Getting a Teaching Job in Bali

[kelseykaylove]

Hello, everyone!

My name is Kelsey and I'm currently living in Austin, Texas. I'm looking to move to Bali sometime around January 2013 or close after and would like to get some tips on finding a teaching job before I get there. I have a B.S. in Advertising and am TESOL certified.

I currently work as a Social Media Specialist for bingo halls in the United States and have a little teaching experience doing private English lessons for families. I have also been a bartender for a long time and am open to doing that in Bali as well if teaching is not an option.

Any advice, places to look for jobs, living situations, etc. would be very helpful to me. I am planning on moving with my boyfriend who is a scuba dive instructor and has a friend on the island that owns his own dive shop.

Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you!

 

[ronb]

Teaching English is a possibility since they sometimes need to import these skills - search this forum for "teaching english". Bar-work is not a likely option because plenty of locals are available to do that.

 

[spicyayam]

There are a couple of schools that seem to employ foreigners here teaching English, such as English Town. There have been several discussion on this if you search the forum. The biggest downside is the pay, roughly 8 million rupiah per month. If I was coming here to teach for a year, I would save some money to make life a little more comfortable.

 

[phil170258]

just on the bar tending - even if you could get job, which you are not allowed to do (because then you would be taking a job from a Balinese) your pay for 6 days per week, 8 hrs per day, would be no more than $200 month. Yes, that's right, a month!

 

[balibule]

You will not be able to bartend but maybe aim a little higher and manage a bar. Depends on your experience and skills of course but there are foreigners who do work in the higher quality restaurants in the South.

There's a good chance your boyfriend will be able to teach Scuba although unlikely in January which is low season with little business. Most instructors get paid a comission and high season only starts in june - july.

Still, having a friend who has a diveshop definitely helps.

Good luck!

 

[Georgie]

There are a couple of schools that seem to employ foreigners here teaching English, such as English Town. There have been several discussion on this if you search the forum. The biggest downside is the pay, roughly 8 million rupiah per month. If I was coming here to teach for a year, I would save some money to make life a little more comfortable.

Although I don't believe 8 million pay is a downside as they have other benefits (such as 1 flight home a year and they pay for your KITAS (work permit) and you can live comfortably on 8 million here if you live simple, I agree that you need to save money before you come.

It also depends on how old you are as we have just recently said goodbye to a young couple as they came over with stars in their eyes and didn't have any money to back them up, were promised jobs managing a BULE's new restaurant with KITAS's and started working for said Bule, kept asking about the KITAS (they didn't know they should have entered the country on them). Worked out they were being used after being told to renew their tourist visa, turned out the girl was too young for a KITAS so the boss blamed her age (she was 23 with 4 years managing a bar but you need more experience and age on your side for senior roles). They had to walk out of the job and then had no money to buy tickets home.

My husbands sister came over last year with a KITAS (KITAS and work permit for her husband and KITAS for her), they moved their whole lives here, ready to start a family with such a high paying role but her husbands boss went bankrupt after 6 months and they were left stranded and had to borrow money to fly home and ship their furniture back. The had left great jobs to come here and now having to do part time jobs until they can find something back in Europe.

I would suggest having enough money to live on if either of you is out of work for at least 6 months, don't forget health insurance as well, cost of ticket home and money to "start again" if you have to go back home.