Search found 82 matches

by shopaholic
Fri Nov 17, 2023 4:11 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: 24/25 Job Search
Replies: 11
Views: 74451

Re: 24/25 Job Search

PsychGuy, I'm not one who believes I am a 'unicorn', as you say. I don't teach a shortage subject and I know I'm not competitive in early recruiting.

So what I wonder is, when do you think 'early recruiting' turns into something less competitive?
by shopaholic
Sun May 22, 2022 8:24 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Ghosted?
Replies: 12
Views: 12477

Re: Ghosted?

Where is the school? Can you tell us the country?
by shopaholic
Fri May 20, 2022 5:30 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Jan Vs May Job Searching
Replies: 9
Views: 7345

Re: Jan Vs May Job Searching

What subject/grade level do you teach? What is the location of the schools? These things matter.
by shopaholic
Tue Feb 01, 2022 12:43 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Teaching in the UK
Replies: 18
Views: 21043

Re: Teaching in the UK

Yes, be careful.

I knew someone who worked at one of the international schools near London. Their description of the work conditions sounded appalling. Those schools scrape the bottom in a country with its own excellent independent schools.
by shopaholic
Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:00 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Schools that hire a recruitment agency to interview teachers
Replies: 2
Views: 4874

Schools that hire a recruitment agency to interview teachers

This is for a new school in Dubai. There aren’t any reviews for the school because it is opening in 2022. Yes, it’s a rent-a-name for another reputable school that doesn’t have any rent-a-names anywhere else.

Is it a red flag that the school uses a UK recruitment agency to interview teachers? I haven’t ever heard of this practice and wonder if I’d get a chance to interview with the real school admin later if I made it to round 2. Has anyone else been interviewed by an agency for the school, and how did that turn out?

I know, I know. I’m getting a little panicky because I haven’t found anything this late in the recruitment season, so I don’t know exactly how choosy I can afford to be right now.
by shopaholic
Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:01 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: New to The Game...
Replies: 64
Views: 214394

Re: New to The Game...

sid wrote:
> [quote=shopaholic post_id=62596 time=1641905427 user_id=219184]
> What do you recruiters think of a 5-6-2-2?
>
> My past two schools have been disasters where I was very unhappy. But I do
> have the longer commitments at my first two schools and am looking for
> somewhere else I can stay longterm. Does having more recent 2-2 experience
> cancel out the earlier longer stays?
> [/quote]
>
> I'd look for the bigger picture, the story. (Which I do anyway, even for a
> 2-2-2-2. In my career so far, I've only found one 2-2-2-2 worth taking a
> chance on, but one never knows when another could appear.)
>
> Your earlier commitments demonstrate that you have it in you to commit, or
> at least that you once did. That's a good start. So I'd want to know about
> the 2-2, and if those were just bad fits or another reasonable explanation,
> and you seem keen to find another longer stay, it would be fine.
>
> One caution - we regularly see people with early-career longer commitments
> in their home country, before moving overseas. If those domestic
> commitments are followed by a 2-2 internationally, they don't count for as
> much. It's important for you to show that you can commit in the very
> different international arena.

Thanks, Sid. The two longer commitments were both international posts, one in a “hardship” country. I have two years in my home country before that.

This recruitment season is so stressful. I hope I have a chance at something that isn’t in China.
by shopaholic
Tue Jan 11, 2022 7:50 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: New to The Game...
Replies: 64
Views: 214394

Re: New to The Game...

What do you recruiters think of a 5-6-2-2?

My past two schools have been disasters where I was very unhappy. But I do have the longer commitments at my first two schools and am looking for somewhere else I can stay longterm. Does having more recent 2-2 experience cancel out the earlier longer stays?
by shopaholic
Tue Jan 26, 2021 11:34 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: COVID, 21/22 Job Season & You?
Replies: 24
Views: 25735

Re: COVID, 21/22 Job Season & You?

kyoushi wrote:
> I’m wondering if we have passed the peak of the hiring season now? I know a
> lot of teachers who would have moved but decided to stay, from other
> accounts there are less job postings this year. Thoughts?

I know that my school in Western Europe filled vacancies in January for the next school year. Normally they wait several months later, but did it in January because of some worry in HR about visas in the current (COVID) climate.
by shopaholic
Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:49 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: TES Community forums are now gone
Replies: 25
Views: 43511

Re: TES Community forums are now gone

sid wrote:
> Humph. I had been hoping their “maintenance” story was true.

If it were just 'maintenance', I think they would have kept the button and arranged for a message explaining the maintenance to appear when you clicked the Community button as usual. But the button is gone.
by shopaholic
Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:37 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: TES Community forums are now gone
Replies: 25
Views: 43511

TES Community forums are now gone

Why has the TES removed the entire Community of forums? It is simply gone, with the Community button now gone as well.
by shopaholic
Thu Dec 31, 2020 11:13 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: How many teachers have had Covid?
Replies: 8
Views: 9928

How many teachers have had Covid?

Just that. How many teachers do you personally know who have had Covid?
by shopaholic
Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:55 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: How much harder is it to get hired in Western Europe?
Replies: 11
Views: 13224

Re: How much harder is it to get hired in Western Europe?

I think it is especially difficult to predict right now because we can't be sure how the longterm fallout of the pandemic is going to affect the job market for international teachers. There may well be fewer schools in total, everywhere, for the next few years, or at least fewer jobs.
by shopaholic
Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:13 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: What do you do when it's not working and you leave early?
Replies: 12
Views: 13404

Re: What do you do when it's not working and you leave early?

I was in a similar position in a previous post, due to a very corrupt admin. The students were great, but the people running the school made work a kind of hell. I thought about leaving in the October break.

But I have some friends who are administrators at other schools, and what they advised was similar to what Sid has said here.

So I stuck it out for the duration of my contract. It was hard, but I'm glad I stayed. For me, showing that I can honour a contract and keep my CV pristine was worth it because this allowed me to get a job at a much better school after leaving the bad place. The admin really was as bad as they seemed in my first months at the school, but they were happy to give me positive references for Search when I finished my contract, and that meant a lot for getting my new job.

You can PM me if you want to talk more about some strategies for coping in a bad post.
by shopaholic
Sat Jun 27, 2020 4:13 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: new EU ban on travellers from the US
Replies: 5
Views: 8370

new EU ban on travellers from the US

Guesses on whether the new ban will affect someone with a job in the EU who is currently in the US and hoping to return to Europe in August?

What a mess.