How early to sign up for Search and/or ISS?

[Seawaves]

We are a teaching couple, currently international, both teach HS IB subjects, and have been at our current school (in Latin America) for a few years. Ideally, we plan to be here for at least a few more years. We will likely move out of the region, for both a lifestyle and savings upgrade (our school is solid, current savings is fair/good, but the city leaves much to be desired). We used a different organization for our current positions, so are not registered through Search or ISS. Though it seems through reading here, discussions with colleagues etc. that Search is the way to go. (that too, ebbs and flows we know.)

We were curious is anyone had any advice on how far in advance to sign up with Search. For example, is it better to sign up in at the beginning of the final year of your contract (like July or August), or is that too late? Would it be better to sign up at the tail end of the recruiting season (like Feb or March) in order to get all of your ducks in a row with letters etc?

Obviously, as a teaching couple, we know sometimes strategy and timing play into all of this, and sometimes opportunities come up that you need to jump on (if positions opened up for us at an ideal school for example.) Do other teachers (or couples) that have Search accounts keep them open all the time (continuing to pay for membership) or let it lapse?

Thanks in advance for the insight.

[PsyGuy]

How early really depends on a few factors:
1) What positions and tier your focusing on. If youre focused on early recruitment You want to have your profile fully approved around August, which starts with Early recruiting in October. The peak recruiting cycle is January (with the start of the BKK fair) and ends in early February (The BOS fair), and then becomes post recruiting until April/May with the EU recruiting wave, after which its late recruiting in May until the start of the new cycle.
2) How much time you need to get your profile completed, the determining factor being your references. You can finish a profile in SA in a day.
3) Is how organized and responsive your associate is.

It depends on your associate, some associates wont open/activate a profile without recent references or wont until the last year of a contract. Some keep their profile continuously available all year.

[shadowjack]

Here is my recommendation. Be signed up in August for the year you want to recruit. Or August of the year you want to kick tires, with the understanding that if your areas are showing lots of posts, that is the year to strike. Usually most areas do not have lots of vacancies two years in a row given the nature of contracts.

[PsyGuy]

I like August too, that way your not trying to get tasks done for recruiting as your into the new AY, but if your not done in August if your pushing October or even later you can still get it done. A better question might be when is it too late, and my position would be if its February its probably not worth your coin for that AY.

[Seawaves]

Appreciate the thoughts and recommendations from both of you @PsyGuy and @Shadowjack. It seems no matter the year, having your shenanigans together no later than August seems a good target to aim for, whether testing the waters or full on deciding to leave. It also benefits that SA registration fees cover 3 years.

The biggest question for us as a teaching couple is the idea of 'kicking the tires' and exploring what is out there when the time comes, and seeing what schools have recruited in previous cycles. That is why it would be nice to sign up, and see the full scope of things when that time comes in addition to the potential of venturing to BKK for the larger fairs where IB teaching couples benefit.

@PsyGuy it is good to know re: the associates, and the hope is that we would be matched well.

[PsyGuy]

@Seawaves

If you just want to look around and kick the tires register one of you with SA, which will give you the full database access including IS profiles and vacancies, the registration is good for 3 years plenty of time to do your research, keep your ear to the road and fully jump in when youre ready to commit. Three years is plenty of time to do all the things you want, because the year youre going to fully recruit, once your hired/appointed, your registration membership ends. You have the time, you might as well use the service as a resource to prep you for when you actually recruit.

Youre not matched based on fit, youre supposed to choose your associate based on geographical area, and some curriculum factors, but the tool that does that is very easy to manipulate. SA will never send or post you anything so you can choose any associate you really want.

[Heliotrope]

PsyGuy wrote:
> Youre not matched based on fit, youre supposed to choose your associate
> based on geographical area, and some curriculum factors, but the tool that
> does that is very easy to manipulate. SA will never send or post you
> anything so you can choose any associate you really want.

I've never really considered how the matching works. I ended up with Harry Deelman, who was pretty good.
When you say you're matched on geographical area, do you mean the region where you currently are, or based on the region(s) you want to go to?
The second would make most sense, but just checking.

And how would you manipulate this proces of being matched up? Can you do it so you're matched with a specific associate? And if not, what other pint would there be to try and influence it?

What do you mean with: "SA will never send or post you anything so you can choose any associate you really want"?


And as PsyGuy mentions, the references takes most time (the rest I indeed did in one day), some take very long. Luckily I started at the start of the Summer, and was ready early August.

[PsyGuy]

@Heliotrope

Its based on geography of where you are applying from where you are located, not where your going. ITs move around a lot once they are in IE.

Yes, you can manipulate it so you end up with a specific associate. When you start the application process you get to around step 4 and it asks where your applying from, then if not US/UK/CAN/AUS it asks what fair you would like to attend and then if no fair just lets you pick an associate. Its pretty easy, to just pick whatever associate you want.

Since the first step asks where your from you can really say anywhere since SA will never post or mail anything to you, they wont take steps to confirm your location.

Some associates are more valuable (they are the organizers of specific high demand fairs for instance), if you wanted to go to the LON fair in January Gez is the organizer, and its his fair so he can get or create an invite for his candidates very easily, because he controls the invites, but if you were in the US in CA youd end up with Robert according to the online match tool. Associates also differ in quality and responsiveness, some just take your coin activate your profile and you never hear from them again, others are more responsive and do a little more hand holding.

[Heliotrope]

Great, thanks for the info, very helpful.
Will surely do this once I'm ready to move on.

[Heliotrope]

Any associates that you'd recommend (or advise against)?
(other than the fair organizers)

Quite liked Harry Deelman, but there might be others...

[PsyGuy]

@Heliotrope

It depends too much on what you want and what you need, and a very personal and subjective experience with an associates personality. Every associate has their friends and has their foes.