Advice on Applying for TEFL teacher positions
I have been applying directly to schools for a few weeks in the hopes of securing a TEFL teacher position for Oct/Nov 2026 but I haven’t received any responses from any schools. I have only received answers from agencies but I’ve read enough to know agencies are a scam, I only applied as a last resort and potential backup.
For context: I do not have a formal teaching degree, however, I do have a bachelors degree (BA) and TEFL certificate. I also have tutoring experience at high school and university level. I currently volunteer for an NGO which runs an after-school tutoring programme for primary and high school students where I have taught English and History for a year and a half. I also worked as a teaching assistant at my university for a year. I’m a South African woman (black - if that matters)
With this experience, I’d like to believe I should be able to secure an entry-level position at a bilingual or language school. I’m also not too fussy about location, I’d prefer close access to an international airport (like Bangkok or Chiang Mai) but I would definitely be willing to teach in a medium or even small town and I’ve applied accordingly. I’ve checked Ajarn, Teast, Jobdbs, KruTeacher, Schole etc. and applied for about 25+ positions (I do also try to tailor my cvs to each application by researching a bit about the school and their vision/mission/programmes etc.)
I suppose what I’d like to know is if anyone can offer advice on where I might be going wrong: Do I need to apply to more schools? Is it too early to apply for 2nd Semester (Oct/Nov), is the turnaround time for responses longer in Thailand? Is it common to be ignored by recruiters? Do I need to focus more on smaller schools and provinces? Are they ignoring me because I’m not currently based in Thailand? Etc.
Any advice would be genuinely helpful, thanks in advance 💛