An Old Dog Looks for a Job

We have been in Vietnam for almost three months now and it seems like so much longer. We have found more things that we like about Vietnam than we miss about home, found enjoyment in living alone as a married couple and found that we work well together, providing the support the other needs to deal with the stresses, though few, of living abroad.

While Steven has gotten up, put on his tie and hopped on the back of his xe om to school each day, I have spent the last ten weeks trying to figure out my own routine. Looking back, I realized that I could have been a little more successful had I known then, what I know now, and I still don't quite know much, nor do I know what, if anything, that knowledge will actually bring.

I began my job search the American way, looking online, sending my CV and cover letter and waiting for a response. I was determined to stay in my field and to work in an NGO and applied only for positions for which I was qualified. I had an interview, waited a week, had a second interview, waited another week, then nothing. I had another job offer, but the offer was rescinded because the creation of the position might hurt someone's feelings. I combed through numerous of job adverts only to get to the bottom requirement: "Vietnamese Nationals Only."

Finally, I gave up my idea of paid work in an NGO and gave in to the chorus of advice givers who responded to my stories of a fruitless search with the damning reply, "You can always teach English."

I made up a basic flier, for those with little English skill and walked from building to building asking receptionists to pass them around. I made a second flier, a little more complex, and put it on restaurant bulletin boards. I made a third, truly professional flier and sent it to Steven's co-workers asking them to recommend me to anyone they met who asked about private ESL lessons. I had week long back and forth email conversations with head hunters; failed teaching demos to two-year olds.

Finally, 10 weeks into the job search, I took my newly professional flier to a meeting of the International Ladies of Vietnam, mostly made up of ladies living off of their husbands generous salaries, living in gated, high-rise, luxury serviced apartments, with neighbors who can afford to pay me $20 an hour to improve their English skills. I went around from table to table, putting on my friendliest face and introduced myself, handing out my flier and asking them if they would put it up in their buildings and/or hand it over to anyone they knew interested in private lessons. I received a copy of a newsletter with a mailing list for all of the residents of the heavily ex-pat An Phu neighborhood and was advised to send my flier out to the list. A few people even said that they knew someone who would be interested as they reached for my flier.

For my sense of good work, I've been volunteering with a local nonprofit organization, Saigon Children's Charity. It is a wonderful organization that works to break the cycle of poverty among Vietnam's poorest families by building schools in rural villages, providing scholarships for books, uniforms, food, bikes, etc. to help children who wouldn't otherwise be able to go to school, as well as providing vocational training to older students with little education to help them find sustainable jobs and micro-loans to families to help them to become self-sustaining. I help with upcoming fund raising projects and editing of English language documents and enjoy getting to know the primarily Vietnamese staff.

So now I know. The key is to network and to network early. To tamp down your expectations of combining enjoyable work with paid work. To get early into volunteering. To get your name out everywhere. To forget everything you learned about successful job hunting in your previous life.

If this is the recipe for success, I have yet to learn, but I have learned that I am not in the American job market anymore and navigating the Vietnamese job market takes a whole new set of tricks.

Now I just need to learn how to teach English...