Portfolios at recruitment fairs?
Portfolios at recruitment fairs?
My husband and I are going to our first ever recruitment fair (Boston-ISS) at the end of Feb. Is there a protocol as to what to bring? Do most people bring a portfolio with examples of lesson plans and student work? Any feedback would help me. Thanks!
Portfolios
I took a portfolio to the first job fair I attended and after about the first hour decided "never again"! Interviews are short and to the point and not many directors had the time or inclination to look at it. In the end I hauled it around for 3 days and maybe opened it once, and thats having had 9 interviews and accepting a position in the three day period.
Back home.
I'm home from Boston so I will answer my own question after gaining the experience of a recruitment fair.
I had 2 of the quickest interviews in my 10 years of teaching. I interviewed with a school from Switzerland and a school from England. Neither principal asked me for a professional portfolio, and frankly I don't think that they would have taken the time to do more than glance at it. It seemed to me like they were looking at the clock which was behind me so that they were not late for their next interview. (And for the record....I was totally weirded out by having an interview in a hotel room.)
The headmasters asked succinct questions about curriculum/teaching strategies, then asked if I had questions and that was it. My husband and I were out of there in 20 minutes flat both times. It was almost comical.
What got looked at and commented on the most as I signed up for interviews was my philosophy of education. I had about 3 paragraphs typed, and then at the bottom I put 2 pictures. One picture showed a student in my classroom navigating a website using the Smartboard, and the other picture showed me greeting my students at the door. More than one recruiter said, " Oh! We love pictures!" I would highly recommend this. (Also several comments on incorporating technology)
My husband and I were offered a job on Day 2 in England and we were thrilled to take it. (Especially because housing was included.)
Take the advice of a post that I read about a year ago: Sign up with CIS instead of ISS. You don't pay a single dollar and you get the same services as those who registered (and paid) for ISS. We paid for the hotel room and the gas to get to Boston and that was it. CIS does take about a month to process your paperwork - but that wait is worth the $500 savings that other agencies charge.
Good luck everyone in overseas pursuits!
I had 2 of the quickest interviews in my 10 years of teaching. I interviewed with a school from Switzerland and a school from England. Neither principal asked me for a professional portfolio, and frankly I don't think that they would have taken the time to do more than glance at it. It seemed to me like they were looking at the clock which was behind me so that they were not late for their next interview. (And for the record....I was totally weirded out by having an interview in a hotel room.)
The headmasters asked succinct questions about curriculum/teaching strategies, then asked if I had questions and that was it. My husband and I were out of there in 20 minutes flat both times. It was almost comical.
What got looked at and commented on the most as I signed up for interviews was my philosophy of education. I had about 3 paragraphs typed, and then at the bottom I put 2 pictures. One picture showed a student in my classroom navigating a website using the Smartboard, and the other picture showed me greeting my students at the door. More than one recruiter said, " Oh! We love pictures!" I would highly recommend this. (Also several comments on incorporating technology)
My husband and I were offered a job on Day 2 in England and we were thrilled to take it. (Especially because housing was included.)
Take the advice of a post that I read about a year ago: Sign up with CIS instead of ISS. You don't pay a single dollar and you get the same services as those who registered (and paid) for ISS. We paid for the hotel room and the gas to get to Boston and that was it. CIS does take about a month to process your paperwork - but that wait is worth the $500 savings that other agencies charge.
Good luck everyone in overseas pursuits!