3 Reasons Why Facebook Is The Worst Place To Find ESL Jobs
(and where to land the most awesome teaching opportunities!)
Facebook is good for a lot of things, but finding an ESL teaching job isn’t one of them. Contrary to what you might think, Facebook is completely useless in terms of finding quality jobs by reputable companies, and here’s why.
Fake Competition
If you happen to come across an opportunity that sounds decent, you’re not alone. There are probably 50 others in front of you clamoring for that same job.
When you look at the number of comments on the post, it can feel like “What’s the point of responding?”
But many of these comments are not from people who are your competition.
For the most part, they are highly unqualified or don’t meet the requirements set by the company. They tend to respond anyway because they’re either desperate or they didn’t bother reading the whole post.
In either case, this is a bad environment for both the candidate and the recruiter.
Most of the people who commented are NOT native speakers and did NOT have diplomas.
Finder's Fee
The pure and simple truth is rarely pure, and never simple.
I’ve found several instances where posts in Facebook groups blatantly lie to the reader by masking their dishonesty in ‘testimonials’ or recruitment. Here’s how:
Affiliate Links
There’s nothing wrong with affiliate links, per se, but it’s how they’re used in Facebook groups that makes me want to gag.
If you don’t know, affiliate links are links that businesses assign to a specific person or company for promotional purposes. If the link is clicked, the person or company will make money depending on what agreement they have with the business.
The issue is that people in these groups promoting these businesses either know nothing about it or know that it’s a crap company and still lie to promote it anyway.
This happens all over the internet, but it runs rampant in Facebook groups because you have the potential audience of tens of thousands of people.
The Side Hustler
So you have these people who scour the internet daily for ESL jobs. They’ll copy these listings and head over to Facebook to post them.
Harmless right?
Not really. They’ll post the job to Facebook with a lower salary and when they get someone who’s interested, they’ll collect his or her resume, then contact the school.
They’ll tell the school they’ve found someone who will accept a lower salary, but they expect a fee for finding this person.
Plenty of schools will agree to pay the fee because it saves them a significant amount of money in the longterm.
Built-In Bias
According to a Career Builder study, 70 percent of employers use social media to screen job candidates.
That number increases to 100 percent when you apply using Facebook.
Traditionally, job applicants get a chance to put their best foot forward by showcasing their talents, education, and abilities - not their appearance.
But if a recruiter gets a chance to click on your profile link and go through whatever you’ve left public, do you think your merits will still hold?
Even if you’re stealth-like and have your account locked down, you still have other unfavorable outcomes that are possible.
In that same study, Career Builder found that more than half the employers that were surveyed were more likely to reject candidates whom they couldn’t find online (this included not being able to snoop around your profile).
Even worse, that same number of employers decided not to hire someone based on what they found!
Then, let’s suppose you’re just dealing with a jerk. Someone who takes one look at your picture and doesn’t like you for whatever reason. He or she couldn’t care less how well you teach. They have already made up their mind that you’re not worthy.
When I lived in China, I introduced a friend of mine to a school where I taught. The recruiter later told me “She’s too ugly to put on the website!”
Mind you, she said this after my friend - certified and experienced - did a fantastic demo class.
Vanity runs deep and some recruiters enjoy being the judge to a beauty contest rather than one to a teaching position.
Best Places To Find ESL Jobs Abroad
If you’re looking for reputable, trustworthy jobs I would advise staying far away from Facebook.
Although there are some good jobs that get posted, you’ll spend more time fretting about the legitimacy of the post than applying for the actual job.
Instead, leave the vetting to ESL job sites that post credible schools with contacts that link directly to the school’s hiring staff.
Go Overseas has one of the top ESL job boards around. Boasting listings from over 20 countries, you can filter your search by country, length of contract and type of student.
Teachaway has a fantastic selection of reputable teaching jobs around the globe serving a variety of schools and students. While they do cater to all teaching jobs abroad, they have a specific job board for ESL teachers.
ESL Jobs Lounge is a sleek ESL job board specifically dedicated to those looking to teach English abroad. With nearly 2,700 schools listed, you certainly won’t be lacking variety.
TEFL.net is a staple in the TEFL jobs community. What I love most is how diverse the listings are. You can see from page one they cater to the world market, and I’m here for it!
Oakary is a gem for saving time and being more efficient. It’s a website that will apply to over 20 online English training schools on your behalf based on your qualifications and preferences. Yes please!
What are some of your favorite websites to find jobs? Comment below
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