(Bangkok) Phil has commented about Thai reluctance to respond to emails...here's a possible solution:

NOT too long ago, a magazine in Manhattan invited me, by e-mail, to interview for a job. After meeting with me, the managing editor and the director of human resources asked me to take home the standard editing test and return it ASAP. I dutifully obliged.

And then I waited. One day. Two days. A week. A month. Two months. Three … well, you get the picture.

Not only was there no word on whether I would be offered the job — nobody at the magazine even bothered to e-mail me to say that my completed test had been received!

Back in the good old days, people used to duck your phone calls. Or just not return them. But in this, the electronic era, a whole new brand of disdain has come into vogue. The age of the e-snub is upon us.

I have grown weary of this kind of “dissing.” People who seem to go blind, mute and limp when all you are seeking are a few keystrokes in reply. Prospective employers whose computers appear to crash when asked to give something resembling a definitive answer, one way or the other.

Annoying e-mail messages plague all of us, but those of a more legitimate nature are surely deserving of a simple reply. Unfortunately, basic e-courtesy is in short supply. So, having been burned in the past by e-boors, I decided that enough was enough. The magazine had left me in limbo. I was going to have my revenge.

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Regardless of how good the job market seems, it never hurts to make yourself more hirable. There are several ways to do this: show up on time for the interview (ten minutes early is even better); wear dress slacks, a dress shirt, and a necktie; be neat in your appearance (well-groomed hair, SHAVE); and have a teaching portfolio.

A teaching portfolio? What is that? Simple - it encapsulates your teaching career into one, easy-to-read book. There is nothing worse than interviewing a candidate and watching him/her pull out dog-eared documentation from some shabby-looking satchel for me, that is a black mark against you. If you cannot organize yourself for an interview, how can you organize a class? For those who have been teaching longer than one year, and plan to make teaching a career, a teaching portfolio is essential.
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