Hi, my name is Nathan and I'm a 20 year old traveler from the US. I've been traveling on and off for the last two years and have currently been on the road for the last 9 months. It's taken it's toll though and I've really gotten tired of being on the move everyday and am now looking for a place to settle down and work for a few months to recharge my batteries and my wallet. I've heard that English teaching in a language center is the way to go, but I don't really have any experience in it other than teaching a few fellow travelers or local village children a couple of words(though I've heard that it isn't necessarily required in some places here). I do have a decent amount of expirence in hopsitality working in many resturants, bars and hostels but I've found that many of those kind of jobs here are done by the locals and they would have no need for anyone like me (from what I've heard, the wages aren't very livable consdiering the cheapest dorm I've found is 5 dollars a night and a lot of people I've talked to only get 100 dollars a month). Is there anything else I could possibly do here in Veit Nam??? I'm curently in Saigon, which I find pretty nice and don't really want to leave but I can travel to other places if I really have to. But with no return ticket or savings, I only have about 300USD left before I'm pretty stuck. Is there anyone on here who might be able to help me or point me in the right direction of where to go??? WWOOFING-type options would also be useful (AKA Working for accomidation and food). Thanks!
Help With Job Hunt In Saigon!?! Down to My Last Penny!!!
Hi and welcome on board livefortravel!
Your message was moved to the Saigon forum for better visibility!
I hope other members will be able to advise you soon 
Armand
I am sharing with you.
I think u should find a teaching job asap. That is easiest way for u to earn money and they dont require teaching experiences (some language centers only).
With that 300 usd, u should make a detail for wat u will spend, for food, for rent. Since u said that u found VN pretty nice so I think u adapt with VN style quite well. With 300 usd, most of vietnamese can live well in 1 month.
I will see if I can find any school recruits non-experience English teacher, and will let u know.
Cheers
Why dont you try applying in some Hotels and Restaurant that owned by some expat. Go outside HCMC as well, and see if you can find a job..
Do you have a degree or any teaching certs? Either way get round the language centers with your cv and knock on as many doors as you can.
Get downtown and round the backpacker areas they employ expat staff in bars so you might strike lucky.
Some of the hotels want expats for senior roles so might be worth knocking on a few doors there too.
good luck!
Hey everybody!
@laidbackfreak-Yea that's kind of the problem. I finished high school with pretty good grades and I work hard but I don't have a college degree or any kind of TEFL equvilent and I don't have the money even to take the course now (I keep hearing that there are ways around this but I just can't imagine any school hiring me without any kind of Degree/Experience. Ive walked around some of the backpacker bars near Pham Ngu Lao but I haven't seen one expat behind a bar and the wages seem pretty hard to live off (I do about 10 bucks a day but if I can only get 100 bucks a month...That doesn't even really keep a roof over my head unless there some magical hostel in Saigon that only charge's a dollar a night...)
@muontroveveitnam-Thanks for the useful tips, they'll defiantly come in handy. Just curious, what is a fair wage for a Teachers Assitant or classroom speaking specialist? It sounds like a fair job for a guy like me to have considering my lack of experience. If Saigon doesn't seem to have much (the big thing I'm told is that a lot of classes are out for the summer now and I've meet some people coming down from Hanoi who had had similar trouble because of it), where else would you suggest to go? I've heard that there may be opportunities up near Hue or Hoi An and possibly even Danang (P.S. I know that 300 isn't necessacraily "down to my last last pennys" but like I said the cheapest dorm I've found is 5 bucks a night and even with eating nothing but street food, walking everywhere and not drinking, your still spending at least 7-10. Just trying to find a place to settle down quick before I get to the point where I can't afford a bus out of town to look for better opurtunites (which in my current siutation is about 3 weeks away...)Thanks for the post from Miki! I'll defintly be following up this lead!
Thanks for the advice everyone!
I think I dont need to chip in any more information as the expatbloggers have chipped in.
I really hope you can get a job & live in Vietnam.
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