Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Age Discrimination in the ESL Market Place

By Jim Korea

The general age limit for ESL teachers in most countries is in the early sixties. More and more, teaching English as a Second Language is becoming a young person’s game. For example, Saudi Arabia and South Korea both stipulate sixty-two as the retirement age for all teachers. This includes ESL teachers as well. Nevertheless, one would be hard pressed to find employment after fifty. It is a common demand that foreign English teachers be in their twenties or, at the least, early thirties. One colleague recently remarked to me, “I turned 40 today, its time to start looking for a new job.” And despite his sardonic humor, his comment contains some truth.

A private study posted on www.blogspot.com in 2007 studied the effects of age discrimination in the South Korean ESL market place. The study involved posting on numerous Internet job sites the resumes of several men and women who shared an average appearance, education, experience, native country and skin color. The only thing that varied between them was their age. Information was then gathered based upon the number of email responses returned for each prospective teacher. The results clearly showed that the number of job offers was directly related to the teacher’s age, regardless of experience or other factors. The full study can be viewed at: KOREAN SCHOOL

Most Western countries do not require teachers, or other professionals, to state their age or provide a photo in the initial resume process. However, many foreign countries that desire ESL teachers do require the teacher disclose his/her age, sex and other personal information. When searching for a job as an ESL teacher, you can avoid a lot of prejudice by not immediately stating your age, sex, or even revealing your picture. Although employers will eventually ask for this information, by delaying, you give yourself a slight advantage by connecting with schools that might have initially overlooked your application based upon a quick, first glance. This gives you an opportunity to talk to the school and sell yourself to them before they brush you aside based upon a poor first impression made by a photograph or birthday.

A few months ago, I had the fortunate opportunity to speak with a very successful recruiter who recruits teachers primarily for Korea. He shared with me a simple trade secret, “Any job applicant that is over the age of 45 goes in the garbage. Teachers between 35 and 45, we generally find work at remote schools that are desperate for teachers, we do not spend too much time with them. We generally look for teachers between the ages of 22 and 30.”

A simple method that can help a teacher find a job, if he/she is over a certain age, is to show up in person at the school; this action puts the interviewer on the spot and makes it difficult to say no to experience and education. If you cannot have a personal interview, call the school prior to sending personal information, inform them of your full name and your experience and education, and that your resume will soon be sent. Age discrimination in ESL markets is a fact, but a teacher should always stress their strengths prior too revealing their age.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have found age discrimination in Korea which corresponds to the study's. I have a certificate in TESOL, MA in TESOL, thirty year's of ESL/EFL teaching (much at highly prestigious schools: Juilliard, State University of New York, and others). In addition, eleven years ago I complete a contract with SLP, Nowon and consistently had the highest retention rate of any teacher.
Now I am 62 and have applied for dozens of positions with ZERO offers.

If this ain't age discrimination, I don't know what is.

Emil Ysona
emil@emil.net

ESL Daily said...

It’s a shame that the discrimination takes place. Making an impression based on youth, sex, skin color and accent to students parents is unprofessional. Experience and education is over looked and often shunned upon. In the future I will be publishing other articles regarding these. In most situations having a MA or PhD will hinder a person from getting a job. Also, in many ESL countries (this is not just Korea but includes most of Asia) experience of over 3 or 4 years does not look good. Sometimes I feel I am just a “status symbol” for my school and my experience and professionalism should be kept to myself. Emil have you tried working at a university? I think your experience/education will be much more appreciated. Universities should be hiring soon, the new semester begins in March I believe. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

I have experience working with children, have been a youth leader, have worked for the RAF. have a degree and a TEFL qualification, but because I have a disability which means I often use a wheelchair to get around, I feel employers don't want me!!
I recently went to teach in Venezuala and was told that I should not of gone out on my own which really hurt. I have also worked in Thailand and Ghana and am soon going off to teach in Honduras.
I have applied for so many jobs, only to be told no when I state I use a wheelchair. The chair just enables me to get around without falling, it does not make any difference to my teaching. When are employers going to see me and what I can offer rather than the chair!!!

ESL Daily said...

I know in my experience teaching in Asia, I have never seen accessibility for the physically disabled, whether being for the teacher or student. Most of the time students are either expected to cope with the problem or just not attend. I have never seen a teacher in Asia ever with a disability. Thanks for your comments and I wish you the best, keep up your posts!!