Search found 11 matches

by funteacher
Mon Dec 21, 2020 7:09 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Moving Into Admin But Down a Tier?
Replies: 7
Views: 9554

Moving Into Admin But Down a Tier?

I have received an offer for a principal position at a lower tier school. However, something that has really surprised me in the contract offer is that I'll be making significantly less money than I am in my current teaching position. While the decision is not all about money, at least some of any decision is. I guess what I'm wondering is that if I can expect this to pay off in the long run? I've tried to make the break into admin for a few years, and this is my first real opportunity. But this possibility of making less money for what I know will be more stress never really crossed my mind, like I knew I would make less than the admin at my current school, but I didn't think that even at a low tier school I'd make less than I am as a teacher right now. Has anyone experienced something similar? Did it pay off?
by funteacher
Mon Aug 17, 2020 7:03 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: High pay package IS?
Replies: 30
Views: 33551

Re: High pay package IS?

Tangchao is right. Most Asian schools have seriously racist pay differentials for Chinese teachers. The only ones that don't are the very top schools, outside of China (in China even the top schools have the racist pay differentials). You're not getting into those international schools without MYP Moderator/DP Examiner levels of experience, or a lot of dumb luck. Europe/ME rarely hire Chinese teachers. You're better off staying in your current position.
by funteacher
Tue Apr 07, 2020 9:00 pm
Forum: Forum 2. Ask Recruiting Questions, Share Information. What's on Your Mind?
Topic: How competitive would I be?
Replies: 19
Views: 55358

Re: How competitive would I be?

You'll be competitive but since what you are looking for is so limited you won't necessarily find something good. You're at the mercy of whoever is hiring. You would be competitive if you were open minded with location, but you're not.
by funteacher
Wed Feb 05, 2020 4:43 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Search, China, and Reneging
Replies: 18
Views: 33479

Re: Search, China, and Reneging

I don't know why this would be a deal maker or breaker for anyone. I mean, China runs concentration camps and strongly limits any dissent. If you're okay with that, then is a disease that'll be gone in a few months really that big of a deal?
by funteacher
Wed Feb 05, 2020 4:15 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Why has recruiting become such a Gong Show?
Replies: 8
Views: 17851

Re: Why has recruiting become such a Gong Show?

FWIW, I felt the same way. I went to a major fair and had a few good interviews and got ghosted, and a few interviews with "good" schools where the interviewer wasn't asking about anything teaching related and simply asked a bunch of personal questions. Yeah, I get that you want to learn a bit about a person, but I got the impression that supposedly good IB schools aren't remotely interested in anything other than a certain narrow type of teacher. Which is against what the IB is supposed to be. I'll probably move back to the States because while I'd ideally like to be in a good international school, I'd rather go home and work in American schools than another bad international school. I just felt like the supply outstrips the demand by such a factor that they're looking for very minor things to parse to find their ideal candidate. And if they can find someone without kids, who is roughly the same quality as someone who has them, I understand completely why they would take the people without.
by funteacher
Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:49 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Job search strategy for European Schools
Replies: 3
Views: 6266

Re: Job search strategy for European Schools

When is the CIS London fair? I'm looking at their website and don't see it.
by funteacher
Sun Dec 01, 2019 8:47 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: How to apply to International Schools without experience?
Replies: 6
Views: 8386

Re: How to apply to International Schools without experience

I don't think this is anywhere near the end of the recruitment period. The people who have been hired already are either perfect fits with high quality experience in the specific roles and systems they applied for, or have sold themselves short and taken something below their potential. Recruitment has moved earlier, but the big fairs haven't even happened yet. I know more than a few teachers with 5+ years of high quality experience who just started looking recently.
by funteacher
Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:03 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Savings Potential in Shenzhen
Replies: 4
Views: 7543

Re: Savings Potential in Shenzhen

I have lived in SZ recently, and outside of vacations and western restaurants, I only spent $600 or so a month, and I took didis more than I should have. Public transport and local restaurants are cheap. Everything's cheap. You could literally save 80% of that easily, if you keep your holidays to Asia. Obviously, you can save less and live more extravagantly, point being, you could save $50k a year without exceptional difficulty.

I'm really curious who in the SZ area pays that kind of money...none of the schools on Search in GZ or SZ post salaries that high.
by funteacher
Thu Aug 15, 2019 2:36 am
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: CV Question
Replies: 1
Views: 3546

CV Question

I used to work in politics. A few of the people I worked for have become well known. Is it a good thing, or a bad thing, to name drop political figures on my CV, or should I keep my CV vague with something like "political campaign worker"? On the one hand, people may be impressed at the people I have worked for. On the other hand, employers' political biases may cause them to throw my CV immediately in the trash can. Those of you with admin experience, would this be a positive or a negative? I am a Math/Social Studies teacher.
by funteacher
Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:34 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Bangkok Leadership Fair
Replies: 2
Views: 5197

Re: Bangkok Leadership Fair

I went a few years back. It was a good fair for networking. But it was a fair where most of the openings were in less desirable locations. If you really want to get your foot in the admin door and don't care where you have to go to do it I recommend it.
by funteacher
Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:20 pm
Forum: Forum 1. From Questions About ISS & Search to Anything and Everything About International Teaching
Topic: Is only using Search Associates a mistake?
Replies: 43
Views: 53873

Re: Is only using Search Associates a mistake?

I would like to ask the flipside of this question. I am part of a teaching couple with some international (MYP and IB) teaching experience. I teach math and my wife teaches Chinese. We have used Search in the past. The database is great but they're not helpful. But Search is expensive, and $450 is a lot of money to spend on Search. But mathematically, if we get better/higher paying jobs it's worth it. Also, we have been in Asia for sometime, and we know the number of Chinese jobs outside of Asia are very limited.

Would anyone in our case say that Search is worth the extra coin? We're considering not using them this upcoming cycle. We keep contact with all of our old references so filling out the profiles on other sites shouldn't be a problem.