The International Schools Review Forum

I'm currently registered with the SA Bangkok Fair in early Jan. Looking over the list of schools attending it seems leaner than in past years, (many China schools seem to not be bothering), but still seems decent for what I am looking for.

Any thoughts on if the F2F fairs are still worth the time and expense? I'm a fairly experienced HS Math teacher and was wondering if it would give me a leg up on purely online folks.

Edit:
Here's the current list in case anyone was wondering:
Country School
Angola Luanda International School of Angola
Bangladesh American International School Dhaka
Bangladesh International School Dhaka
China Concordia International School Shanghai
China Dulwich College Beijing
China International School of Tianjin
China Suzhou Singapore International School
China United World College Changshu China
China YK Pao School, Shanghai
China/Hong Kong American School Hong Kong
China/Hong Kong Chinese International School
China/Hong Kong Discovery College
China/Hong Kong Hong Kong Academy
China/Hong Kong The Independent Schools Foundation Academy
China/Macao The International School of Macao
Colombia Colegio Nueva Granada, Bogota
Egypt Cairo American College
Germany International School of Dusseldorf
India Mahindra International School
India Stonehill International School, Bangalore
Indonesia Bali Island School, formerly Bali International School
Indonesia Bandung Independent School
Indonesia British School-Jakarta
Indonesia Global Jaya School
Indonesia Jakarta Intercultural School
Japan Canadian Academy, Kobe
Japan Tokyo International School
Korea Branksome Hall Asia
Korea Chadwick International
Korea Seoul International School
Kuwait American International School, Kuwait
Laos Vientiane International School
Malaysia Mont'Kiara International School, Kuala Lumpur
Mongolia International School of Ulaanbaatar
Myanmar Yangon International School
Nigeria American International School of Abuja
Oman ABA Oman International School
Oman Al Batinah International School
Oman The Sultan's School
Pakistan Karachi American School
Philippines International School Manila
Qatar American School of Doha
Romania American International School of Bucharest
Russia The Anglo-American School of Moscow
Saudi Arabia American International School - Riyadh
Saudi Arabia British International School Jeddah
Saudi Arabia International Programs School
Saudi Arabia International Schools Group - District Office
Saudi Arabia The KAUST School
Senegal International School of Dakar
Singapore Chatsworth International School - Singapore
Singapore St. Joseph's Institution International School
Singapore Stamford American International School
Switzerland Zurich International School
Tanzania International School of Tanganyika, Dar-es-Salaam
Thailand Concordian International School, Bangkok
Thailand NIST International School
Thailand Panyaden International School
Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda International School, Chiang Mai
Thailand Thai-Chinese International School, Bangkok
United Arab Emirates Dubai American Academy (GEMS)
United Arab Emirates GEMS International School, Dubai Hills
Uzbekistan Tashkent International School
Vietnam Chadwick International Ecopark
Vietnam United Nations International School of Hanoi
Zambia American International School of Lusaka

I've been to a number of Job Fairs and find the Bangkok fair to be often filled with people peacocking around - so it feel a bit like a meat market. This was pre-covid of course.

Note that it's still extremely early in the recruiting season with schools just starting to get into the swing of the new school year.

It's very common for better schools to push their way into the BKK fair at the expense of supposed "Lower Tier Schools" when the number got to around 130 schools. If I was looking for a job in 23/24 - then I'd expect job to come up a bit later this year as schools are slower to work out where they are with numbers (both student numbers and financially).

Do expect schools from China attending to not get near the 30-50 mark which was common pre-covid. Looking into my crystal ball - I'd expect around 10 Chinese schools which are individual entities to potentially attend the fair with some cancelling once they realize they can't easily come back into China or airfares are really expensive. A lot of schools have no idea what's going on with inflation and student numbers so expect some schools to tighten their belt as fairs are not cheap things to attend.

So will there be over 100 schools that attend the fair? Probably. I found that school numbers and quality generally tends to solidify by late November.

Might be worth it.
There are around 10 schools on this list that I would consider if I was looking for a job, but it'd depend on how many of those would have a vacancy that suits me.

Define worth. If you are an IB HL math and/or physics/computer science teacher or a teaching couple with stellar CVs and over 10 yrs of experience, you might stand a chance. For a single teacher who mostly worked at lower end schools and not so impressive CV may not have a great outcome. It all comes down to who you are and what you can offer. Again, veteran math and physics teachers rarely attend job fairs. They sign new contracts way before the job fairs.

It depends what ISs you are interested in if they are attending and more specifically if they have vacancies you are qualified and interested in.
BKK is the most competitive SA fair and there are a lot of high stress dynamics going on, but if they are hiring during the fair and you dont go they may sign someone else which is a lost opportunity for you.
It would really come down to what advanced interest you get. If you have ISs you want to interview with reply with an advanced invitation then thats very promising. If you have nothing or only get "stop by our table" messages then attending might just be a weekend holiday for you.

Given the list is still developing and there are over 20 schools I would take a flutter at if I were there and the school was hiring in one of my teaching areas, yes, I would go. I posted my thread from a few recruiting cycles ago. It was well worth going in person and that's what got me a very good job that I stayed at for a long period of time.

So go. But also be reaching out to schools now to see if you can avoid going.

@SJ

Thats you though, theres 20 ISs you would be interested in, that doesnt mean there are 20 ISs the LW or anyone else would be interested in. If the ISs the LW would be interested in is much lower and the combination of those ISs and available vacancies is much lower, than fair attendance may very well not be a worthwhile endeavor.

As predicted - the school list is slowly getting stronger.....

Its October, the fair isnt until January. I also predict that on the day and eve proceeding signup for the fair that a number of vacancies will be filled prior to signup and no longer available for general attendees. Oh, I also predict the sun will rise tomorrow and set at some time thereafter.

As predicted, Psyguys responded...

Sorry - I feel like stirring a pot today .... :-)

@sciteach

Youre not sorry. . . .as predicted.

Job fairs should only be useful for your first two moves in international teaching, in my opinion.
After that you should have the knowledge, connections, and understanding on what types of school and in which countries you want to live in.

As a new teacher I found them very annoying with very annoying "peacocks" as someone put it here. I would hate to think of what I would experience now as an experienced IT.

You can find jobs and get them without going to fairs.

@seinfeld

While the dynamic at REs (fairs) can be very high stress and involve a number of annoyances, there are ITs that do very well in the "peacock" saturated environment who are adept at manipulating those annoyances into advantages. ITs get offers at REs, offers they may not get otherwise or would have to compete for with a larger pool of applicants outside of an RE. If an IT can thrive in that type of environment it is to their detriment to not participate in an RE that is to their advantage.

These fairs are as good as dead, IMO. I won't be attending another one (been to 4 in 3 different countries). SA will have to morph into something else to survive although their database is useful. A friend attended GRC this year, said it was mostly just talk and schools connecting with one another.

I think the fairs are alive and well, Buffalo... and will continue as long as it is felt they fill a need on the part of schools and teachers.