M, why would you even waste time using a placement agency in the first place? With an abundance of horrible jobs and really bad contracts being so readily available and with 90% of all schools being scams, you don't need a placement agency.

If you are a licensed teacher, look up schools directly and contact them directly. About 1 or maybe 2 in 10 are valid schools at least in Asia. Avoid all of the schools that people complain about on this board and on other boards and you'll be well on you way to narrowing down leads.

Placement agencies are like recruiters. They all have an angle or something to sell. Most of them are scams and cannot and should not be trusted ever.

The BS about earning a TEFL for example in some hole in the wall nation with guaranteed placement is all a waste of time.

If you want to do something that matters and is valid, join the Peace Corps. They'll be happy to place you in some miserable nation where you can save the world and get treated like used toilet paper and when it is all said and done, you can list on your resume that you worked for the Peace Corps for 1-2 years and when people ask why, at least the Peace Corps can be respected regardless of what your reasons for working for them were.

That cannot be said when you deal with a placement agency or a recruiter. If something bad happens to you while working in the Peace Corps at least someone will go looking for your dead body which is more than any ESL school is going to do for you.