PG is partly right on some things (ISS) and partly/very wrong (ISS and SA).

Given the list is still developing and there are over 20 schools I would take a flutter at if I were there and the school was hiring in one of my teaching areas, yes, I would go. I posted my thread from a few recruiting cycles ago. It was well worth going in person and that's what got me a very good job that I stayed at for a long period of time.

So go. But also be reaching out to schools now to see if you can avoid going.

CELTA and DELTA won't do much at international schools. At a university level in Saudi, say, it would open doors.

Make Biology and English your main areas. As to negotiating salary - good schools won't negotiate. Bad schools will, but once you are there you'll realize why they did, and regret it. Think that you are responsible for the students returning any of the textbooks issued them, and if not returned, you will pay for them. Or being told to change grades. Or having parents talk to the principal and all of a sudden you are reassigned to teaching Science 6 and 7.

Ntmya5 - IB is underpinned by standards. Many schools use AERO standards for their main curricula (except PE, Music, Art, and Languages) where they choose the standards they want to use. AERO is Common Core light - so you shouldn't be nervous about 'common core' schools - just saying. What standards do you link to in your IB planner? Please tell me you link to standards....

Folks I know hired in January through March. Dependents range form kids to spouses. All are in and in China now. Things have changed and procedures more relaxed and less -.

Three families I know travelling or just travelled to China. All in. Reduced quarantine. Three different regions. Three different schools. Things are changing.

Hello Charles55!

The usual bonus is 1/2 months salary for every year of service. In the old days, it used to be one month's salary for every year of service. I think one or two GCC states still have this, but most moved to 1/2 month per year.

Some schools also have a retirement plan in addition to the mandated legal gratuity.

Marry a foreign national from a rational country and get your citizenship...

@PG if the entirety of the Oct/Nov deadline is so that departing teachers could participate in recruiting fairs, then you are dead wrong. We have these deadlines so that we can take timely action to recruit and hire the best candidates available - something that isn't always possible in February/March. Maybe it's FOMO, or maybe it's just sound strategy. LOL

@Heliotrope

I usually let my directors know in August I am going to look and how seriously I am looking. Some years it's just looking. Other years, the right job pops up and away I go. But like you, I have never been ignored once my decision has been made.

"The entirety of the Oct/Nov intent deadline is so that the IT can participate in IE recruiting. Absent that, any such requirement becomes one of convenience (what do you need their help with)."

LOL that is laughable. The entirety of the Oct/Nov intent deadline everything to do with the school having a chance to get organized for recruiting season and attract/hire the best possible candidates.

I know folk who think the ‘top’ international school is something other than what it really is. To use your words - it’s all relative!

@PG there is reference to a school the OP would work at. No mention of 'upper tier' given. ;-)

Google schools and apply directly.

@PG - the arts is the Faculty of Arts, which includes subjects such as Geography, Literature, History, Linguistics, and more. The job market for teachers in Canada is not moribund and more and more of my friends are at the point where they are retiring in the next 3-5 years. Many of them are teachers in the social sciences/Arts.