Career Advice - Feel free to ignore if you don't give a damn

I’ll keep this brief.

I’m a CELTA Pass A teacher with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, currently teaching English at a university in Monterrey, Mexico.

I have two realistic career paths for the next year:

Option 1: Stay in Mexico.

  • I currently teach 16 hours/week at a university.
  • There’s a strong chance I’ll also be hired by one or two well-respected Mexican universities to teach additional online courses at a much higher hourly rate.
  • I’d likely end up with 2–3 university employers and a full workload spread across them.

Option 2: Move to Istanbul.

  • I’ve been offered a full-time university position with better pay, benefits, work-life balance, and, crucially, just one single employer.

My question isn’t about where I’d be happier living. Mexico would probably win that (I speak Spanish, have a girlfriend here, and I’m close to my family in the U.S.).

My question is purely about my CV.

One year from now, which would look stronger to future university employers?

  • One year of full-time experience at a single university, or
  • One year split across 2–3 universities (with some teaching being online)?

I have a strong feeling that a single full-time university position will look better on my CV, but I’m not sure if that’s actually true or if I’m overthinking it.

If the Istanbul option is better from a career standpoint, how significant is the advantage?

Posted Aug 12, 2026, 3:20 AM UTC

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