13 Ways to Attract English Teachers With Your ESL Job Ad

I know—hiring English teachers is a damn hard thing to do. Sure, you’ve arranged deals with agents, placed tons of job ads across numerous ESL websites, and even offered your current employees generous stipends if they could refer a friend to teach at your company. But in the end, nothing seems to work—well, at least not in the time frame that you’d like for it to. Just how can you get those prospective ESL teachers drooling over your job?

If you want really your ESL job advertisement to stand out above the rest and have prospective ESL teachers ringing you up for more information, here is a list of all the items your job ad should include:

Post a Short Introduction​

Cardinal rule #1. I've seen a lot of ESL advertisements that've actually failed to even introduce their company. Sure, they’ll provide the necessary details about the ESL job such as location, salary, bonuses, and weekly schedule, but nothing more. Zilch. Nada.

A short introduction adds more prestige, professionalism, and intrigue about your company. You can include its history, stats, the number of locations around the region, their approach to teaching—whatever would be cool/interesting to know.   ​

Got a Website?

Your school have a website? Well, provide a link! It'll not only add some legitimacy to your company, but can also answer all the pertinent questions that prospective ESL teachers already have.

List the Key Information

The no-brainers: School location, work schedules, start date, housing/food/travel allowances, bonuses, insurance, #of holiday/sick days, teacher responsibilities, teacher requirements, student ages, # of classes each week, class size, English content structure, teacher document requirements, you name it. Try to provide a holistic view of what they might be getting into and need to apply for the job. ​

Salary ... Duh

And about that salary... If you're not receiving any responses, it's possible that teachers are skipping over your ad because your salary offer doesn’t meet industry standards or isn’t up to par with other companies’ listings. 

In that case you might want to consider raising the salary, offering extra incentives such as housing and airfare, or moving more money into the salary and deducting it from, let’s say, food allowances, to look more attractive. ​

What are the Perks?

Is there a company car that'll provides transportation to and from work? Are holidays and vacations paid? Will your company pay for teacher’s visa fees? Does your company have summer off or extended vacation days? Lace your ad with all the benefits your company offers. ​Don't hold back!

Photos & Videos Are a MUST

Look, these may be the deciding factors, seriously. Prospective teachers want to know as much as they can about your school's campus, classrooms, office environment, school events, students, and current teachers employed, just as mmuch as they need to know about things like salary and work hours.

Add some photos and videos to your ESL job ad, and if you have photos or videos across social media platforms such as Facebook or YouTube, make sure to share these links in your school description and with agents. If you don’t have any, what are you doing!? Create some now! ​

Introduce Your City

Some prospective ESL teachers may have never even heard about the city your company is located in. Wouldn't it be cool to provide links that provide detailed information about your city such as expat, tourism, and government websites? 

Share Great Blogs

This one's a hit or miss, but is there a popular English blog out there that offers great insight into working at your company? What about an online magazine that shares info about the people, places, and things in and around your city? Or, how about a cool personal blog like Don's ESL Adventure that has great articles, photos, and videos about teaching English abroad? If you can, partner up with them and provide links to their websites. 

Spice It Up With Extra Information

Your ESL job ad could have a better chance of standing out if you include extra information. What kinda extra information? How about ... the current # of foreign teachers employed at your school, holiday events, summer trips, promotion opportunities, or post some pictures of team building activities with the staff. The more the merrier! 

Chek You English

Believe it or not, I've seen loads of ESL jobs ad in China that've contained misspelled words and terrible grammar mistakes. It goes without saying that it's a huge turnoff and it's likely to deter any candidate from taking your ad seriously. No wat I'n seying? 

Add Some Positive Writing

"We look forward to hearing from you!" "We'd love to have you join our company!" "We're looking fo fun, positive, energetic teachers that are just as cool as we are!" "Have a very nice day!" Interest ... increased ... exponentially. 

Post on The Right Websites

You ever stop to think if you're even posting your ESL ad on the right ESL jobs website? Internationally, you've got popular ESL job websites like Dave's ESL Cafe. There are about several other well known websites for ESL teachers out there that post job listings across the world, too. Why not search the internet or ask your current employees about them ?

10+ Best Places to Find ESL Jobs in China

Plus, don't forget about those local websites geared towards expats too!

Take Time to Reach Out

And lastly? Don’t just limit yourself to posting on ESL job websites. Inform ESL agents about your open position, and take it upon yourself to search for teacher resumes. Here’s an example of an brief email you can send:  ​

Greetings!

I hope all is well. My name is Joe Blow and I am the (Title: ex. Hiring Director) at (Name of Organization). I am writing in response to your online post on (website) detailing your interest in working as an English Teacher in (name of country/city).

We currently have an open ESL teaching position in (city) that is looking to be filled by (date). After reviewing your profile, we think this is a great opportunity for you to consider.

I have attached a document outlining more information regarding this position, along with several photos of our organization and a link to our company website. If you are interested, please forward your photo, resume, and copies of any TEFL Certifications you have in your possession. I’d love to discuss any inquiries you may have, as well as arrange an interview with you at your earliest convenience.

​I can also be reached on (app, messenger, Skype, etc.). Feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day!

Simple, right?

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​Well, there you have it. Put these tools in action in order to get the best out of your ESL job advertisement. If you have any more items to share to boosts ads, feel free to share them down below!