The school year goes from March/April until November/December. International schools and schools may start looking for teachers at early as September or October. Universities may wait until the beginning of the year (January or February) to start hiring. Many institutes hire year-round.

Hours / What to wear

Many institutes and universities will have you work split shifts, four hours in the morning, a break between two and four hours and then four more hours in the evening. Sometimes classes finish at 9pm, or even as late as 10pm. Although at first it seems difficult, you will get used to it and can use the time in the afternoon to take a nap or run errands.

Smart casual is usually the rule here. Some places require you to wear a uniform, other say that men have to wear ties and women appropriate clothing. For men, you should wear dress pants and a dress shirt and for women, nice pants or a skirt with a blouse. Jeans are usually not accepted and piercings and tattoos should be hidden. Depending on where you are, you may be allowed to wear sandals, especially in the north.

Pay / Benefits / Retirement plans

The average pay is 5 USD an hour, which is about 500 USD a month. Is 500 USD a month enough for you to live on? Of course, as long as you don't expect to take taxis everywhere and eat out all the time. This is the average, and this being said, the more experience and qualifications that you have, the better the pay.

International schools pay around 20,000 USD plus benefits, but you usually need a teaching license (qualified teaching status) from your country plus two years experience teaching in a school and you may have to sign a two-year contract. Also, if you have a legal working visa, you will be more likely to be paid more, because the school knows that you will stay for a while rather than only teach in order to get money to travel.

The average Peruvian salary is around 250 USD a month. However, you have to remember most of them live with their family, so they are not paying rent or food. Also, they will take public transport rather than taxis, so this allows them to save money.

Benefits may include transport, insurance, lunch, a housing stipend, and paid vacations. Make sure you clarify everything with your employer and sign a contract. You will usually have one month of vacation unless you work at a school, in that case you will probably get more than a month of vacations. Some schools may put you on planilla. That means that you get an extra month salary in July and December. You also get another bonus in June, called CTS. This is an unemployment fund. You're allowed to take half of the money out every six months. If you quit or get fired, you're allowed access to the funds after completing the necessary paperwork.

Retirement plans in Peru are called AFP. Your employer should set up the fund for you. Some of the most common ones are Union Vida, ProFuturo, Integra, Horizonte, and Prima.

When you leave Peru or retire you can get AFP contributions back on a simple checking account. Use CPP as a reference and after 6 weeks you should get a wire on your personal checking account. Check your AFP for more details.

Some places may have you sign two contracts, one for the Ministry of Work, which will be in Spanish and another private one in English. The Spanish one will likely say that they are paying you less and you don't receive benefits. This is done so that the school doesn't have to pay lots of taxes. The private one should state all the benefits and the correct pay that you are going to receive.

If you leave your job whether because you finished your contract or quit, you should get both recommendation letters and a constancia de trabajo. Recommendation letters speak well of you and your work. The constancia de trabajo should be given by the head of the company and should state whether you were full/time or part/time, the dates when you started and finished working, your title, and duties. If possible, have this put in your recommendation letter as well. Have the constancia de trabajo signed and stamped with the company seal. If you're in planilla, when you leave your job, you'll get liquidacion, which is basically your last salary plus a month and a half. You can also take out all the money in your CTS. Be sure to ask for this.

Sharon de Hinojosa (naturegirl321) has lived and worked (mainly teaching English) in the US, Scotland, Spain, the Czech Republic, China, Korea, and Peru. As well as teaching short-term in Venezuela and Taiwan.

She has created The LA Job List http://www.thelajoblist.blogspot.com which lists schools, institutes and universities in 19 Latin American countries which offer English teaching positions.

Since living in Peru since August 2006, she wrote The Ultimate Peru List http://www.theultimateperulist.blogspot.com - With 60 pages it's a comprehensive guide for those living in or moving to Peru.