It was a lot of fun, and I met some great people. All of the people sitting at my table got offers, and most of us accepted them. This was a nice surprise because on the first day we were all talking about how unlikely it was to get an offer at the fair.

How long is generally allowed to decide after an offer is made following a Skype interview?

I am interviewing for a third time with another school later tonight: I really am interested in this second school, but I'm not sure and need some time to think. I am registered for the fair in January.

Would the school be likely to make an offer before the fair, or will they want to do so at the fair (good, because then I can have a chance to interview other places)? If they make the offer tonight/tomorrow, how long can I ask to wait?

What is the longest you were given to decide?

I've been at my current school for 5 years, and all of my SEARCH references are from there.

I have tried to find contact info for my previous school, which is closed now, but I can find nothing from the head/principal (I do know he left education, but I didn't know the school was going to close and of course now his old "school" email doesn't work: I have no way to find him). Is this going to be problematic when a new school does their background check? If so, what can I do? The school that closed was tiny, and there was really only one admin (principal/head) who actually supervised teachers, as opposed to doing office work.

Also, a school where I worked 9 years ago has had 100% admin and teacher turnover since I left, and I have just learned that the one admin contact I had from that institution is now deceased. What do do?

I haven't left Europe in 4 years, but the organization that prepares my tax docs informed me that I'm not going to be classified as a "bona fide" resident for US income tax purposes.

star32569,

I went to the SEARCH Cambridge fair when I was a new teacher (in 2010) and was offered a post at a solid tier 2 school in Western Europe. So it does happen. I'm not in a shortage subject at all, but I researched schools carefully and I interview well.

I don't know anything about ISS, but SEARCH was great. I wasn't allowed to attend London as a new teacher back then, but Cambridge was fine and there were a lot of other teachers without extensive or any international experience.

What should you do if you have a lot of admin writing recs, and some of them are also parents of kids you teach? Should you ask them to do a parent or admin rec? Or would it look bad if a parent rec noted that they also worked at the school?

I am a SEARCH candidate, and will attend an upcoming fair. A colleague told me today that schools posting vacancies on SEARCH don't actually tend to read or respond to messages sent within SEARCH. Is this true? I've gotten a few replies and two interviews this week, but have sent many more messages on SEARCH with no response. Is there something about Schrole that makes it easier/preferable to schools than looking at the profiles of candidates on SEARCH?

Some of the school websites include instructions to apply via Schrole, even though they say nothing about this on their vacancy page on SEARCH. Does this mean they are not checking SEARCH message replies, and I need to sign up for Schrole?

This is not good because all of my references (who were kind enough to submit letters of rec for me on SEARCH earlier this year) are on vacation, and I feel bad having Schrole send them all more requests for references now. There is a good chance that they will not be able to do this during the break if they are traveling, too....

So, do I need to sign up with Schrole? This is so disappointing because I had thought SEARCH was a complete service...and it looks like signing up for Schrole is pretty much a duplication of the SEARCH sign up process/requirements.

You should ask all of the other administrators/supervisors for whom you currently work or interact with at your school to write recs. SEARCH allows you to add as many references as you want. You can also add extra parent recs. I think that if there is a large amount of positive admin/parent recs, one negative or neutral one won't carry much weight.

Is emailing schools that interest me in the SEARCH database enough? I assume that if they like the message, they then look at my file, correct?

Or should I also be emailing me CV as an attachment to their school website contact?

Also, what do all of you put in the email messages within SEARCH?

I think you should create a new account/register again with a different person.

My Associate has been answering my questions/responding to messages within the same day for the past week or so.

Just that, really. Do (m)any Europe schools recruit via Skype before the big fairs? Or is attending London or Bangkok the best way of landing a job for the next year?

I'd be interested to learn which private schools in the US pay anything close to 100k. It certainly isn't any of the elite East Coast prep/boarding schools, and my friends in NYC aren't making much at their privates either.

What if...I have multiple good references from my current school, but no references from the school where I worked 5 years ago?

The school where I worked 5 years ago is now closed, and the director had been fired from his post, and refuses to answer emails from anyone who once worked there. And the school was very, very tiny (less than 30 kids in k-12).

SEARCH requires an admin reference from that school because I worked there in the past 6 years, it seems.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do?

I use Taxes for Expats. You can google it to find the website. They assign an accountant to do your taxes, and the person will email all the steps and questions they need you to answer to fill out your forms, and then they prepare your return and file it. My colleagues do their own taxes but I am nervous about missing something, and I am happy to pay for the peace of mind.

Does anybody know what exactly admin are asked when they fill out references for SEARCH candidates?

I'm asking because I am still considering whether I will pay to do a fair next year. I'm worried because a principal reference is required, and I don't think my principal knows me by name. Does she need to write a complete letter of recommendation for SEARCH, or is it just a series of boxes to tick? What do they ask?