I interviewed with their director at the London Search Fair in January. Lovely man. Small school. Going through some upgrades. Low turn over. Beautiful area of the country. Low salary. I came away very impressed with them.

I have found that the best way to learn about a school is to connect with teachers that work/have worked at it via social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus & Facebook. I used those to research all of the schools that I was interested in. You can get a lot more info that way. You can also learn a lot more. It's not anonymous. People are generally willing to answer your questions and you begin to build connections. I even got an interview with a school after a few email exchanges with one of their teachers.

I like to say that I am a source, but not the source. Same is true for this site and with others. Never rely on one source of info. Never be nervous about reaching out to current staff members. If you don't hear back after sending out a few emails, well that tells you something also.

Good luck!

Be transparent. If you do it be ready for the fallout. Weigh everything. Learn from this lesson. Good luck.

I get the whole word is your bound thing. I do. But we are talking about what could be the next 20 to 30 years of a persons life if they found that one place where everything just falls into place. My take on the situation is this. Be transparent. Let the school that contacted you know that you have accepted an offer but that you have wanted to work for them for a long time and could see yourself retiring from there. If they are still interested in interviewing you, then do it. They have the facts going in. If they make you an offer and you accept it, then yes, you'll lose face with the school that you accepted the offer of, but they should be able to find a replacement this early on in the hiring process.

If I'm the director of the school who's offer that you accepted and then later rejected because you found a place that you believe that you would be happier in, yes I would be upset but once rational thinking took over I would probably be happy that you weren't going to be my problem for the next 2 years. In the end I would probably be understanding. As the director of a school I want to hire a person that wants to be at my school and isn't already thinking about bolting my school just a few weeks of accepting the job.

You only get one shot, one opportunity at this life. Sometimes you've got to make the tough choices and accept the consequences of your actions. Sometimes you just have to do what's right for you and your family.

Thanks, all. Very excited to be leaving the States and going IS. Looking forward to the opportunity to grow as an educator and leader. The fair was fantastic. Even the email of the person stealing contents out of American School in Paris' folder. Met some new friends. Ran into some old friends. Now having a blast being a tourist in London.

I have 12 years of teaching experience in the States, no admin expierence at all and I just landed my 1st admin position at an IB school. I got the job by attending the Search London fair. I had a lot of inteviews and a lot of interest in me for admin positions, from both large and small schools. Nothing is impossible. The theme that I kept hearing from the schools that I interviewed with is that they were looking for new ideas and tech savvy leaders. I highly recommend going to a fair. Search London was top notch.

My fair ended on Saturday when I accepted an offer from my first choice school. Overall I left with a really great impression of the experience and most of the international school that I had either made contact with, or interviewed with. My card was full from Friday on, with many schools wanting to meet me before the sign-ups. I had 5 interviews on Friday + 1 2nd interview with my top choice school. At the fair I scheduled several more interviews and two more 2nd interviews.

When I returned back to my hotel there was a message waiting for me on the phone from my first choice that they wanted to meet early, 7:30 AM, for breakfast at a nearby caffe. I confirmed and the next morning enjoyed a nice breakfast and conversation with all of the leadership team that was attending the fair. They spent some time carefully going over my duties, their expectations, the contract and my package. They insisted that I talk it over with my wife before i answered them but that they were offering me the position.

I came back to my hotel and called my wife to discuss. We were both very happy with the offer, the school and the life/work balance, the country and the community. I emailed them to let them know that I would like to stop by to have a quick chat. They replied with a time for me to stop by in between some of their other interviews. I arrived and again all of the leadership team that was at the fair were in the room. I informed them that we are accepting the offer. Handshakes, congrats, smiles all around.

Back over to the candidate lounge to write thank you notes to all of the schools that scheduled interviews with me that day to let them know that I had accepted an offer. I filled out the fair forms, grabbed my hanging folder and turned it in with my name badge at 12:00 PM. My 1st fair experience was over.

That evening they all invited me out to dinner to celebrate with them and to get to know them. I am joining them as part of the leadership team, as you probably guessed. I am very excited. That night at dinner I get to know my new colleagues a little bit better. Really great bunch of folks and leaders. I know that I am going to learn a lot from them.

My take-aways from the fair:

1. Dress to impress. It matters.
2. Everybody is stressed out, even the recruiters.
3. Be yourself. It shows.
4. Be social. Make connections. You never know when you'll be sitting across the table recruiting with the person that you pushed aside to get on the elevator first.
5. You are always on. Treat everybody, even hotel staff and wait staff at local places to eat, with the respect that they deserve. I actually witnessed a head of school belittle a server who got his order wrong. I had interviewed with him earlier and his school was on my short list. When he saw that I had witnessed what he had done he didn't even seem to care. He even thought that I would be impressed more with him. I wasn't. Nobody was.
6. Enjoy the experience. Learn and grow from it. Reflect.
7. Smile

I want to wish everybody who got positions a big congratulations. For those that didn't, do not be discouraged. There is still plenty of time left. To those attending future fairs, good luck!

It is early Thursday morning here in London. I arrived late last night and am staying at a hotel not too far from the fair hotel, about a 5 minute walk. This is my first fair. Decided to do the tourist thing today and will visit the 3 big museums that are in this area, the Victorial & Albert, the National Science and the Science.

Last week I interviewed with a school that is not attending the fair. I had two great interviews with them via Skype. Then the school attended the Bangkok fair. I woke up this morning to an offer from them. It is a very good school in our 3rdd choice of countries to live in.

This week I have used the info that Seach provides to contact the recruits that are attending the fair directly. I sent out 5 emails to my top 5 schools and attached my resume to each one. I used the school's website to research and customize each email to highlight my skills and how I would help the school fufill their mission statements. In the email I asked them to contact me if they were interested in me visiting them during the interview sign-ups, or if they had specific times for an actual interview.

I heard back from 3 schools, 2 of which scheduled actual times to meet and 1 which asked me to stop by during the interview sign-ups. Of the 3 schools that responded 1 is in our top choice of country to live in and the other 2 are located in our 2nd choice of countries to live in. I also arrived last night to an email from a school in a country that I never imagined living in that is interested in meeting me at the fair to discuss an opening at their school.

I am curious if the other 2 schools that did not respond via email will leave me a note in my mailbox tomorrow. I'm of the mindset that if I do not hear back from the other 2 schools that I will not pursue them. Even a thanks but no thanks is better than the silent treatment and I would rather work for a school that is professional and can take the time to respond in kind when an applicant reaches out to them.

Friday will be a busy day. I'm looking forward to the experience and with connecting with old friends and meeting some new friends. Good luck to all that will be attending the London fair this weekend.

Only 4 of my top 10 schools are in BKK. The math geek in me says that 1 position will come off of the board there and the other 3 will go to London. I've placed my odds at 32-1 for landing any of the positions though.

Now the fun begins for those of us attending the London fair that have positions we want from schools attending BKK fair first.

Finally had a couple of interviews. Heading to 2nd round next week with Head of School while he/she is in Bangkok. I also had a request to stop by a table at the London fair that I'm attending to schedule an interview if I'm interested.

Really does look like things are starting to thaw out there. Good luck to everyone. I hope that all recruiting land somewhere.

Good luck, Briz. I'll be in London the following week. Not sure that I'll post anything though.

I responded. Good luck!

Yep, PM's here seem to be turned on. I just tested one out to Choir Guy and it said that it went through. <<shrugs>>

@Fine Dude
Offer was to continue onto my PhD full time. Decided that it was not the right time for that. I'd miss too much of my children growing up over the next few years. So it's time to find a new job and teach.