The International Schools Review Forum

Is it time to give up hope for a teaching position this year?

My fiance and I applied to schools as a teaching couple (elementary and MS Science) and we haven't heard anything back. The time is coming for our teaching contracts to be renewed in Vermont, and we are wondering if there is any last push we can make to find an international position, or if we should just organize for next year.

Thoughts, suggestions? Anyone have a job for us?

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Sorry about the specifics.

We did not sign up for a recruiting agency, and since our contracts renew mid-April, we can't rely on a summer fair to find a job. We are instead applying directly to schools based on web advertised openings. We are using COIS, TIE online and simply searching schools in desired areas to find openings. Every school is cross-referenced using the pay side of ISR

As far as being willing to go anywhere, that may be where the problem lies. The locations we have applied to include East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea) and we have looked at Europe but not found a school that fits our areas of licensure.

Does anyone have any suggestions to make our applications jump to the top of the pile? I have seen one person suggest calling the school directly, but that seems as though it would be unwelcome at worst, and uncomfortable at best.

Thanks again for all your help.

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I don't think it's too late at all. I have gotten job offers all the way up until now. In fact, the offers that I am getting are from better schools (not met at the fair ). The fairs definitely give you an advantage to meet them face to face and make an impression, but remember that most of the recruiters will look at resumes beforehand and probably have already chosen people in mind. I say keep on trying. Patience is a virtue. Many young, novice teachers tend to say "Yes" to the first job that is offered to them at the fairs because they think of "Oh no! All this money, time and effort for the fair...so I better come out of it with a job! "....

It's good to be selective. But then again, it also depends on the teachable. My teachable is English-Language Arts with extensive experience in both English-Language Arts and ESL, for primary and secondary levels.

[quote="Zsejanko"]I don't think it's too late at all. I have gotten job offers all the way up until now. In fact, the offers that I am getting are from better schools (not met at the fair ). The fairs definitely give you an advantage to meet them face to face and make an impression, but remember that most of the recruiters will look at resumes beforehand and probably have already chosen people in mind. I say keep on trying. Patience is a virtue. Many young, novice teachers tend to say "Yes" to the first job that is offered to them at the fairs because they think of "Oh no! All this money, time and effort for the fair...so I better come out of it with a job! "..[/quote]


I would like to echo the above statement,...
My wife and I attended a fair earlier this year and they are not the be all of recruitment. We actually had as many skype interviews as face to face interviews at the job fair. Moreover, schools are still posting openings. There are about four schools right now with positions for us both. All four schools will be interviewing in March.

My wife and I also started calling schools directly. I actually worked with a teacher who kept calling the school until they finally offered her a job.

I agree with Pike.

To be honest, people have to start questioning the REAL value of fairs. I am not dissuading people from attending fairs, but one has to remember the following :

1) Maybe it's better for your resume and personality to shine anyway, by being proactive at searching out these schools.

2) Fairs make A LOT OF MONEY. I sometimes find that they advertise to lure people in, knowing fully well that jobs are snapped up in seconds by teachers who are busy at home, having SKYPE interviews with directors already. From most of my colleagues who attended the fairs, everyone found themselves in a similar situation :
- Offered 1 or 2 jobs ( if lucky ) by schools that they are not completely enthusiastic about
- Having to go home to mull over the details of the school
- Still searching for jobs on their own at the disappointing fairs

I think that most people who get jobs at fairs fall in one of the two categories :

a) Really qualified, excellent educators who are snapped up by the best schools ( bc of course, best schools have the leeway in job fairs )

b) Really unqualified, novice teachers who feel the pressure of having to leave the fair with a job due to all the time and money spent to get there...thus giving dodgy schools a good hand at the selection.

In other words, it's always good to be proactive yourself...because let's face it, you're all alone in the international sphere...you might as well go at it alone, from the very beginning.

I also have to state : I am still getting offers from really good schools. In fact, I was quite surprised to get offers from schools that I thought I would never get a chance with.

Hi MDUQUETTE,
My advice is, take that job in Vermont...a bird in the hand and all that. I was offered a nice job in China just a few weeks ago. Although you wouldn't want to, you could always break your contract in Vermont if you get a good offer overseas. Your school wouldn't mind canning you and leaving you out in the cold if they needed to cut teachers. It happened to me a few years ago...31 of us in one day.