Keep us posted on your progress sangster, it's really interesting having insiders' info from the Bangkok fairs.
Good luck!
Anyone attending January or February fair?
I'm here as well - went last year and had ZERO interviews because of lack of IB experience. Took 1 training course on the DP program so hopefully will have more luck this year.
Dropped a few resumes - there must be over 200 in the NIST folder alone. Been studying my IB vernacular tonight; hopefully will get some interviews in the morning.
Dropped a few resumes - there must be over 200 in the NIST folder alone. Been studying my IB vernacular tonight; hopefully will get some interviews in the morning.
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LondonChick
- Posts: 41
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:57 am
- Location: London
Oh no, NIST is one of the schools I applied for :(
Mind you, they made it pretty clear the vacancy would probably be filled by the London fair, so they must be trying to fill it in Bangkok. I guess the Thai schools are more likely to fill as many vacancies as they can in Bangkok. They're on their turf and all that...
Good luck to you anyway, please keep us posted...and leave some jobs for us poor London folk!!
Mind you, they made it pretty clear the vacancy would probably be filled by the London fair, so they must be trying to fill it in Bangkok. I guess the Thai schools are more likely to fill as many vacancies as they can in Bangkok. They're on their turf and all that...
Good luck to you anyway, please keep us posted...and leave some jobs for us poor London folk!!
My Fiance and I are going to the ISS job fair in San Francisco. We are both pretty nervous, and looking for any advice we can get! We are both certified in early childhood education as well as English as a Second Language. He has been teaching a couple years, whereas I just graduated from college last month. Teaching overseas is something we are both passionate about, and we hope that we won't fall short due to experience. We have talked to some people that encourage us to go for it, because we are a "teaching couple". Does anyone have some advice for us? Are we wasting our time/money??
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LondonChick
- Posts: 41
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:57 am
- Location: London
Swachel, there are quite a few positions going for primary teachers and being a teaching couple, presumably with no kids, you are indeed in a position that should offset the fact that you are fairly new at it. Look at it this way: you are still cheap for the employer!
I heard from my Search Associate that younger, less experienced teachers tend to find positions more easily as the season advances. At first, schools are very picky. They want perfect candidates, with the right amount of experience, a lovely teaching partner, IB experience etc. I am guessing that is what happens at the Bangkok fair. The high flying jobs go fast and the very best candidates get snatched up.
Then as the season advances, schools get more and more anxious to fill their vacancies and tend to 'panic-buy' teachers (think last-minute Christmas shopping!!)
The San Francisco fair comes at the end of several big fairs and should therefore be quite a good place for you to find employment. Perhaps you need to be very open-minded as to the location you are targetting, that's all.
Another very interesting thing I heard, that is good for those of us not attending a Bangkok fair, is that quite a few recruiters actually enjoy travelling around, networking, meeting other heads etc. at fairs. If they fill all their vacancies in Bangkok or even London, then they can no longer justify the expenses of going to subsequent fairs. So it is in their best interest to keep a few positions open along the recruiting season.
I'm not sure it is true of all recruiters, but given that schools rarely pull out from fairs, it makes sense to assume they are not trying to fill all vacancies in one go in January. My theory is that vacancies that are hard to fill go first: science, maths, perhaps English, and administrative posts.
I heard from my Search Associate that younger, less experienced teachers tend to find positions more easily as the season advances. At first, schools are very picky. They want perfect candidates, with the right amount of experience, a lovely teaching partner, IB experience etc. I am guessing that is what happens at the Bangkok fair. The high flying jobs go fast and the very best candidates get snatched up.
Then as the season advances, schools get more and more anxious to fill their vacancies and tend to 'panic-buy' teachers (think last-minute Christmas shopping!!)
The San Francisco fair comes at the end of several big fairs and should therefore be quite a good place for you to find employment. Perhaps you need to be very open-minded as to the location you are targetting, that's all.
Another very interesting thing I heard, that is good for those of us not attending a Bangkok fair, is that quite a few recruiters actually enjoy travelling around, networking, meeting other heads etc. at fairs. If they fill all their vacancies in Bangkok or even London, then they can no longer justify the expenses of going to subsequent fairs. So it is in their best interest to keep a few positions open along the recruiting season.
I'm not sure it is true of all recruiters, but given that schools rarely pull out from fairs, it makes sense to assume they are not trying to fill all vacancies in one go in January. My theory is that vacancies that are hard to fill go first: science, maths, perhaps English, and administrative posts.
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aussiechick
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 4:37 pm
Oh dear, I applied for NIST too. It is my dream job, but I have school aged dependants and their Search file says that teachers with dependants may not be considered this year, so I knew it was a long shot anyway. Yesterday I also got a 'thanks, but no thanks' email from another school I had targeted which was also top of my list (I suspect also because of my dependants). So it's looking very disappointing so far. I just hope there's a positive outcome from attending the fair.
I spoke to NIST at the fair. Basically they were turning everyone away who did not have AT LEAST 6 years of IB teaching experience.
I went in yesterday with no expectations since last year I got zero interviews. I took an IB course online back in November; it definitely helped when I was talking to schools. Still, most want IB experienced teachers, not just IB trained teachers. I was able to get two interviews, and about 6 schools said that they would try to fit me in (although this could just be a lie). Had the first one yesterday with a school in Hong Kong which I thought went well, but so far no word on a follow-up.
A lot of teachers seem to be in the same boat as I was last year - having no luck with interviews because of the lack of IB. I even had some schools reject me because they were only looking for married teachers. Schools, for the most part, were nicer to me this year. Last year a few of them looked at me like I had the plague when I mentioned I had been teaching TEFL for the past 4 years.
A few schools told me that they had looked at my resume and while it looks impressive, they couldn't short-list me because there are just more qualifed candidates at the fair with IB experience. There are about 500 candidates at this fair and 117 schools. I'll post more info as I get it. Hope this helps!
I went in yesterday with no expectations since last year I got zero interviews. I took an IB course online back in November; it definitely helped when I was talking to schools. Still, most want IB experienced teachers, not just IB trained teachers. I was able to get two interviews, and about 6 schools said that they would try to fit me in (although this could just be a lie). Had the first one yesterday with a school in Hong Kong which I thought went well, but so far no word on a follow-up.
A lot of teachers seem to be in the same boat as I was last year - having no luck with interviews because of the lack of IB. I even had some schools reject me because they were only looking for married teachers. Schools, for the most part, were nicer to me this year. Last year a few of them looked at me like I had the plague when I mentioned I had been teaching TEFL for the past 4 years.
A few schools told me that they had looked at my resume and while it looks impressive, they couldn't short-list me because there are just more qualifed candidates at the fair with IB experience. There are about 500 candidates at this fair and 117 schools. I'll post more info as I get it. Hope this helps!
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michellejb
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:27 pm
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buffalofan
- Posts: 350
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:08 pm
Michelle, according to the info packet from UNI that I got in november, there were 686 teachers at UNI last year.
Durianfan, I'm very interested in your fair experience because our backgrounds are similar. I attempted to PM you but got a message that the forum does not allow it. Anyway, I'm curious to see how it will turn out for you, good luck.
A school in my top ten wishlist, who is at the bangkok fair now, actually added positions in my field today. Looks like there will be jobs after bangkok.
Durianfan, I'm very interested in your fair experience because our backgrounds are similar. I attempted to PM you but got a message that the forum does not allow it. Anyway, I'm curious to see how it will turn out for you, good luck.
A school in my top ten wishlist, who is at the bangkok fair now, actually added positions in my field today. Looks like there will be jobs after bangkok.
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LondonChick
- Posts: 41
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:57 am
- Location: London
Wow, Durianfan, six years of IB experience is a lot to ask! Especially at a fair where a lot of people might not fulfill the criteria at all. I wonder if they really are trying to go to as many fairs as possible. Free hotel and all :)
Keep us posted on your progress and your overall impressions of the fair once it's over!
Keep us posted on your progress and your overall impressions of the fair once it's over!
After Bangkok
We arrived home (USA) from the Bangkok fair last night. We are a teaching couple certified in high school econ, SS, history, geography, psychology, sociology and middle school sci, SS, lang arts, gifted. We taught ESL in Japan for 3 years. While our fair experience was good - we learned a great deal - we left without a job offer. We had 4 schools interview us. One school liked us and we had 3 different sessions with them. In the end, we were told repeatedly that we were "great candidates".
When we arrived there were 8 schools (that we were interested in) that had jobs to fit our subject areas. The crazy rush to get an interview proved to be extremely stressful. 5 of the 8 schools just told us that they only would consider IB (MYP) experienced teachers. Of the interviews that we had, things went well and we thought we had a good chance with all of them.
Would I do it again? Not so sure. The cost was extreme and so far I don't see any benefit. Now, if one of those schools that we interviewed with offers us something in the upcoming months, then I would be able to say that it was worth the trip.
Best of luck to everyone!
When we arrived there were 8 schools (that we were interested in) that had jobs to fit our subject areas. The crazy rush to get an interview proved to be extremely stressful. 5 of the 8 schools just told us that they only would consider IB (MYP) experienced teachers. Of the interviews that we had, things went well and we thought we had a good chance with all of them.
Would I do it again? Not so sure. The cost was extreme and so far I don't see any benefit. Now, if one of those schools that we interviewed with offers us something in the upcoming months, then I would be able to say that it was worth the trip.
Best of luck to everyone!