Everything shadowjack reported is spot on. I couldn't believe I was lining up an hour before the doors opened but I'm glad I did - I was about the 10th person in line. The thing is, that I had plenty of time to talk to all the schools on my list (and more) in the allotted time.
I have a trailing spouse and I thought that I would be lucky to get any interviews. I was way off. I got seven interviews, including two from elite schools.
I would also advise for people to stay at the fair hotel. I'm not because of the extreme cost, but if you book early, then you can find great deals. A friend of mine is staying here for 5 nights and is only paying $420 total because he booked really early.
I would also advise people to practice your interview questions. Know your philosophy of teaching and current methodologies that you are using in the classroom.
Bangkok Job Fair
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vettievette
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:31 am
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Autumn, slips = interviews invitation largely due to pre-contact with the schools. If you are interested, contact schools well before the fair and then contact them again closer to the fair.
However, sometimes your CV might not be enough to get a look, or there are other considerations (as with me and Mrs. Shadowjack). In that case, making those connections at the job fair are crucial.
With us, we had two pre-contacts and that was it.
However, sometimes your CV might not be enough to get a look, or there are other considerations (as with me and Mrs. Shadowjack). In that case, making those connections at the job fair are crucial.
With us, we had two pre-contacts and that was it.
Reply
Defiantly split up. Make sure you have copies of each others resumes or Ichiro.
Its hard usually for couples to divide the recruiters by who is the strongest since one spouse is usually in a much higher demand field and no matter how much the demand is for your field if a school doesnt have a vacancy for you its not going to be productive.
A math spouse and a primary spouse apply to schools with vacancies for both, the math spouse is ALWAYS going to be the front candidate.
A school has a math but no primary position, you end up with a trailing spouse.
A school has a primary position but no math position, you still end up with a trailing spouse.
Its hard usually for couples to divide the recruiters by who is the strongest since one spouse is usually in a much higher demand field and no matter how much the demand is for your field if a school doesnt have a vacancy for you its not going to be productive.
A math spouse and a primary spouse apply to schools with vacancies for both, the math spouse is ALWAYS going to be the front candidate.
A school has a math but no primary position, you end up with a trailing spouse.
A school has a primary position but no math position, you still end up with a trailing spouse.
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Yep, even and odd, thats what we did! Luckily we recovered and went on to land our best job and experience yet.
Another hint, one of you wear something that makes you distinguishable from the rest of the crowd. I know my wife was lost when she looked out over the mass of blue blazer, grey trousered men and tried to find me. Of course there was the guy wearing all white, even a fedora. It was a bit much for me.
All these posts on the Bangkok fairs kind of makes me wish we were recruiting. Sort of twisted I know, seeing as we have pretty good jobs, but I always look at fairs as a challenge and opportunity to network.
Another hint, one of you wear something that makes you distinguishable from the rest of the crowd. I know my wife was lost when she looked out over the mass of blue blazer, grey trousered men and tried to find me. Of course there was the guy wearing all white, even a fedora. It was a bit much for me.
All these posts on the Bangkok fairs kind of makes me wish we were recruiting. Sort of twisted I know, seeing as we have pretty good jobs, but I always look at fairs as a challenge and opportunity to network.
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Bangkok Job Fair - Day Three (The Real Day Three)
Whew! Today is definitely the roller coaster ride day for everybody! By the end of the day, some people will have a sense that the fair was a waste of time; others will have multiple job offers to choose from, and others will still be waiting for that elusive offer to appear and make it all worth while.
Once again, Mrs. Shadowjack and I got up early (the middle two days are early rising days due to interviews), showered and headed down to breakfast. Some great news - teaching colleagues of ours accepted an offer to a lovely school in a great location. I am so happy for them! By the way, the buffet breakfast which is included in your room at the Royal Orchid is superb. We eat breakfast and then don't eat again until dinner.
Once that was done, it was off to our first interview at 8:30. This was for a smaller school in a nice location, but definitely not our first choice. However, the community was interesting and we liked the director and his assistant. Again it went well. However, and this is the frustrating part for so many of the candidates, no immediate offers were forthcoming. At the same time, nothing was said about "thanks, no thanks," so we know we are doing SOMETHING right.
After that it was a rush to our next interview at 9:00 with a fantastic-looking school in an unexpectedly great location. Wow! The director was very honest about the school and employment for Mrs. Shadowjack and I think we again had a good interview. Thanks were given, out the door we went, and then it was an hour until our second-to-last interview of the day. This was the 'dream job' for me and a good opportunity for Mrs. Shadowjack. The interview went really well, so we will see what happens. A mention was made of checking with references, so that sounds promising...but again, nothing concrete. It can get soooo frustrating when you know the recruiters WANT to see you, the interview goes well, and then...nothing. Be strong! Nothing might ever come of any of the interviews we did, but each one was a learning experience.
Finally, later, we met with the school I mentioned where going to the presentation made a big difference in gaining an interview. Again, we had a good interview, but it was explained to us that the school needed to put other pieces of hiring together before it would be in a position to make a decision on us. So... we were told to keep in touch and that they should know more after the next fair in London.
The rest of the day was spent waiting to see if anybody dropped a note into our file and hoping for a phone call or email. LOL - this IS the reality for a lot of teachers at this stage of the day. Expect it. Periodically we went to check our file and walked around the candidate room. What we saw was a mix of happy candidates, candidates filling out yet more interview requests (likely because they were in our boat, not having a firm offer, and starting to expand their search), candidates skyping, chatting, and more.
This was it. The reality check. This period of the fair if you have no job offers will test you. Again, understand that the fair is NOT a guarantee of a job. If you know that coming in, you will understand that you should perhaps have a fall-back fair. Another fair with a different mix (sort of like American Idol where people go back the next year, or to another city the same year of auditions) can yield different results, as I illustrated with my friends' story.
After 2 1/2 hour of sitting, it was time to head down to the candidates/recruiters reception. You have paid for this - keep the drink ticket from your fair package, wear your name tag and chat with everybody. Don't actively go searching out recruiters, but don't shy away. It is another chance to connect.
We met some really nice people and reconnected with others we had talked with at the fair. It was pretty low-key. We found out more colleagues had received job offers at a school that I know through other former colleagues is stellar. Again, I was really happy for them. Other colleagues did not fare so well and are in the same boat we are - the waiting boat.
On the way back, we checked our file folder again - and this time were rewarded by a message from one of the schools we had interviewed with that they were going to continue looking, but they wanted me to keep in touch. At this point I am getting the feeling of ever the bridesmaid and never the bride. But, with a follow-up interview tomorrow and another interview later tomorrow, we are still staying positive. It sounds like SOMETHING will happen for us in terms of job offers - just not at the fair itself. Definitely, though, if we do get an offer after the fair, it will be the fair that is the catalyst for it.
With that, it is off to bed, up early for a big breakfast and another interview, and then later another interview. We are hoping we will also wake up and find requests for contact from some of our other schools. Honestly, we are blessed to have so much interest and no matter which offer we get and accept, we will be going there gladly, with no second thoughts.
Good luck to all my fellow candidates still waiting to hear!
Once again, Mrs. Shadowjack and I got up early (the middle two days are early rising days due to interviews), showered and headed down to breakfast. Some great news - teaching colleagues of ours accepted an offer to a lovely school in a great location. I am so happy for them! By the way, the buffet breakfast which is included in your room at the Royal Orchid is superb. We eat breakfast and then don't eat again until dinner.
Once that was done, it was off to our first interview at 8:30. This was for a smaller school in a nice location, but definitely not our first choice. However, the community was interesting and we liked the director and his assistant. Again it went well. However, and this is the frustrating part for so many of the candidates, no immediate offers were forthcoming. At the same time, nothing was said about "thanks, no thanks," so we know we are doing SOMETHING right.
After that it was a rush to our next interview at 9:00 with a fantastic-looking school in an unexpectedly great location. Wow! The director was very honest about the school and employment for Mrs. Shadowjack and I think we again had a good interview. Thanks were given, out the door we went, and then it was an hour until our second-to-last interview of the day. This was the 'dream job' for me and a good opportunity for Mrs. Shadowjack. The interview went really well, so we will see what happens. A mention was made of checking with references, so that sounds promising...but again, nothing concrete. It can get soooo frustrating when you know the recruiters WANT to see you, the interview goes well, and then...nothing. Be strong! Nothing might ever come of any of the interviews we did, but each one was a learning experience.
Finally, later, we met with the school I mentioned where going to the presentation made a big difference in gaining an interview. Again, we had a good interview, but it was explained to us that the school needed to put other pieces of hiring together before it would be in a position to make a decision on us. So... we were told to keep in touch and that they should know more after the next fair in London.
The rest of the day was spent waiting to see if anybody dropped a note into our file and hoping for a phone call or email. LOL - this IS the reality for a lot of teachers at this stage of the day. Expect it. Periodically we went to check our file and walked around the candidate room. What we saw was a mix of happy candidates, candidates filling out yet more interview requests (likely because they were in our boat, not having a firm offer, and starting to expand their search), candidates skyping, chatting, and more.
This was it. The reality check. This period of the fair if you have no job offers will test you. Again, understand that the fair is NOT a guarantee of a job. If you know that coming in, you will understand that you should perhaps have a fall-back fair. Another fair with a different mix (sort of like American Idol where people go back the next year, or to another city the same year of auditions) can yield different results, as I illustrated with my friends' story.
After 2 1/2 hour of sitting, it was time to head down to the candidates/recruiters reception. You have paid for this - keep the drink ticket from your fair package, wear your name tag and chat with everybody. Don't actively go searching out recruiters, but don't shy away. It is another chance to connect.
We met some really nice people and reconnected with others we had talked with at the fair. It was pretty low-key. We found out more colleagues had received job offers at a school that I know through other former colleagues is stellar. Again, I was really happy for them. Other colleagues did not fare so well and are in the same boat we are - the waiting boat.
On the way back, we checked our file folder again - and this time were rewarded by a message from one of the schools we had interviewed with that they were going to continue looking, but they wanted me to keep in touch. At this point I am getting the feeling of ever the bridesmaid and never the bride. But, with a follow-up interview tomorrow and another interview later tomorrow, we are still staying positive. It sounds like SOMETHING will happen for us in terms of job offers - just not at the fair itself. Definitely, though, if we do get an offer after the fair, it will be the fair that is the catalyst for it.
With that, it is off to bed, up early for a big breakfast and another interview, and then later another interview. We are hoping we will also wake up and find requests for contact from some of our other schools. Honestly, we are blessed to have so much interest and no matter which offer we get and accept, we will be going there gladly, with no second thoughts.
Good luck to all my fellow candidates still waiting to hear!