For those of you who have followed my job search this year, you know that it has not been without it’s stumbling blocks. It has been drought or monsoon with the opportunities – and it appears to be back to monsoon season. Not something I should complain about given the current economic state.

TOBB University: Living in Turkish time hasn’t been easy. But – we have moved forward with the visa process – FINALLY. The university is applying for approval from the higher council in Ankara, and I have started the process on my end with the consulate in LA.

CTB/McGraw-Hill: The project with Qatar that I worked on for the second half of last year, and the first part of this year, is gearing up again. However, this time the higher council of education in Qatar – the people paying us to write their test – have decided they want the development process to take place either entirely from Qatar, or Dubai. There is a slim chance I would accept this position if it becomes available – and offers a better more long term contract.

Most of you know of McGraw-Hill – and probably consider it a pretty stable, reliable company. Well, not true of McGraw-Hill Education! This portion of the company is not making profit (hard to make profit off of the a department of education of any state – don’t know if you heard -but, they don’t have any money either!) and is in the process of becoming a spin-off, or being sold-off. One of the potential buyers is none other than Bain Capital (shudder, vomit). There are quarterly lay-offs – with the last one taking place a few weeks back. While my position is generally safe – you can’t sell tests if you don’t have people to write them – there is no guarantee that I would be put on a continuing contract. More likely would be a project status contract that would start and end with the funding from Qatar.

Not to mention, I feel like I’ve sold my soul. I have good knowledge and foundation in the field of langugae teaching and learning – and I use it to make corporations large sums of money while they bleed the department of education in various states and nations dry. How do I sleep at night? I don’t always.

So that’s where we are. The ship is moving – but, I still don’t have *THE* answer everyone is waiting for. And no one is waiting for it more expectantly than me!