Qualifications for teaching in Hong Kong?

[JamesM]

My apologies if this topic has already been addressed on the forum.

I've recently been mulling over teaching overseas, and I've found some of the information about qualifications (and the quality of the prospective jobs) lacking. I have a B.A. from a state college, as well as some graduate work complete. I have approximately 110 hours of contact teaching hours under my belt at the introductory college level, but this has largely been in philosophy (specifically an introductory ethics course).

I plan on completing an online TESOL course (Ontesol's) within the next two months. I realize that this isn't the most ideal situation, but there aren't any contact TESOL certification courses around here (there is an M.A. program offered through the local university's linguistics department, but I have neither the time nor money for such a program).

So I suppose my ultimate question is: given these qualifications, do I have a shot at a job? If so, do I have a shot at a *decent* job? Public schools in Hong Kong seem to be the way to go, if I can trust the information that I've read online, but are such jobs readily available? Thanks in advance.

[pokedmund]

a tefl certification (TESOL or CELTA) will help, but more importantly are the following:

1: You are a native english speaker, and you don't look asian.
2: a PGCE (will help, but if you answered yes to the above, you should be ok).

Have a check on the hong kong government's website for their native english teaching programmes, because you better start applying within the next few months.

Currently, with the state of the Hong Kong education system, schools have been given extra money to employ TEFL teachers, but I would actually say that there's greater competition for places now, and they are actually in the process of reducing class sizes and possibly closing a small number of schools.

Still, don't restrict yourself to schools only. There are many tuition centres that regularly employ NETs at the moment and at better salaries than public schools (just be prepared to work on a Saturday, or Sunday, or both!).

Good luck in Hong Kong!