Job offer warning signs

Most teaching jobs abroad are real. A few are bad, and some are scams. These are the warning signs.

• You are asked to pay to get the job. A “placement fee”, “processing deposit”, “visa fee” or “training bond” paid upfront, especially by wire transfer, crypto, gift card or to a personal account. Recruiters are normally paid by the school.
• “Come on a tourist visa, we’ll sort the paperwork later.” Working without the right visa and work permit is illegal in most countries. If it goes wrong, you face the fine, the deportation or the ban, not the school.
• No written contract before you fly, or “we’ll sign when you arrive”.
• The school wants to keep your passport. Never hand it over to keep.
• An offer with no real interview, a salary far above other offers, and pressure to “decide today”.
• A recruiter on a free email address for a “large international school”, with a website only a few weeks old.

Before you accept: talk to a teacher who works there now (not one the recruiter picks for you), look the school up on a map, and check the visa rules on the official government website of that country.