 Hello, hi, Linda here from ITTT. Back with another live session this week. I told you same time, same place I would be here, so I hope you are too. Thank you for taking some time out of your day today to spend it with me. Today we're going to talk about applying for TEFL jobs, eight big mistakes to avoid. Today's topic kind of continuing on our like job seeking series. I did a couple of those kind of job related videos or live sessions in the past few weeks. So I thought this would fit perfectly into our little collection. As always, we do save our previous live sessions in our playlists. You can find them on Facebook, you can also find them on YouTube, just like we are live on both platforms today. So we are live on Facebook and we're also live on YouTube at the same time. So if you can see me and if you can hear me clearly, just put a little high into the comment section. And also where are you watching from? That's one of the first questions I always ask you guys. So where are you right now? Where are you watching from? How are you doing? I hope you're doing fine. I am in South Korea and it is 10 a.m. on a Friday. Happy Friday y'all. How are you doing today? Also, please don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel yet. If you haven't liked our Facebook page yet, you're already here. You have nothing to lose. So just check that little like box or click that little subscription button and the little bell. So you get notified whenever we go live, whenever we share new content, you know how it goes, especially on our Facebook page. We always share a lot of useful content for teachers, teaching material, but also for those people who want to be teachers who are not teaching yet. So you also find job offers on there and obviously lots of TEFL and T-SOL information and all of that good stuff. So that's what's happening today. I hope everybody's doing well. We have Zach here. Good morning. How are you doing Zach? Where are you watching from Zach? Where are you watching from today? Like I said, I am in South Korea. It is Friday morning. I know that usually we get some people from like the U.S. or other parts where it's still Thursday evening. So that's cool too. Zach is in South Korea. Awesome. Where in Korea are you? Korea buddies. Awesome. We have Cassie here from Indonesia. Great. I wish I was in Indonesia. I miss it. Cool. How's everybody doing this morning? I've got some cats. So cat hair everywhere. All right. I hope I got it now. All right. And I also have my coffee here. Because as you know, if you've watched before, our live sessions usually take about 45 minutes, I would say, today. So we'll see how that goes. All right. Zach is in Songpa. I am actually not in Seoul. I am in a city called Cheongju. It's near Daejeon, near Sejong City, sort of in the middle of the country. Very cool. Then we have Lilia in Mexico. Awesome. Cool. All right. Good group. Very mixed. I love it. Awesome. Also, I want to mention real quick. We do have 30% off today. As always during our live sessions, we share 30% off discount codes. Codes. So not codes. So what you can do is you can either scan this QR code right here. Or if that does not work for you, you can also let me find the link. We have a discount link as well. It can use, hold on. Here we go. You can use this link down below. Copy paste it. And you'll get 30% off any TEFL or TSOL course from ITTT. Or you can just scan this QR code if you prefer to do so. So yeah, whatever floats your boat. If you're not yet TEFL or TSOL certified, highly recommend. You get started because the world is opening up again finally. So lots of, lots of, lots of new opportunities come in your way in terms of teaching. It never really stopped though, but definitely the intake in many countries. The teacher intake is growing and growing and getting bigger. So you want to be ready. You want to be TEFL certified, TSOL certified and ready to take on these positions. We have Eric also in Columbia. Have I mentioned that already? I don't think so. Hi Eric. How are you doing? Then we have Juliana here in Illinois. Okay. Oh, I enjoyed my spring break this week. Awesome. Happy spring break. Awesome. All right. I think we also have some people who are watching for the first time. So thank you so much. And I just want to introduce myself real quick. So I'm going to show you the slide. Yeah. So my name is Linda. I am a travel writer and content creator under the name Linda goes East. East because I've always super been interested, been super interested in Asia. All things Asia. I started out in China. Actually, I lived there for a while. And then I moved to South Korea and I'm still in South Korea now. It's going to be about seven, seven years next month or in two weeks, I believe. That's when my Korea anniversary is. Yeah. Yeah. I also have my own website at Linda goes East.com. You can check it out and subscribe to the newsletter. Lots of cool information there, especially if you're interested, obviously in Asia traveling to Asia or also teaching in Asia. So I highly recommend you check that out. And on Instagram, I am there at Linda goes East. I'm originally, oh, I have something in my throat. Excuse me. There we go. All right. Morning Friday morning. Crazy. Anyway, at Linda goes East on Instagram. Do go ahead and check that out. I'm very active on Instagram. I love sharing my content on there. And also a lot of you guys have actually reached out to me via DMs on Instagram. So if that's something that you want to do as well, go ahead and do so. Maybe there's a question you don't really want to ask in front of everybody here. That's totally fine. You can just DM me. I'm originally from Germany at the US. So my mom is German. My dad is American. And yeah, I'm based in South Korea at the moment. And I'm also, this is sort of the other side of what I do. A Teflon and TESOL marketing professional from ITT that stands for international Teflon and TESOL training. You can find us at Tefloncourse.net. And what is ITTT? Well, ITTT is a leading Teflon and TESOL course provider worldwide. I know many of you watching right now are already Teflon or TESOL certified. Many of you guys from ITTT, maybe you're Teflon certified from a different company. Totally cool. All good here. We're just here for sharing information in our weekly live sessions. And if you're listening to this as a podcast episode, thank you so much for the download. We always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes. So you can find us everywhere where you're listening to podcasts. So iTunes, Google podcasts, Spotify, wherever you just type in Teflon and TESOL podcast by ITTT. And you'll find it there. And maybe you prefer the audio only version. Go ahead and subscribe there and download the podcast episodes. Okay, that's about it for the intro. And like I said, usually these live sessions take about 45 minutes. We'll see how it goes. There's also always a Q&A section at the end. We mentioned this 30% off. I just want to mention it again for those of you who tuned in just now, 30% off your Teflon or TESOL course from ITTT with this code. So you can scan this QR code or we also have a link that I shared earlier in the comment box. I'm just going to put it in there again so you guys can see it, copy paste it. You fill out the application and you'll see your discounted price once you fill out the application. You know how it goes. If it doesn't work for you, let me know. I'll help you out. So let's jump into today's topic. Yeah. Good. Real quick at any time, if you have any questions, feel free to just leave a comment and I'll get back to you. I always like to have a little bit of a exchange or conversation here. I prefer like having a chat with you guys instead of me just sitting there and like holding a lecture, I guess. So if you have any tips or tricks or personal experiences that you want to share in your comments for each point that I'm going to talk about, feel free to do so. It would be super awesome. And at the end, there's a Q&A part where you can also ask further questions. Any questions not related to today's topic, totally cool. So that's usually how it goes. And yeah, then let's just jump in the first point. Okay, so today we're going to cover eight of the biggest mistakes to avoid when applying for TEFL or TESOL or basically teaching jobs. Okay. So first point, let's have a look what we have here. The first one is sort of a no-brainer, but we kind of see that a lot happening. We're not following the instructions for applying, all right. I'm also going to show you some examples, but this is definitely a common thing. And why does this happen? Well, we are obviously super excited, right? It's an exciting process to apply for jobs and to want to go abroad. So we kind of get just super excited and we just want to send that application out there and get the job and then move abroad. It's just an exciting time. So you might just, at least I do that a lot when I'm super excited. I don't really focus, right? 100% on things because you just get so excited. And then you don't maybe read the job offer properly and you don't follow the instructions to a T. And that's what you should avoid. So let's have a look and I'm going to make myself smaller so you can read this. And basically the takeaway here is to pay attention, okay? Hiring managers, they constantly receive applications from people who clearly haven't paid attention to the instructions for applying. So this could be like you apply in a different way that they actually stated in their job offer. I'm going to show you some examples, but it could be like you're not sending it to the correct email address. You're not using the correct subject line details. You're not using the correct file format, whatever it may be. And so those are things you need to think about because here recruiters, they only take an average of six seconds to scan a resume very short amount of time. And if there's something that's not right, that's not perfect, you're just going to go into the trash pile. Your resume is going to trash pile. So think about do you have to send a CV or resume and cover letter, or do you have to fill out an application form instead? So sometimes we see that it will clearly state send your CV and cover letter to so and so to this in this email, or they will say please apply via our website and then there will be a link to a form. So make sure you read that correctly and you follow those instructions. Also think about do you need to attach any specific documents? Do they want, what do they want? Is there anything specific that they're looking for that you need to attach? If you don't attach that, you're already out. And the last one is should documents or emails be titled a certain way. So sometimes they would also have that you have to, yeah, title your documents that you attach in a certain way or that you upload in a certain way, or also the email subject line. Sometimes you need to put in the job title or other keywords. So that's usually, I don't know what's wrong with my throat today. Excuse me. I hope we're going to get, we're going to get through this. I only have a little bit of coffee remaining. So we'll see. We will make it through. Hi Fauzan. I'm hanging in there. I don't know. I have something in my throat today. Okay. So this is the first point not following the instructions for applying. So for example, you might see job offers like this. And here highlighted in the red box is the way you should apply. So for the job offer in green, it would be DM or send CV to this and this email address. So this was actually on Facebook. So this means Facebook direct message. You can direct message your documents, your application or email this email address. Those two ways. If you don't follow that, if you do a different way, you're not going to, it's not going to work. Other one on the right side. If you're interested in this position, please contact and then the specific email address or scan the QR code to add we chat. So there you go. Just make sure you read it all correctly and follow the instructions for applying. This is the first step, very important step. If you already messed that up, usually you're going to be in the trash pile, your application. Hi, Brett. How are you doing? Good to see you. And we have Fauzans asking, are you still available on IG? I am. Yes. At Linda goes East. I'm still there. Not leaving. All right. So this is the first point. Moving on. Number two of the mistakes to avoid when applying for jobs is not proofreading your application. Okay. Very important. And this isn't another thing because you might think like, yeah, I, I don't make typos. I don't make mistakes. I'm good. And you're excited. You want to get your application out as quickly as possible. But please take your time and proofread your application. Very important. You really want to avoid having any kind of typos or grammar mistakes in there, especially because you're applying to be an English teacher. So that's not going to look really good. If you have typos or grammar mistakes or any kind of spelling mistakes in there, not a good look for an English teacher. So take extra time to prove read. Okay. Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and applications are a deal breaker for almost 80% of hiring managers. So if there's a mistake in there, most hiring managers put your resume or application into the trash pile. So really be aware of that. So how can you do that? Get help. Use a grammar or spell checker. I usually use Grammarly. I really like that tool. If you're not familiar, Grammarly is a spell checker and a grammar checker. So you just type in Grammarly and Google, you'll find it there. They have a free version. So I recommend checking that out. And then also besides that, have a friend or a family member read through your application documents. Because you might already be like in a tunnel vision and not spotting any mistakes. If you just have an outsider look at the application, they're kind of going to look at it with fresh eyes. And they might be able to spot some mistakes that you might not be able to spot. So yeah, that's very important. And then there are some other tips from bestjobinterview.com that I found, which I thought were really cool. So these are four steps to properly prove read your resume. As I already mentioned, they also say that spelling and grammar mistakes are the number one reason hiring managers don't give your resume a chance. So you want to avoid that as best as possible. Four great tips. The first one here that they recommend is reading your resume aloud. Most of us, we just read it like in our head on the laptop. But try and read it out loud because reading out loud helps you concentrate better and you can actually hear how it sounds. Then read your resume backwards. This is one of the best techniques to pick up mistakes. You pay closer attention to the details with a fresh look. So this is also something I had never heard before with reading the resume backwards, which I thought was super interesting and definitely a good tip. And then this one I already mentioned to ask for help, a friend or a family member having that proof read and the online proof reading tool, also something that I mentioned. And they also recommend polishmywriting.com and slickwrite.com. I am not familiar with those two. Like I said, I typically use Grammarly, but feel free to also check those out. They might also be worth a look. So those are four steps to properly prove read your resume to avoid those mistakes because like I said, 80% of hiring managers, if there's a typo in there, spelling error, you're not going to be considered, especially when you're applying to be a English teacher. So there you go. All right. Fauzan has a comment. Thanks a lot. I confirm that you do reply helpful as usual. Thank you so much for being there for us. I have something to ask you if you would after your live on IG. Yeah, sure. Just send me a message and then I'll get back to you later. Okay. No problem. Good. Okay. So this was the second mistake, right? And we're going to talk about today. All right. See what's next. Not attaching a cover letter. The third biggest mistake when applying for a TEFL job, not attaching a cover letter. So let's dive into that. If you don't attach a cover letter, there's actually a 99% chance a hiring manager won't even glance at your application. If all you've submitted is a CV or resume, right? The application always consists of a cover letter and a CV or resume plus your attached documents. So cover letter is very, very important. It's basically the letter in which you sell yourself. Right? Why are you a good choice for this job? So they want to, you can also show your personality in this cover letter and kind of talk a little bit more about yourself. Whereas the CV or resume is more like something like dry, like just a list format of your life and your background. But in the cover letter, you can really show like who you are as a person and your personality. So that's why it's very important. And you need to make sure that you stand out with your cover letter. So there can be a lot of competition for TEFL jobs. So you need to make sure that yours, your cover letter stands out. And one of the best ways of doing that is with a strong cover letter, obviously. So you want to make sure that you have that. And actually at ITTT, we provide you with help with cover letter and resumes, TEFL cover letters and resumes. So all of our course graduates, this is part of our lifetime job support. So once you graduate from your TEFL course, you can take advantage of that. And we also will help you with that and help you writing this resume and cover letter for your job. And here also some additional tips on how to write a cover letter, basically just the structure of a cover letter. So what should it look like? So number one here, as you can see, definitely have a header with your name and your contact information that is also very important. Some people also forget the contact information. So you want to put your email address up there. You want to put your address up there. You want to put your phone number up there for sure. If you have like a professional website, you might want to put that up there, whatever. So definitely have that. And then number two, we have an opening paragraph that should grab the reader's attention. Then we have body paragraph number two where you should expand on your qualifications. And body paragraph three should be focused on connecting with the company. And then we have a closing paragraph, a call to action and gratitude. So what should they do now? Obviously they should get in contact with you and you thank them already in advance for taking the time. And then closing and signature also don't forget that. Usually you want to end with sincerely and your name and if I mean, you can also electronically sign it if you want. But yeah, usually this is just what it looks like. I'm sure most of you have seen this setup or lay out before of a cover letter. And like I said, I'm not going to go too much into detail now with this cover letter because you do get help with your cover letter and resume from us when you graduate from your TEFL course. So you're going to have more detailed information then. But this is just something to keep in mind for right now. Most important takeaway. Don't forget your cover letter. Okay. It is just as important as your resume or CV. And this is what makes your application an application cover letter resume and your attached documents. All right. Good. Any questions so far do let me know or if anything doesn't make sense or if there's something that you're like, oh, but I heard this. This is different. I was, I thought it was like that or whatever. Or from your own experience. Feel free to share that as well. Okay. So number four, another point also about the cover letter. So first of all, you want to have a cover letter and then this was the third point. And now number four. And a mistake is if you don't tailor your cover letter. So let's look at what that means. Basically there are most of us are probably going to Google cover letters or also the stuff that you will receive from ITTT. Sort of we will Google sample cover letters or templates and stuff. So you don't want to use just those and copy and paste them and then send them off to your potential employer because it's pretty obvious when it's a template or an example cover letter because they're usually more broad. They don't go into too much detail, obviously. So you need to make sure you take the template. You take the example cover letters and resume that you find online and then you tailor that to the job and the school or the company that you apply for. So let's have a look. Hello, Maiden. How are you doing? Maiden the 80s LA. Love it. How are you doing today? So keep in mind first thing here, make it unique. Make your cover letter unique. It's immediately obvious to a hiring manager if a cover letter is a one size fits all job. So a template, an example that you found online. They they deal with this every day so they know they've probably seen the same thing over and over again. So when they see something like this, it just shows that you put very little effort into your job search where that's what they think. And they think you might not take it serious enough and you're going into the trash pile again. So avoid that. Of course, you can use some parts of a cover letter sample, but just each one, but each one you send should be tailored to the role and the employer. So mix and match with caution here. Okay. Of course, you can use some examples, but then make it your own. Add a little bit of spice, your own spice and make it unique and stand out and tailor it to the company and to your own needs and to your own skills and qualifications and kind of show a little bit of your personality. That would be great. So yeah, these are some examples that you can find online. You can just do a quick search like, yeah, there's different types, professional cover letter, creative cover letter. There's so many different kinds you can find online. So don't just take this and copy and paste it and then send off your application, really tailor it to the job offer. A good way. What I learned before when I was in school was to use to sort of use the words that they use in their job offer. Certain like keywords, because then they read the cover letter and those kind of stand out to them because that's their, their own words and their own language, basically the internal company language that makes sense. Also check out their website and look for any of those keywords or special words that they use, how they describe their company, how they describe their employees that already worked there, their work, climate, etc. And you can use these words so you'll already sound like you're part of a team if that makes sense. So yeah. And then you can take a couple of cover letters that you like online templates or the things that you will, the material you will receive from ITTT and then just kind of mix and match, take some parts from here, some parts from there and make your own. And then also put in your own little magic, your own personality and make it stand out and make it unique that way. And that will, that should be great. All right. Good. I think this is number four now moving on to number five, I think. Yes. Fifth biggest mistake when applying for TEFL jobs, applying for a job in a country where you don't meet the visa requirements. Okay. So this is a big one. Obviously we all, when we think about teaching English abroad, we already have sort of an idea of where we want to go, right? What country we want to go to with some interests. Like I said, I've always really wanted to go to Asia. So that's where I ended up. Make sure before you start your entire process to research the visa requirements in the country or countries where you want to go. One of the most important things you can do at the beginning of your TEFL journey and even before you take a TEFL course is researching the visa requirements because visa requirements are inflexible, right? It's not like a job offer. And we're going to talk about that in a second, but a job offer where they have like 10 requirements, but you don't have to really meet all 10. If you only meet seven, it's okay. But with visa requirements, they are inflexible. This is what they are. And there's no way around it with visa requirements. So for example, in Korea right now for being an English teacher in South Korea, you need to get an E2 visa, which is the English teacher visa. And to get this visa, you need to be a citizen and national of one of seven countries only. Those are English speaking countries. That is Canada, America, US, Ireland, UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, I think that's all. So only those seven nationalities are accepted to get this English teacher visa in South Korea. So if you're not a citizen of one of those countries, you cannot actually be a teacher in Korea. Sadly, that's how it is. And there's no way around it. It's inflexible. There's no negotiating. If you don't meet these requirements, there is no negotiating. So don't waste your time applying for jobs in countries where you can't get a visa. Focus instead on those countries where you can legally work. And of course sometimes dreams can be shattered because you really, really, really want to go to Korea. But you're not a citizen or you're not a national of one of those countries, then you can't be an English teacher there. So you might have to look elsewhere. So that's just how it is. And the earlier you kind of realize that and find then a destination that works for you, where you meet the requirements, the better. Question here or comment. I made sure to keep a few cover letters for future reference that I made in the past for fire inspector jobs at outside agencies. I love that a fire inspector. Cool. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, you can keep, you can look for resume examples for other jobs and then take something out. And yeah, just for reference for sure. We'll use that as a base and customize the wording to fit the job I'm applying for. Yeah. Absolutely. Definitely that works. Okay. I think I don't have anything more for this one. Oh, there is. Oh, yeah. No, no. A little tip here. Just contact us at it for a consultation. If you're not sure where you can and can't go. If you're not sure which country, which destination, which region fits you best, just contact us for a consultation at it and will help you find the perfect solution for, yeah, that fits your background and skills, qualifications, nationality, et cetera. So just contact us at courses at tsole-teffel.com. You can also contact us obviously on social media, via Facebook messenger or on Instagram, totally cool. And we also have this really cool callback feature on our website. So we can actually call you back if you would like to contact us on the phone. So you can just find that on our website. I'm just going to check real quick where exactly that is. But yeah, it's just right at the top in the header, sort of in the middle where it says request a callback. So you can just click that and then you put in your phone number and you will receive a callback and we can give you a consultation that way or just, like I said, via email or social media. All right. Good. Ready for the next point? I think this is point six, seven, six. Okay. All right. We just talked about number five, applying for a job in a country where you don't meet the visa requirements. Now this is kind of similar. Don't make the mistake of applying for a job you're not qualified for. All right. So let's talk a little bit about that for a second. Just read the requirements carefully, the requirements in the job offer. If you clearly don't meet the criteria set out by the employer, just don't even waste your time applying. But if something's not clear or you want to make sure about something, about certain, you know, if they require certain, like a certain years of experience or like a certain certificate or whatever, you can always get in touch with the employer for clarity, clarification, ask them for details, explain your situation. This is the one side. So, but also take this with a grain of salt. And actually there were so many hiring managers interviewed. And I'm sure we've all seen these job offers where they just have a ridiculously long list of requirements for their employers or for employee, the future employee, the hiring, the candidates. And so basically many hiring managers, they see this as a wish list, not really the requirements. Okay. So also maybe put, change your mindset about that and also think of these requirements more as a wish list. If you believe you can do the job and you are a good match, save for this thing or that thing, you should absolutely put yourself out there. So it's a bit of both sides. I mean, if you clearly like if this is a job where it's just super clear, you're not qualified for. If they ask for like 10 years of work experience, but you're just now starting, you're just a new teacher, then obviously maybe you're not right for this job. But if there's this long list of requirements that fulfill 70, 80%, then of course go for it. All right. I have some examples here I want to show you guys. So for example, this one has a long list of requirements and you just kind of need to pick and see for yourself. Yeah. So Maiden also says, yes, that is true that some requirements are wish lists, for sure. So like this, for example, this is actually for an international school. The requirements that they have. So bachelors of education, et cetera, at least three years experience in international schools. So here maybe you do have three years experience or even more, but not an international school. So don't feel like you can't apply. You can still apply and try. You know, if you have more than three years, but it's not an international school. I mean, just try. What else? I mean, you could see, or the last one here, experience of the IB's middle years program would be highly desired and experience of diploma program would be desirable. So whenever it says desired, highly desired, desirable, this is not a must. So this is just something that, you know, would be great to have, but not required, basically. So take these kind of requirements sort of with a, think of them as a wish list rather than, oh, I need to really have 100% of all of these requirements. No, you don't. But if it's a job where you just clearly under qualified for, then it's probably better to look for other offers. I hope that makes sense. Okay. I think that's it. Is there one more? No. Okay. I don't want this one. But I mean, you can look at different job offers and see some of them, they have ridiculously long lists of requirements and some they only have like two or three. It really depends. And like I said, you don't really need to have all of them. Think of them as a wish list. Okay. Number seven, mistake. Not providing proof of English proficiency if you're a non-native speaker. All right. Let's have a look at this. So this is specifically obviously for non-native teachers. If you're not a native English speaker, it is really important that a hiring manager is able to instantly see that your English is of a high level. And the easiest way to do that is by attaching a certificate of English proficiency. So there are many, many different English proficiency certificates out there, but it's most importantly, don't make the mistake of assuming your TEFL qualification is a proof of English proficiency because it isn't. A TEFL certificate proves that you know how to teach English, but it's different than an English proficiency certificate. So if you haven't received formal education in an English speaking country, then it is strongly recommended securing an English proficiency certificate like the IELTS or any other like C2 proficiency. And even if they don't state this in their application, like requirements that you need to provide that, if you are a non-native English speaker, I would always attach that in my application, even if they don't ask for it. So for example, here they clearly ask for it. So to be eligible to apply, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, be a qualified or soon to be qualified teacher and fluency in the English language to a level of C1 or C2 is compulsory. So you need to attach, definitely attach a certificate here. And sometimes they also don't even say this. So many times we see native and non-native teachers welcome or accepted and then they don't say anything about an English proficiency certificate but still always attach it. So here are different things that you could look for. Definitely you want to be in the upper range here. So the other job offer was saying C1 or C2 level and this is the common European framework reference. These are like the Cambridge and other types of certificates that use this European framework. So C1, C2, C2 is basically native level. It's very difficult to get this C2 certificate. So you want to aim at least for C1 and then also be in this range for TEFL and for IELTS as well. So you want to be in the upper range here, aim for that and just always attach that to your resume. Okay. Was this number seven already? Let's see. Number eight. Okay. This is the last one and this is a fun one. Mistake number eight, not attaching a photo. Yes. While attaching a photo to a resume might actually be wrong in where you're from in your home country. It's not many European countries or Western countries stopped doing that a long time ago. Not attaching a photo for different reasons but it is still very much a thing and very important in many other countries especially for English teaching abroad. Okay. So yeah, like I said, it's very common to include a photo when applying for teaching jobs abroad. So while it might feel unnatural or even wrong to you because it's not something that's done in your country, make sure that you include one if it's requested or it's the norm in the country you're applying for. You need to do your research. A good thing, just always, just always attach one, put one in your resume. That would always be a good idea. So let's have a look at what makes a good photo. If you're not familiar with resume photos, the first thing you need to know is don't use a passport photo. That's very different. So instead use one that really conveys a teacher who is friendly, approachable and professional. So basically kind of like a LinkedIn photo if you're familiar with that. I also have some examples here. Oh yeah. And this is, so this is my own, my own photo. As you can see, it's kind of like, it's not a passport photos. It's just kind of like linked in professional style, like pose, photo, whatever. And this is actually from the, oh, from the Epic. Epic application. So Epic is a teaching program in Korea. And this is what their application form looks like. So many application forms, they will look like this for teaching jobs where you actually need to have a photo. So this could look like that. And they clearly say this. So name and passport and photo. So they really want a photo. And you need to attach that. So that's the case in many, many countries when teaching English abroad, you need to provide a photo. And these are some good and bad examples of photos. So obviously it should be a professional looking photo. You know, you wear a suit or a blazer or anything else. It looks like nice and, you know, professional. Could be like a fun, like linked in photo. Or like this kind of a more professional photo. Just what you want to avoid is sort of like selfie style photos like this or any kind of photo with a weird like filter on it. Avoid those. Those are not great for applying for jobs. So you want to look professional like this. And there's one more really good tip here from a photographer called Julia Nance. I found this while doing Google research. So these are some good ideas. This is actually also for a linked in headshot. So you want to have no shadows across the face. The eyes should be bright and in clear view. You want to have a professional outfit on. You want to have a non-distracting background. So something either dark or light like this. And you want to have a genuine expression and a welcoming smile and make sure it's taken by a professional. It just makes a big difference whether you take it at home or really taken by a professional in a studio with professional lighting. It just makes a big difference and it's really going to make your application, your resume to stand out even more and look even more professional. Like you really care. You really want this job. That's sort of the goal here. I think this is the last one. Let's talk real quick. All of the mistakes we should avoid. The first one was you should make sure to follow the instructions for applying. How do you apply via email, via their website? Do you need to put a certain subject line in the email? Do you need to number or name your or title your files in a certain way? Make sure you got that down. Again, we had several tips how you can proofread. Have a family member or a friend look over it. Read it out loud. Read it backwards. Have a spell checker. Check it. All of those things. Third one was don't forget to attach a cover letter. It's not an application without a cover letter. Very important. Number four, tailor the cover letter to the school and to the position as well. Don't just take one from the internet. A template or an example. Sample cover letter. Just use that and send it off. Really take your time and put your personality a little bit in there and tailor it to the school and the position you're applying for. Number five, don't apply for a job in a country where you don't meet the visa requirements because visa requirements are inflexible. They do not change. They can't make them bend them to make them work for you. It just doesn't work. So don't waste your time with that. Just focus on where you can teach and apply there. Number six, don't apply for a job you're not qualified for. So if you're clearly not qualified for a job offer, don't apply at all. But if you are qualified like 70-80% for this job, go for it and request additional information or clarification from the employer. Number seven, no. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Yes. Don't forget to provide proof of English proficiency if you're a native speaker. A non-native speaker, excuse me. So have a tuffle an IELTS or any kind of C1, C2 level certificate attach it even if they don't ask for it. They have that so that the hiring manager can see right away, oh, your English level is high. That's basically that. And number eight, attach a photo even if it might feel strange and a professional photo no selfie, no weird filter going on, professional in a professional outfit taken by a professional. That's just really going to boost your resume even more. So this is our checklist. Feel free to take a screenshot. As always, you can watch the replay and you can listen to all of the different points again and take your screenshots from there. Whatever you feel like. You can also rewatch this. This will be kept in our playlist both on YouTube and on Facebook so you can always come back again and rewatch this. All right. Juliana says thank you for the information. Your tips are super helpful. Thank you, Juliana. You're so sweet. All right. Yeah. If you have any questions about anything that we just talked about. Oh, and this is how you can find us online just really quick. And then we are officially in Q&A and you can ask questions or make comments or whatever's on your mind. Feel free to share. Again, you can save 30% off of your TEFL or T-SOL course with ITTT. You can scan this QR code or I'm just going to share the link one more time so you can have it and apply through there. It looks like this ends with Facebook live minus Linda. If you're listening to this as a podcast this link will also be in the podcast description so you can find it there as well. So that's it and I'm just going to make myself bigger now so you can all see me better and I'm going to have a look at the comments. Some comments just came in so we have Flutterk saying Hi, Linda. I find your tips really helpful. I really appreciate how you prepare your slides every week. So informative. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, I take a lot of time in preparing the slides and I really like to look for good examples. So, yeah. I think just with visual like slides and pictures and stuff it just makes a lot more sense and it's more interesting. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, Maiden here. Thank you for covering this topic. It has been nearly seven years since I applied for a job and this came at the perfect time. Awesome. See, I knew it. I knew it. I had an intuition that this was a good topic. No, but really, if you guys have a topic suggestion feel free to let me know because I really am looking for a new and interesting topic every week. And sometimes it's very challenging because we've been doing this for a year and a half now. All these live sessions almost every single week. So sometimes it's hard to find something new and interesting. But yeah. If there's anything you want me to cover in the future just let me know. That would be cool. If not, I'm just going to brainstorm and see what we're going to talk about next time. All right. Let's see the list again here. So which point of this maybe was completely new to you guys if you want to share. Amitava, I thought once again Linda for all of your suggestions and tips regarding applications for jobs. It has just come at the right moment. Perfect. Thank you, Amitava. That's so sweet. Brett says I filled out a questionnaire for a school where you would attach a CV but it would only let me do one attachment. Well, if you only have to attach the CV maybe like you only have to attach the CV and then if you pass like this first stage then they would ask you to attach more later upload later. Oh, I couldn't attach a cover letter. Oh, gotcha. Yeah, sometimes that can be you know it depends like where you apply. Because number three was don't forget to attach a cover letter. I guess sometimes if they do it online via their website and they already have like this questionnaire. I guess sometimes they don't even want a cover letter. It just depends sometimes on the school. So don't worry about that if that wasn't specifically asked but usually was there like a message field usually if there's a message field this would be the cover letter. So you might have to make it smaller like less text but usually if there's like a message field, a text field this is where you would just copy and paste the cover letter text in then. Yeah. Probably not sure. Interesting. So yeah, that's definitely number one follow the instructions for implying. So if they tell you to fill out a questionnaire and then attach the CV you just do what they say basically. That's all good. Should be fine. Which country was that for? I don't believe there was a message field. Okay. What country was that for? Interesting. Well, you know some schools they just do it differently. Some they might not care about a cover letter because they will have you interview later and then you can talk more about your more about yourself there and your experience I guess Italy. Okay. Interesting. Yeah, maybe just their style how they do it. Cool. You could also if you find out like their email address send the cover letter via email and let them know I filled out the questionnaire and send you my CV and blah, blah, blah Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I will make the checklist a little bit bigger. Sorry. Like this. Does that work for you? You can take a screenshot real quick. I don't know what to say now waiting for somebody to take a screenshot. Oh man, but any other questions we are still in Q&A now just sharing this checklist real quick one more time with Amitava who wants to take a screenshot so I made it bigger but yeah, feel free to leave your comments. I know that many of you okay, you're welcome many of you have applied for jobs so I wonder what that experience was like but anyway do let me know. I still have a couple of minutes that I can be here so if you have any questions screenshot good Yeah. All right. Cool. Nice. Like I said, if you have any questions like afterwards you can still leave a comment and we'll get back to you even after the live ends we always get back to all the comments under the live sessions or if there's something you want to ask me specifically you can reach out via Instagram DM just message me and I'll try my best to answer your question other than that yeah well if there are no more questions we can slowly come to an end too. I don't want to drag this on too long because then we start on we start rambling or I start rambling but yeah I appreciate you guys appreciating my presentation my slides I always try to make it informative and interesting and fun and yeah with lots of visuals and examples so I hope that everything was clear if it wasn't let me know all good and if there's anything you want me to talk about in the future like I said let me know then I can prepare something but next week because usually the first Friday of the new month we just do a casual a casual Q&A so you if you have any questions about Tefal Teesol teaching anything under the sun related to teaching you can you can prepare your questions and then come here next week and hit me with them hit me with all your questions Maiden asks is there a preferred CV or resume style commonly used for alt positions so like in Japan or where also I never had to transfer skills education and work experience maybe a future topic okay yeah sounds good so with I feel like with with teaching positions oh yes Japan okay so I have not personally taught in Japan I'm not sure but I feel like if you do it through the JET program they will probably have a form I feel like I've seen that and I feel like it probably looks like the epic form that I just showed you so you fill out the form with JET the JET program if you apply like for private schools to be an English teacher in Japan I'm not quite sure I would recommend googling that but I just feel like for teaching abroad there is no one way one correct way for CV or resume style because all the teachers they come from different countries so typically probably if you're from the US you would use more a US style if you're from Australia you'll probably use more an Aussie style or whatever so that's what I imagine would be different than when you apply in your own country because then there's more rules and like it's stricter I guess yeah but like I said you also will receive information about these things material from us all the TEFL TESOL course graduates from ITTT will receive that but specifically for Japan I would just do some google search research and see what they say in terms of formats and Brett is saying I have a couple more questions I'll reach out on IG sure that's fine I'm doing laundry right now oh I've got to do that too later today have fun okay well then I hope you had fun today I certainly did it's always fun coming on here and chatting with you guys and then I hope to see you all again next week I'll be here same time same place I hope you will join me again next week and hit me with your questions and yeah I really appreciated you alright there's one more question okay hold on I spoke too soon okay Amitava says sometimes they ask for a BA in English or education and or a bachelor's of education degree whereas I have a become degree I was at commerce or I'm a commerce graduate okay in that case should I should I or not apply for the said job definitely I would apply so usually for most positions that I have seen bachelor's in English or bachelor's in education etc is preferred desired it's a plus is not 100% a requirement so for me I had a bachelor's in management in business also not education or English and it was still accepted and usually that's the case so certainly still apply and see what they say alright guys thank you many things happy Friday happy Friday happy weekend Brett too looking forward to your messages also Julianne have a nice weekend have a nice weekend too guys and I'll be here for Q&A session next week again I hope to see you all prepare your questions I'll be ready and I'll see you there and I think that's it okay thank you guys see you later bye