Buxiban street & another interview.

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Knocking on doors

I've decided that the only way I'm going to find a job is by knocking on doors. With every job on Tealit receiving dozens of applications from better qualified, better looking people with North American accents I need to up my game a bit. I knock up a three page "brochure" about moi which consists of a cover letter, my cv and a letter of recommendation from my last school in Korea. I debate the merits of including the letter as it looks like a forgery but decide to throw it in anyway.
Korea has hagwons, England has after-school clubs and Taiwan has buxibans. I need buxibans and lots of them.
A quick search on google tells me that Nanyang street near Taipei Main Station is a good place to start. It's known as buxiban street because of the high concentration of buxibans on it. Armed with 20 brochures and a smarmy smile I put on my best shirt and head over there. Surprise surprise it's ridiculously hot for a change and i'm leaking heavily as I go about my business but I'm finding it quite satisfying. People are quite receptive to me dropping off my brochures and it really feels good to be doing something proactive rather than just waiting for a new ad to appear on tealit. After two hours I've dropped off about a dozen brochures and can't find any more buxibans so I head back to the flat. I check tealit as soon as i'm back and Wahey there's a new advert. I phone up and land an interview for the following afternoon. It's a full time job in Tianmu for a school called Dalton English. The pay is pretty good and Tianmu is a nice area so i'm looking forward to it.

I head up to Dalton English the following afternoon. The school is great. My demo goes really well, the kids get really involved, the teacher assessing me is smiling and I have fun. In the interview afterwards she tells me she's impressed. Then she drops the bombshell that they are going to spend at least a week interviewing people. She shows me her chart. There are four other people due in today. That means they could be seeing in the region of forty people before making a decision. By the time they get through all of them I'll be but a distant memory. Still, she gives me the impression that i'm in with a good shout, not quite the wink & gun but something approaching that, so i'm still optimistic as i head back to Minquan Rd.

I get a phone call later that evening from a guy named Chris who is looking for Melissa. He runs a company that teaches business English to Taipei professionals. Melissa has spotted one of his ads and emailed him and he wants to talk to her. Never one to miss out on an opportunity to hijack someone else's gig I casually mention my economics degree and sales background. He tells me to email over my cv and hints at a meeting. This sounds more like it.

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