How To Get a Job Teaching English in a Hotel in Thailand
When I first moved to Thailand to teach English, like many people I thought teaching English in a hotel would be fun. After all, Thai hotel employees need high-level English skills yet few seem to have them. That’s why it stands to reason getting a job teaching English at a hotel in Thailand should be easy, right? Wrong.
In fact, although a huge number of Thai hotel employees really do need to improve their English skills and hotels in Thailand do hire English teachers to teach them, these jobs are not that easy to find or to get. If, however, you have your heart set on getting a job teaching English in a hotel somewhere in Thailand, these quick tips should help.
Write a resume targeted towards hotels – If you want a job teaching in a hotel in Thailand, don’t just send your generic resume when you apply for a position with one. Most hotels are looking for someone with corporate teaching experience and, if you have experience in the hospitality industry, even if it’s not remotely connected to teaching, include that on your resume as well.
Read Ajarn.com’s job board every day – During my first couple of months in Thailand, I interviewed with two hotels in Bangkok that were looking for English teachers to teach their staff. I was able to get both interviews through job postings on Ajarn.com, the absolute best place in Thailand if you’re looking for a teaching job. Their job board is updated every day and it’s easy to search for corporate jobs, which is where most hotel vacancies will be listed. You’ll find their job board here.
Go door to door – If you cannot find teaching jobs in hotels in Thailand that you might want to work for, that doesn’t mean they’re not out there as many hotel teaching jobs are simply not advertised. That’s why getting dressed up, so you look like a professional teacher, and visiting any hotel you’d like to work for with your resume in hand is a great idea.
One of my closest friends did just that when he first arrived in Bangkok. He told me later he ended up dropping off about 50 resumes at various international hotels around town but two of them did call him in for an interview, and one of them offered him a teaching job.
Word of mouth – I cannot stress enough how important word of mouth is when it comes to teaching jobs in Thailand. I got my first teaching job due to a British guy I met online and another corporate teaching job through a woman who lives in my apartment building and who knew a Thai manager who was looking for a part-time English teacher with experience in the business world.
If you want to teach English in a hotel in Bangkok, be sure to tell everyone you meet. You never know who knows the personnel director at the Hilton Hotel chain or whose friend may work in the corporate offices of the Intercontinental Hotel.
Put together your own hotel English program – If you’re still not getting job offers in hotels that interest you, remember you can always put together your own English program targeting hotel employees and then visit hotels in Thailand and present your program to them.
One of my former bosses designed his own English teaching program a few years ago when he decided he wanted to work for a hotel but no job was forthcoming. He then approached a number of hotels in the Bangkok area with his program, which included printed information on the subjects he would be teaching, samples of classroom material for potential students, and even examples of end-of-course exams.
Not only did he get work with several hotels, he’s now running a permanent program in three of them and has even had to hire other English teachers to help him.