I vote for PM!

Thanks for your reply PsyGuy. You always have some good nuggets of information and I was actually hoping to hear from you. However you definitely have me pegged wrong!!! My friends and family wish I were more risk aversive & less adventurous! They’re never sure if I’ll come back from my latest travel adventure or flying trapeze class alive!

While it’s true that I do hope to have the opportunity to do lots of travel while I’m abroad, I am not looking for a long vacation. I have always wanted to live abroad because I love learning about different places, cultures, and not always being one of the majority. I think the reason for my post that seems very cautious is that I like to see the big picture as much as possible. I’m adventurous, but not impulsive. I know it’s impossible to know what’s going to happen down the road if I should want to look for another job abroad. However I realized that I was moving into this new chapter of my life without taking any consideration beyond just getting the first job. When I realized this is done much differently in the international job scene than it is from what I’m used to in the USA, I decided I really needed to think about this with more of a long term perspective. So I guess that is more cautious than many people are. However I’m trying to be responsible and I was just curious how you guys make it work because I really have no idea. I do currently have an amazing job I love so I think I should seriously consider the ramifications of giving it up. Also in my mind, when I give up my current job, I expect to spend the rest of my career abroad. I don’t plan to go for 2 years and then come back to the USA. Who knows what will happen, but that is my mindset. And I hope to experience living in several places over that time. It’s very good to hear you say many of the counselors stay put for a while. That might not create as many job openings but it probably means people are happy in their jobs.

While I think it’s smart for me to not be too impulsive about this decision, I guess I need to remind myself to not worry about things down the road too much. My personal belief is that God has a plan for my life and he will open and close doors for me. So I have to continuously remind myself to have faith and trust in Him.

No, I'm not looking for someone to tell me I would definitely get a job. That would be dumb, since no one could possibly tell me that! I'm wondering how the veterans actually handle that situation. Do you ask for time off your job to travel to a job fair? Are most administrators good about giving you time off to do this? Do you typically visit school campuses during your travels and try to make contacts in preparation for your next job move? Once you're in the international scene, have you had good success getting jobs without going to a fair? Do you start making contacts in October/November in an effort to see if there is a decent chance there will be openings in your field before giving notice? Do you make cold contacts with schools you're interested in? And also, have any of you been in the situation where you didn't get a job and you had to figure something else out. See . . . there is actually a wealth of information you guys could share about your own experiences that would help newbies like me understand how the whole thing works. I'm not looking for you to give me an answer or tell me what to do. I'm interested in hearing about your experiences.

I am reposting this in forum 1 because forum 2 seems kind of dead and I'm really interested in hearing from some of you veterans! Thanks to the couple people who did respond in forum 2.

I'm in the process of getting my first job abroad. My question is looking down the road a ways to transitioning from one international job to another or transitioning back to the USA. It sounds like in December (or whenever) you must tell your current school if you won't be returning the next year so they can interview at fairs. However this is early and you probably can't get a new job before you give that notice. As an elementary school counselor, how am I to know if there will even be any openings I'd want and that I would get a job before I give notice I won't be returning to my current job for the next year? I would like to be able to take several international assignments over the years to come. But I'm concerned I could end up in a foreign country with no job to transition to and I'd have to come back to the USA without a job to hang out for a year before hopefully getting another international job and going abroad again! I don't want to be stuck in one location long term because it's to risky to give up a job before getting another one. How are you veteran's handling the job hunt abroad and the issue of giving notification before having another job?

I appreciate PsyGuy's posts because he's not scared to say what may need to be said. And he's worked in many international schools for years so he seems to know his stuff. Some of his posts have been really helpful to me as I'm a newbie learning the ropes. In any reply you can just ignore the stuff you need to ignore and take the gems of information that are usually there.

I'm in the process of getting my first job abroad. My question is looking down the road a ways to transitioning from one international job to another or transitioning back to the USA. It sounds like in December (or whenever) you must tell your current school if you won't be returning the next year so they can interview at fairs. However this is early and you probably can't get a new job before you give that notice. As an elementary school counselor, how am I to know if there will even be any openings I'd want and that I would get a job before I give notice I won't be returning to my current job for the next year? I would like to be able to take several international assignments over the years to come. But I'm concerned I could end up in a foreign country with no job to transition to and I'd have to come back to the USA without a job to hang out for a year before hopefully getting another international job and going abroad again! I don't want to be stuck in one location long term because it's to risky to give up a job before getting another one. How are you veteran's handling the job hunt abroad and the issue of giving notification before having another job?

I'm just starting the process of finding a job abroad. I've never had to reveal health issues for a job before. Is it common to be required to share this information for an international job?