What Does Guaranteed Job Placement Mean?

If you've seen it once you've seen in a million times: TEFL certification courses that "guarantee" you a job upon successful completion of the course. If you stop and think about it it's just absurd.
How can they guarantee you a job unless it's with their company? Or if they pull strings to get you a job somewhere else? What happens if you do your TEFL cert in Europe, but want to work in Asia, can they guarantee that you'll get a job there? Probably not.
You've got to read between the lines. Most often than not, guaranteed job placement doesn't mean what you think. It usually means the following:

• They'll help you write a TEFL CV
• They'll show you where to find TEFL jobs online
• They'll give you some interview and demo lesson tips

That's usually the extent of guaranteed job placement unless they place you at their own school or at another school they have an agreement with. To be honest, it's really only fair that they do this. After all, they can't guarantee that you'll do well at the interview or have a great demo lesson. Nor can they guarantee that the person interviewing you will like you and want to hire you.
So the next time you see a TEFL course announcing that they have guaranteed job placement, take it with a grain of salt. No one can guarantee that you'll get the job: it's up to you to wow the interviewer with your personality, skills, qualifications, and experience.