Opportunities Are Still Out There For Jobless Graduates

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep 16, 2009 -
As unemployed graduates watch friends settle into jobs on well-paid graduate schemes this month, it’s understandable that many of them feel like opportunities have totally dried up.

And who can blame them? According to figures released by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit earlier this year, 40,000 of the 400,000 graduates who left university this year will still be unemployed come Christmas, double that of last year.

However, despite the gloom surrounding the graduate jobs market, there are still plenty of opportunities (around 20,000 per month in fact!) to be had teaching English abroad.

While TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) was once seen as a niche area only for linguistics experts, the recent explosion in the number of TEFL teachers and vacancies has proved that it has much wider appeal, and can offer people an escape route from the jobs crunch in the UK.

At present there are around 20,000 vacancies for TEFL jobs posted on the internet each month, proof of the massive demand for English teachers across the world – everywhere from China and Thailand to Ecuador and Japan.

It’s also much easier (and cheaper) than most people think to get a TEFL qualification which will open the door to these opportunities. Courses with TEFL specialists i-to-i (http://www.onlinetefl.com) cost from as little as £199 and are open to anyone who speaks fluent English. They’re predominately run online on a flexible time-scale, so can be completed at a time and a pace that suits.

Teaching English abroad is not only a fantastic chance to travel, earn some money and do something more than sitting on the dole, it can also equip graduates with the skills they need to get ahead in the jobs market when they get home.

According to advice published by gradplus.com, a graduate careers website, this week, employers are looking for ‘soft skills’ as well as academic achievements: “These include talents in fields such as teamwork, conflict management, self-organisation and innovation, which can all add to a graduate's ability to perform well on the job.”

These are exactly the kind of skills that graduates can look to gain by teaching English abroad, as Helena Abblett, who spent a year teaching English in China, can attest: “As well as getting the opportunity to travel, I made some great friends and returned to the UK with more confidence and skills that I could transfer to my career.”

An opportunity that is ideal for graduates who are new to TEFL is i-to-i’s Teach in China Internship (http://www.onlinetefl.com/teaching-internships/china/), which enables people to get TEFL qualified, gain 300 hours of teaching experience during 4 and a half months in China and earn £1,300. It’s open to degree and non-degree holders alike, although the last round of internships, which started in August, proved especially popular with recent graduates.

Alternatively, there are still places available on i-to-i’s Teach English in Thailand Support package (http://www.onlinetefl.com/supported-teaching/), which helps people get TEFL qualified, set up with a well-paid teaching job in Thailand and gives them all the support they need to make their TEFL career a success. Those who are interested need to act fast though, as the deadline for applications is this Friday (18th September).

Alice McBrearty, who went to teach English in Thailand after graduating from university in 2007, said: “To anyone who is desperate to travel but strapped for cash, I recommend you give TEFL teaching a go.  It is a great opportunity to work and save money while getting to know the country and its people from the inside, as a worker and not simply a tourist.”

Those wanting more information about TEFL courses and teaching abroad should call i-to-i’s TEFL experts on 0800 093 2552. For media enquiries contact Honor Baldry at honor.baldry@i-to-i.com.

Photo:
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