

By Peterson Kuyk-White


Writing a resume is an art in itself that has been discussed at great length in many other places. There are, however, some things to keep in mind that a specific to creating a resume when applying for English teaching positions in Korea.

The first thing schools are of course looking for is teaching experience. If you have taught before, that's great--put it at the top of your resume! If you think haven't taught before, don't sweat it, because you are probably wrong. Most people have never been a teacher before, but almost everyone has filled a teaching role at one time or another. Think creatively--if you've never been a teacher before you've probably never thought to put your teaching experience on a resume. Think of any time you have worked with children, or helped your peers or other adults learn something.

Recruiters view educating experience as an immediate plus, and it will surely enable you anyone to secure an job interview. But, be willing to give an explanation of your experience in depth during your phone interview because it will surely possibly be a key talking point.

After you have included all of the teaching experience you can muster, it's time to show what a master of the English language you are. It may not seem resume-worthy to you that you minored in English lit. or wrote a 30-page paper on Italian Futurism, but achievements such as these can valuable for establishing you an an English expert. There are many schools in Korea that focus preparing students for college and graduate school entrance exams. If you received good scores on any of these tests, you should list them here. Finally, don't be shy about flaunting your acadmic honors (3.0+ GPA, Deans list, Cum Laude, National Honors Soceity, etc.). Koreans take academic distinctions very seriously.

Koreans take education and studying very seriously so educational honours are constantly smiled upon. On my application, I detailed that I was part of the National English Society, as well as the Dean's List . In addition, if you had an extremely high grade point average, usually something above a 3.0, that would be great to include as well. If you have any kind of instructing or language qualifications, this needs to be added to the resume. Many instructing certifications (TESOL, TEFL, CELTA, and others) will permit you to work out a better income.

Besides content, you'll find a few clear design factors that should be used for any job application. Stick to one page except in cases where you have numerous years of educating experience. Use bolding, underlining, and italicizing to emphasize elements of the resume. Check out for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Grammatical and spelling problems are a bad sign for organisations hiring English educators. Have a few people go through your job application. Definitely use an easy-to-read font. I personally use a serif font for my main text and a sans serif font for my sub-heads.

Together with a job application, nearly job employers and educational facilities ask for a photo of you. Regrettably, there is no simple way around this somewhat unpleasant demand. South Korea is a very image-conscious nation, and they would like to ensure that you "appear" the part of the local English instructor. The photo is just as essential as a good resume, and may be a identifying element for a employment offer. Use a photo that does not show any other people in it. Also, use a photograph that shows you smiling. Ensure, however, that you can't see any piercings or tattoos in the photos.

Now, you should have all right and working tools to get a good position teaching English in South Korea.




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