Career Concerns

[Lipp]

Not really concerning me, but rather for my missy. She just got back from the first day of a 4-day training session for a chinese-based company that she applied for and hates it.

Basically she graduated about six months ago and has been searching for a full-time job while working in various casual ones in the meantime. So this is the rundown.

• From Hong Kong, her english is pretty good but not on the same level as the locals. Fluent in Cantonese and fairly good at Mandarin.
  
• Graduated with a bachelor's degree of media and communication (including a fair amount of psychology).
  
• Plenty of work experience (mainly in market research, customer relations and telemarketing), but it's almost exclusively fairly low-end and casual.

Thing is, when she started out she was aiming primarily for journalism/television-related work, but unfortunately most jobs that relate to it require an english that's on a level beyond what she's got. Personally I think she'd do amazingly well as a kindergarten teacher because of her bubbly personality, but then again there's not much of a career in that and her studies/work don't reflect it sufficiently much.

I know that it's a tough call without more details, but any advice into what might be a suitable career choice or job position? Or how to overcome the problem with the field of study and language barrier?

[doppelgaenger]

Why would you go into media/mass comm. without proper skill in English? I mean... lingua franca?

You can't really go into education (teaching) with the degree she has.

She should take English courses at Uni while working for the crappy Chinese company. That way she can improve her English and get the kind of job she was originally aiming for.

[Lipp]

Yeah, that would be a possibility, her english is actually pretty good but there's still a fair bit to go to get it to the level of native speakers and it's not as flawless or developed as one would expect for that field of work.

[vashti]

In the states, I think all she'd need is a teaching credential if she wants to teach kindergarten (or any elementary school level). They can be had relatively quickly. I don't know how that works in Australia.

[doppelgaenger]

In the states, I think all she'd need is a teaching credential if she wants to teach kindergarten (or any elementary school level). They can be had relatively quickly. I don't know how that works in Australia.

It's not that simple. There is at least 1 semester of classes and a post-bac for teaching in the US.

[vashti]

Some private school don't require anything at all beyond a Bachelor's.

In California, one can pursue a preliminary credential, which is valid for up to five years, with a bachelor's degree and successful completion of a few of courses and tests. A friend of mine was able to pull it together in less than a year. I don't consider a single semester of classes to be a very big time investment, personally, nor do I think it should be required. It's kindergarten, after all.

[doppelgaenger]

Some private school don't require anything at all beyond a Bachelor's.

In California, one can pursue a preliminary credential, which is valid for up to five years, with a bachelor's degree and successful completion of a few of courses and tests. A friend of mine was able to pull it together in less than a year. I don't consider a single semester of classes to be a very big time investment, personally, nor do I think it should be required. It's kindergarten, after all.

Well Cali doesn't account for the states, which you originally referred to

In any case if Lipp's girlfriend wanted to teach school, I would advise her to go back and get her qualifications, that way she isn't stuck with some shitty private school or something.

[vashti]

Well Cali doesn't account for the states, which you originally referred to

In any case if Lipp's girlfriend wanted to teach school, I would advise her to go back and get her qualifications, that way she isn't stuck with some shitty private school or something.

Ahahaha! You must be kidding!

[doppelgaenger]

No, not kidding.

[DoesntMatter]

In South Carolina and Florida, for two examples, the only place (at the high school level) to get a half decent education is at a private school

[Gigabitch]

I think she should try to get something where she has as much interface with the public as possible so her English can improve. Maybe she could be a concierge in a high-end hotel, where her multi-lingual skills would be of value and she could have fun while she's at it.

[doppelgaenger]

In South Carolina and Florida, for two examples, the only place (at the high school level) to get a half decent education is at a private school

Sources?

_____

[vashti]

"Combined with high-school grades, SAT scores are the best predictor of how kids will do in their freshman year of college. And the data in the new study shows that private-school students outperform public-school students on the SAT."

[url]http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1670063,00.html[/url]

[url]http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08062505.html[/url]

Personally, I am a fan of public schools when safety is not an issue, and I only say this because I am lucky enough to live in an area where the public schools are ranked high on a national scale. In fact, the schools are the reason we moved here. However, to pretend that things are generally better in a public school is ridiculous. The schools are good where there is money.

[doppelgaenger]

Meh I would have never known and I went to private schools for 9 years.