ISS Fairs

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ffmary
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 11:19 am

ISS Fairs

Post by ffmary »

Can someone with knowledge give me their thoughts on the ISS Virtual Fair schedule for the fall. Do certain schools aim to recruit at certain fairs? Similarly, are certain candidates wiser to sign up for one fair vs. another?

More generally, what do people know about how schools will be utilizing or not utilizing the ISS and Search fall virtual fairs this year compared to past years?

Thanks.
shawanda
Posts: 57
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:47 pm

Re: ISS Fairs

Post by shawanda »

I have the same question because so far there is no clarity on themes for the ISS fairs other than that they are happening and candidates should sign up. I don't see how any of these agencies are doing in person fairs for at least a year, so I would also like more guidance on what will happen with the fairs in January before I make my choice about how to strategize fairs that are coming up in just two+ months. I'd also wonder, what are recruiters (from schools) thinking? Are they aiming to get their recruitment finished sooner this year, or are they waiting as long as possible to see how world events do or don't impact enrollment and resulting staffing needs?
shadowjack
Posts: 2138
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: ISS Fairs

Post by shadowjack »

Most schools will follow a regular recruiting cycle. Some schools might know early who is leaving, and recruit early to fill those slots with great candidates who are taking the year off or frozen out of country or who have decided to leave their present school.

We will start, as usual, in the fall, and heavy recruiting season will be October through December, with possibly one or two spots filled later in January/February.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

ISs will follow a typical schedule. Early recruiting in the fall, peak recruiting in January, then the subprime recruiting in February.
Virtual fairs are in a word, underwhelming. Its mostly lower tier ISs trying to contract ITs early before they get a real sense of their worth before peak recruiting, playing on insecurities. They are essentially a premium agency looking to get a cut of what is otherwise online interviewing.
kellysensei
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:04 pm
Location: St. Paul, MN

Re: ISS Fairs

Post by kellysensei »

So will a lot of schools, whether they're on ISS or Search or not, be recruiting and interviewing independently this year, do you think?

I am registered with ISS, but quite a few of the schools I have my eye on are NOT with ISS. (Some are with Search, but I am not registered with them and don't know if it's worth it, considering I'm only focusing on 5-7 countries, or rather, one continent.) So am I just supposed to keep checking the schools' websites and applying directly, if I can? That's a lot of work, but I'll do what I have to do...
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@kellysensei

It depends how the pandemic progresses. Theres an unusually high number of IS vacancies for mid year appointments as ISs are creeping forward from transitioning from hybrid or remote learning to full onsite F2F learning. Peak recruiting doesnt even happen until after the winter holiday. Theres probably going to be an increase in early recruiting due to the increase of availability, a significant number of high quality ITs ended up without jobs so, they are available if not idle and there will be ISs that want to take advantage of the uncertainty.

Yes. Premium agencies provide a convenience, and in the case of fairs that convenience provides opportunity that would otherwise be cost prohibitive. Convenience can have a lot of value, that value increases the more broad and general an ITs job search is. If youre very focused or have a narrow band of search parameters a premium agency is going to realize a lessor degree of value compared to doing it yourself. If that bookmark list is very short its not a lot of time to consistently check their HR website, the longer that list the more work is involved. Understand though a premium agency cant do all the work for you, if you want to be complete youll have to do some of that grind no matter what. There will be ISS that arent registered with your agency and there will be vacancies that ISs wont post to the agency jobs board.
So yes, youre going to have to do some direct applications yourself, but a premium agency can make that task easier and more efficient.
kellysensei
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:04 pm
Location: St. Paul, MN

Re: ISS Fairs

Post by kellysensei »

Okay, thank you, PsyGuy. There are about 20 schools on my list (about half) that are NOT with ISS, so I'll plan to check their employment pages regularly starting mid-October, I suppose? Maybe November?

My worry is that there will be a few schools that won't let you apply directly and will make you apply only through ISS or Search, so if they're not on ISS, I'd be out of luck. But hopefully, that won't be a common occurrence.
shadowjack
Posts: 2138
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: ISS Fairs

Post by shadowjack »

Kellysensei,

also understand that some schools have an employment page, but jobs rarely show up there except later, after Search or ISS has been checked (and lately, GRC).
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@kellysensei

Id start in October.

That can happen, usually its ISs that use Schrole as their application management system in which case your already a member if your registered with ISS/Schrole advantage and if not you can apply through Schrole for free.
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