The #1 TEFL Application Killer
A look at how to improve your visibility as a prospective ESL teacher.
I see it all the time. Eagur job applicance pleading on Facebook groups and Reddit forums for any possible leeds on TEFL jobs. These people are full've anticipation that someone, somewhere will give them a chance. Little do do they know they've already killed their chances before they've begun.
Seven grammatical errors in one paragraph.
ADOA = APPLICATION DEAD ON ARRIVAL.
Spelling and grammar play a significant roll in choosing who to hire.
Do you know how long an HR manager or recruiter will likely spend looking at your resume? 30 seconds. You have thirty whole seconds to make an impression. And if within the first five seconds of it, you've made as many errors as I had, chances are your file will go directly in the trash. Even more alarming is the fact that technology does a lot of the heavy lifting for human resource managers. By scanning your application for keywords and select skills, HR can send your resume through some nifty little software to determine whether human eyes should even bother. Imagine if the search is looking for an applicant who has Microsoft Excel skills, and you have written "Micrsoft Exel." You are going to get passed up because, at the end of the day, technology doesn't care if it's just a small mistake - its only agenda is to do what it was programmed to do; find specific words within an application and send them on. It is not there to try to guess what you're saying.
Bad grammar leads to fewer job opportunities and promotions.
In a 2013 Forbes article on How Grammar Influences Income, author Cheryl Conner noted that "good grammar is a fairly accurate predictor of professional success." What they had realized in the study was that individuals with poor grammar were less likely to be promoted than their grammar conscious counterparts. In a survey of hiring managers on mistakes that will cost you a job interview, one explains, "I’m amazed at how often I receive a job inquiry with blatant errors. In an age of multitasking, I’m looking for someone who can land a job by paying attention to every detail along the way." Imagine what the hiring manager for an ESL teacher must be thinking! Some may say that errors made on social media platforms shouldn't matter, but you would be surprised just how much they do.
Your Digital Impression Might be ruining your opportunities.
Social media could help, or hurt, your job prospects. Choose your posts wisely.
Did you know that 91% of U.S. employers use Google to look up a prospective job applicant? And of that 91%, 69% say that have rejected candidates because of what they have found on their social media platforms. According to a recent article published in Parade magazine, bad grammar and gross misspelling on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn can get your application tossed aside. This also extends to places where hiring managers might hang out (think facebook groups, subreddits, and other potential hotspots with pools of candidates).
So What Can You Do With This Information?
If you're serious about getting hired as a TEFL teacher and outshining the other candidates, you have to be very aware of your English spelling and grammar. This is important for both native and non-native English speakers. Keep in mind that recruiters and hiring managers are looking for reasons to say "No" because it requires less mental energy than hoping each and every applicant will be a great fit for the position. So with that in mind, what should you do to improve your viability as a prospective candidate? I have outlined three critical steps that are guaranteed to work.
1) Use a powerful spellchecker
My favorite and most reliable way to proofread -hands down- is Grammarly. It can be used across any and all platforms on which you write. Even better, if your operating system is set to a language that is not English, it will override your preferences and check for American English grammar and spelling. Below is a video showing many things this handy little tool can do - and it's free! As with most awesome tools, there is an option to upgrade and get bigger and better functions, as you can see in the short clip, but even without an upgrade, my free version of Grammarly caught nearly three times as many mistakes as the editor that comes in chrome; a faulty piece of software upon which too many of us have come to rely. As you can see from the overwhelming evidence above, you DO NOT want to skip this step.
2) Write it, let it sit, come back to it.
There have been numerous studies done around the positive effects of letting the brain rest after doing tasks that involve intense amounts of focus. In an extensive 2013 article in the Scientific American magazine on Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime, author Ferris Jabr argues that "our mental resources are continuously depleted throughout the day and that various kinds of rest and downtime can both replenish those reserves and increase their volume." In other words, don't be in a rush to get that CV, cover letter or social media post out; give it a little time to breathe and come back to it with a fresh perspective. I know you may feel like it is overkill, but remember that hiring managers are looking for reasons to say no. If you do what others aren't doing, you'll be bringing yourself closer to a yes.
3) Read it out loud, from the end.
I know, it seems strange, and your brain thinks it's strange as well; something that will work to your benefit. Reading from the end to the beginning - out loud - helps you eliminate any final mistakes or errors that might still be hanging around. Again, this activity allows the brain to shift into a new pattern of thinking, which tends to catch mistakes you hadn't noticed. Keep in mind that these three steps do not have to take place over several days, this could actually be over a 30-minute span. The idea is to let your writing breathe and then rearrange, cut, or add where need be. Believe me, these techniques work like a charm, but they must all be used together.
Go the extra mile and see exponential results.
The world is getting more crowded, and beating our competition has required us to change the way we think and the way we present ourselves to the world. Indeed, your grammar is now viewed as an extension of your abilities. "Does this applicant pay attention to detail? If they cannot bother to proofread their own CV, how will they be able to help our students?" The difference between their and there in your writing can be the difference between your future as a teacher and you're future as a perpetual job seeker.