Job market tight for some teachers

Maggie spent a few days “resting and settling in” at the International Youth Hostel in downtown Taipei, then headed to the Internet cafe to land a job, using as her main resource tealit.com (Teaching English and Living in Taiwan).

“I spent two solid days in front of the computer, until I was sore, starting at 6 p.m. and not getting out until 4 a.m. I sent out massive emails — copying and pasting, copying and pasting — to all the jobs in Taipei.”

For the first few days, nobody returned her calls. Out of desperation, she began contacting some schools outside of Taipei, “in Taichung because I had a friend there.”

Then, calls started coming in from her first round of inquiries, but Maggie had noticed signs that the labor market for foreign teachers seems to have changed since her first visit to Taiwan.

Still, it’s common for newbies to Taiwan — like Nicolas Moore, 22, a double major in economics and music who arrived in Taiwan last month from Irvine, California — to find a teaching job in a matter of days; in his case, it took four days. And granted, there are ebbs and flows in the market at different times of the academic year.

However, other Taiwan neophytes have also remarked that the demand for teachers seems to have declined, likely due to the economic situation, says Jeremy Shen, Director of Information for the Ministry of the Interior, although he sees the demand for foreign teachers only expanding over time.

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