Reisgio, I have some bad news for you. Jessica isn’t a fan of yours either. I am impressed that you’re on first name terms with Jessica and Gez though. You’re obviously an important figure in international education.
As for London hotels, this is the third that SEARCH has tried in its time in London. CIS (ECIS as was) has tried six. Frankly, they are all disappointing – for two reasons, cost and space. First, London hotels are ridiculously expensive, and the Fair sponsors have to bear in mind that some at least of the candidates prefer to stay in the Fair hotel. Second, there are very few London hotels that can serve as conference centers with sufficient space to offer space to sign up for 200+ schools and 650+ candidates. So if you aren’t prepared to pay $500 a night, I think you’re going to have to accept that you won’t be staying at the Savoy. Get over it. You’re there to get a job. Or not in your case. By the way, I’m fine with the Hyatt in Cambridge, but if that’s your standard of high end luxury, you really need to go to the ISS Fair in Bangkok.
You have a generous opinion of high performing US independent schools and their administrators. They tend to get good results of course – but that isn’t hard when you are super selective in your admission policy. I think you’d be surprised at the quality of teaching offered there. They do have exceptionally talented administrators though:
http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/mos ... -scandals/

"There are a lot of recruiters and leadership who would like to know who I am and have a beer together, Ill add you to the list."

Well I've told quite a few who you are, Dave, but I don't think they want a drink with you. Especially not the guy in Taiwan....

Dave, Dave, there is no fear-mongering and no smoke and mirrors. You've never been an administrator and I know of no recruiter who uses the Psyguy Application Scoring System. These are facts, Dave. Suck it up; move on.

If Europe is your target, then of course you would go to London. Absurd to suggest that Bangkok is the better option for European schools.

@martella

"Its important to understand that the PsyGuy Applicant Scoring System (PASS) has the most utility when compared against the criteria for an actual or set vacancy and its criteria, creating a raw score against how many points you can doesnt offer as much utility or metric of value."

It's really important to understand that the PsyGuy Applicant Scoring System actually has no utility at all. Dave has never been a recruiter, and no recruiter I know (and I know very many) has ever made use of his so-called system. Please, for your own sanity, do not be deluded by this nonsense.

Dave, Dave - have you discovered a new word? As I recall, "disingenuous" means fooling people by pretending to know less than you do. Never a sin of mine. Meanwhile, you fool people by pretending to know (much, much) more than you do.
This particular group has tried in the past to encourage what they believe to be schools of like quality to develop a kind of free flow of faculty from one to another and thus bypass the recruitment agencies. This is their first attempt at anything that would remotely resemble a "recruitment event". The main player is American School Bombay - hardly a non-competitive IS and certainly way beyond any realistic ambition you may have to rejoin the teaching profession.
But thank you for the chuckle you gave me: "...there is a handful of a few dozen..." is one of your best lines yet.

Oh Dave, you're such an old phony. Why do have to pretend to have an answer for everything. You have no experience with the GRC Fair: 1) because you've never worked at any of the schools that belong to GRC; 2) because this is the first year there will be a GRC Fair.

Re Aquatics Directors - "a limited pool of candidates..." Very good, Nomads.

I think @WT123 may have responded too reflexively to your inquiry without critical reading of your post.”

I like this, Dave. Was one of your many degrees in “Condescension” with a Minor in “Patronising”?
Teacher 2016, you need to take this advice from @psyguy with a huge sackful of salt. Dave always likes to write in certainties, as though he has experience of every facet of international education. Learning Support is one of many areas where he speaks with absolute surety and precious little knowledge.
You will find a vast range of LS models in international schools. At the bottom of the pile is the band aid approach where you help kids stay in school (by doing their homework with them, organizing their books and mopping up their tears when things go wrong) so that parents continue to pay tuition fees).
At the other end of the scale, you will find schools with large, specialist departments, complete with ed psychs, speech and language pathologists and occupational therapists, and where the school has “inclusion” as part of its mission. In situations like this, you will find a level of sophistication, resourcing and care – and expectations – ahead of provision in state schools anywhere.
And you will find all kinds of other scenarios in the schools in between.
Much of the stuff below may be categorized as the crudest of generalizations or, more often, plain misinformation:

“In large ISs its often a junior or senior leadership position and your administrative duties are the entire job. At the senior leadership level you have tasking authority over staff and at the junior leadership level you have evaluative authority over staff. Often you work with the counselor and out of those suite of offices as opposed to the resource room. You also generally attend the leadership meetings which will take up most of your time. The only frustrations are really parents (including class parents, grade parents, and parent parents), especially when one of them is part of ownership. You will work more with the counselor than you will your ITs, as most of the job is just a specialized aspect of being a counselor. If you have good ITs with IS experience you can leave them on autopilot. You dont have a lot of production to oversee, or adaptations/modifications or curriculum you need to deal with. You essentially say yes a lot and nod when youre asked something.”

As for you, I would say that if you are good at this stuff then you should target your application to a school and a region that suit your skills and desires best. Learning Support is one of the growth sectors in our schools and many heads are out there actively recruiting quality teachers.

@AUN - do not cross the forum sheriff!
@dave - I think you misunderstand the meaning of "disinterested" - as in "not having an interest", "not being biased", "not having a dog in the fight", "being neutral" etc etc. I think @AUN was being perfectly plain in that he was neither defending nor attacking this particular school. It was your response that was of concern.

First day back at work and what do I find? The forum sheriff is breaching his own rules. Dave, Dave, please don't evaluate schools on the open forum or you could find yourself losing another job!

@fine dude says:
"@PsyGuy
You are an embodiment of misconceptions and you prove that you never taught the DP, let alone being an examiner."

And I can confirm that!

Dave of the rumbling fiats...a fiat is a declaration. I really thought you'd been cured of fiating in public. Please don't think that using (fairly) obscure words makes you sound intelligent.

Dave, I smile when you reveal how little you know about education, but your comments about UK politics make me shudder. Please don't embarrass yourself. Change the topic. Give us a monologue on how to become certified in Chad.

Dear oh dear, Senator Ted. Just because The Donald duffed you up in the Primaries doesn’t mean that you, too, should become a blowhard slogan-spouter.
For those unfamiliar with Ted’s previous utterances, this is a flavor of his contributions:

“That is yet another one of the reasons I left international education: too many prima dona (sic) "rock stars" who wilted like lillies (sic) in the rain when they had to actually deal with a student who did not love school.”

“I guess being a real teacher - that is a teacher who is successful in public and private schools - requires a toughness and self-reliance that most purely international educators just don't possess.”

"A jump from teaching to admin, in any school whether international or domestic, first requires the applicant to drop twenty or thirty IQ points and lose all semblance of honesty, integrity, courage, and creativity."

Followed only last month by:

“I have decided that, after my retirement next year, I am going back overseas to teach.”

To characterize school counselors as work-shy, ineffectual do-nothings is even more stupid than your earlier comments. For the record, the counselors in the school where I am do tremendous work in supporting students, parents and colleagues. But you’d never know that, because with your antediluvian attitudes you’ll never get a job in a decent school.