Official Documents

So we were talking about the decision making process up through the point where we initiated contact with a recruiting company for a specific program. Once you've received a response from the recruiter, your application process has officially started.

There's going to be a list of official documents you'll need to procure. While there may be slight variations based on the country and program, most of it is fairly similar. The recruiter will need all of this information to get you an E2 visa; while you're busying putting together this portfolio of your identity, he will be effectively marketing you to various schools associated with the teaching program, based on your resume and photos. So here's a list:

resume

casual photos, 2 or 3

passport photos

passport

college transcript(s)

copy of diploma

letters of recommendation

criminal background check

application

contract

The smart way to edit your resume would be to Google some tips. Action words are encouraged. Put relevant experience first. Keep everything up to date in terms of locations and contact information. Make sure the layout looks neat. Check your grammar.

If you need it, the passport should be the first thing you work on, because some countries take a really long time to process one. According to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, it takes about six weeks. However, since there's so much paperwork involved, I would suggest giving it more time in case something gets written down wrongly. The same site I linked to has instructions in terms of what kind of passport services you need. The recruiter will need you to scan the passport's first page once you receive it, and send it to them.

Then, I suggest going after the letters of recommendation. This all varies depending on how much experience you have, which dictates the number of coworkers or supervisors who would be willing to write you one. The program where I applied, EPIK, required official organizational insignias at the top of the letters, so I had to relay that to my professors. There are also some organizations that plainly don't write recommendation letters - Target Corporation is one of these. This step comes in second, because it's the least structured, and depends mainly on your contacts.

Your college or university website should have instructions regarding how to retrieve copies of your diploma and transcripts. Criminal background checks vary by state, so you can Google your state's official website for that information. I'll dedicate the next entry on just these two documents alone.

While you can usually get the application and contract of your chosen teaching abroad program on the site, sometimes these forms are subject to change, so you should ask your recruiter about when to submit these.

Thanks for reading me!

Working Abroad: Why and Paperwork

While there are plenty of blogs via the net about people's adventures and sights once they reach their destination, there's no such information about the process of everything before getting there. I would have found this data really useful, so for anyone who's thinking about going abroad, this is the right place for you. I'm here to add a voice to all the pages about teaching abroad that are made by recruiting organizations.

So why do you want to work in a foreign country?

My reasons were heavy, but simple. I could be staying at home with my partner, relatively near my parents and sister, working a retail job. But I graduated at the end of 2009, and by 2010, millions of people are jobless. I worked at Target for a year, searching for another opportunity the entire time. When I started to apply for a teaching job abroad, these are the things I was thinking about.

I would be away from my partner and family for several months to a year, depending on the contract for the program and recruiting company. Am I okay with that? I risk being distanced from people I care a lot about, and not liking the new environment where I am stationed. On the other hand, I get to explore and be immersed in a new culture, exciting just because it's novel. It would be international experience for my resume, and would change my outlook on many subjects. So is the risk worth the potential gain?

Once I thought about that for awhile and made my decision, the research began. I was lucky, a friend referred me to this program because he's in it and patiently answered a lot of my questions. Still, the other question I was answering was, which country should I work in? I've never traveled for work before, so I was mainly considering "First World" countries, places where the quality of living wouldn't be too drastically different from Boston, Massachusetts, in the USA, where I'm from.

At first I considered China, but the quality of living there is lower, so then I chose South Korea. Next up is choosing a program suitable for you. Many of these programs have pages online where they advertise, so some facts to look for are:

a. length of contract (months? a year?)

b. room and board provided for? if not, how much?

c. wage and salary pay

d. benefits

Once you've decided on a program and recruitment company, contact them (usually through email) and the application process begins. The program I am with is called EPIK (English Program in Korea) through the recruiting company English World.