With the hiring season around the corner (or already underway) and with me looking to make a move, I was hoping some people could critique my CV so I can have realistic expectations and to also put my ego in check.
As for myself:
-10 years teaching experience mainly as a middle school math teacher
-Also taught middle school level science (physical/Earth/biology), English, history & PE
-Coached Various Sports
-Certified to teach math to grades 1-8
-M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction
-Single/No Dependents
-Spent 1 year teaching internationally (hardship location that only offered 1-year contracts)
-1 Year as an Athletic Director at international school
Based on my experience, what tier could I find myself getting interviews/landing a gig with? I just applied to a T1 but realistically I know my application won't stand a chance at a place that is said to receive 150+ applications per vacancy.
Thank you in advance.
How Desirable Am I
Re: How Desirable Am I
Out of a 1-10, i'd probably rate your CV a 7ish.
So long as you are not picky about the location, you should be able to find a job for the school year no problem.
GL
So long as you are not picky about the location, you should be able to find a job for the school year no problem.
GL
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Thames Pirate
- Posts: 1150
- Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am
Re: How Desirable Am I
You could conceivably go anywhere from top tier to struggling to find something. It really depends. Certainly high school / upper level maths could be helpful (particularly IB experience), as could more international experience. On the flip side, coaching / AD, additional subjects, and hardship location are positives. So it could be that you land something at a "top" school or that you struggle to find something. It can absolutely mean anything.
I say apply to any school that looks interesting. There is no telling what internal factors are at play at any given school--new leadership with very specific and unusual requirements, internal applicants or spouses getting positions, a board's decision to strengthen the athletic program, attempts to integrate elementary and secondary schools, or visa requirements making hiring families tricky, etc. These can all increase or decrease your chances with no predictable pattern. Don't get cocky, but don't get disheartened if you don't find anything quickly, either. Your resume is only one piece of a major puzzle.
Good luck!
I say apply to any school that looks interesting. There is no telling what internal factors are at play at any given school--new leadership with very specific and unusual requirements, internal applicants or spouses getting positions, a board's decision to strengthen the athletic program, attempts to integrate elementary and secondary schools, or visa requirements making hiring families tricky, etc. These can all increase or decrease your chances with no predictable pattern. Don't get cocky, but don't get disheartened if you don't find anything quickly, either. Your resume is only one piece of a major puzzle.
Good luck!
Response
The problem I have with the advice of @Thames Pirate is that its really not advice at all and isnt really helpful. Its part of their whole TPF approach that nothing matters because it doent come from ISs or leadership and overly embraces both the randomness in IE, while also inflating the probability of events that are more in the tails than those opportunities sequestered around the mean or median. Sure anything can happen, someone also wins the lottery eventually, but when members post inquiries they are more searching for applicable information rather than a pat on the back and a meme for go out there and find out.
The only value in such advise is that given the almost trivial cost in resources of applying, it is like playing the lottery where the cost of a ticket is almost zero. Unless you really need the whole minute it takes to send off an email or hit the apply button its not a meaningful expenditure of resources.
We can start by looking at the PASS.
PASS (PsyGuy Applicant Scoring System):
1) 1 pt / 2 years Experience (Max 10 Years)
2) 1 pt - Advance Degree (Masters)
3) 1 pt - Cross Certified (Must be schedule-able)
4) 1 pt - Curriculum Experience (IB, AP, IGCSE)
5) 1 pt - Logistical Hire (Single +.5 pt, Couple +1 pt)
6) .5 pt - Previous International School Experience (standard 2 year contract)
7) .5 pt - Leadership Experience/Role (+.25 HOD, +.5 Coordinator)
8) .5 pt - Extra Curricular (Must be schedule-able)
9) .25 pt - Special Populations (Must be qualified)
10) .25 pt - Special Skill Set (Must be documentable AND marketable)
IT CLASSES:
1) INTERN ITs have a score around 0
2) ENTRY ITs have a score around 2
3) CAREER ITs have a score around 4
4) PROFESSIONAL ITs have a score around 6
5) MASTER ITs have a score around 8
The PASS works best when comparing an IT against an actual job specification, as many of the categories are situational (a half point for Extra Curricular is only valid if the IS needs an IT with a specific ASP such as a sport, or MUN, etc. because everyone does ASPs if the IS provides them).
The scoring looks as follows:
1) 5 pts. Experience (10+ years)
2) 1 pts. Advanced Degree (M.Ed)
3) *.25 pts. Previous IE Experience (Maybe. it was only a year contract and while thats all they offered its still only one year)
4) .5 pts. Logistical Hire (Single, no dependents etc.).
5) *.25 pts. Cross Certified (maybe applicable as youve taught lower secondary science but your not credentialed in it, you probably could be if it was required)
Math is usually in high demand but your experience is only up through lower secondary which basically says you maybe can teach algebra.You also dont say what your bachelors/first degree is in, if its in Mathematics that changes things. In a large IS where the IS can specifically appoint for only a lower secondary position this is fine but there are going to be ISs, and not a small number of them who are going to want to hire a maths IT who can do it all through SLL which is including calculus. Again not an issue if you have a degree in maths and you can probably get credentialed in all level or all secondary level maths then, but if not your not going to be as marketable an IT for those such positions.
This leaves us with a PASS score of around 6.5, closer to a 7 if everything is aligned, and closer to a flat 6 if upper secondary maths is part of the position. This correlates to a professional class IT, with a marketable resume for second tier ISs, especially in hardship regions.
Tier one isnt unreasonable, the main challenge as far as the metrics go, is going to be that your in a pool of applicants with similar candidates who can confidently claim ability and success in teaching upper secondary maths, or who have cross curricular value in upper secondary sciences and/or ICT. Why hire you when they can hire them. The answer to that is youre either a better fit, which youre going to need an interview to showcase, or they really want an IT who exclusively and specifically works well with the lower secondary population. Thats just a smaller pool of available vacancies than the more generalized all level maths IT.
The only value in such advise is that given the almost trivial cost in resources of applying, it is like playing the lottery where the cost of a ticket is almost zero. Unless you really need the whole minute it takes to send off an email or hit the apply button its not a meaningful expenditure of resources.
We can start by looking at the PASS.
PASS (PsyGuy Applicant Scoring System):
1) 1 pt / 2 years Experience (Max 10 Years)
2) 1 pt - Advance Degree (Masters)
3) 1 pt - Cross Certified (Must be schedule-able)
4) 1 pt - Curriculum Experience (IB, AP, IGCSE)
5) 1 pt - Logistical Hire (Single +.5 pt, Couple +1 pt)
6) .5 pt - Previous International School Experience (standard 2 year contract)
7) .5 pt - Leadership Experience/Role (+.25 HOD, +.5 Coordinator)
8) .5 pt - Extra Curricular (Must be schedule-able)
9) .25 pt - Special Populations (Must be qualified)
10) .25 pt - Special Skill Set (Must be documentable AND marketable)
IT CLASSES:
1) INTERN ITs have a score around 0
2) ENTRY ITs have a score around 2
3) CAREER ITs have a score around 4
4) PROFESSIONAL ITs have a score around 6
5) MASTER ITs have a score around 8
The PASS works best when comparing an IT against an actual job specification, as many of the categories are situational (a half point for Extra Curricular is only valid if the IS needs an IT with a specific ASP such as a sport, or MUN, etc. because everyone does ASPs if the IS provides them).
The scoring looks as follows:
1) 5 pts. Experience (10+ years)
2) 1 pts. Advanced Degree (M.Ed)
3) *.25 pts. Previous IE Experience (Maybe. it was only a year contract and while thats all they offered its still only one year)
4) .5 pts. Logistical Hire (Single, no dependents etc.).
5) *.25 pts. Cross Certified (maybe applicable as youve taught lower secondary science but your not credentialed in it, you probably could be if it was required)
Math is usually in high demand but your experience is only up through lower secondary which basically says you maybe can teach algebra.You also dont say what your bachelors/first degree is in, if its in Mathematics that changes things. In a large IS where the IS can specifically appoint for only a lower secondary position this is fine but there are going to be ISs, and not a small number of them who are going to want to hire a maths IT who can do it all through SLL which is including calculus. Again not an issue if you have a degree in maths and you can probably get credentialed in all level or all secondary level maths then, but if not your not going to be as marketable an IT for those such positions.
This leaves us with a PASS score of around 6.5, closer to a 7 if everything is aligned, and closer to a flat 6 if upper secondary maths is part of the position. This correlates to a professional class IT, with a marketable resume for second tier ISs, especially in hardship regions.
Tier one isnt unreasonable, the main challenge as far as the metrics go, is going to be that your in a pool of applicants with similar candidates who can confidently claim ability and success in teaching upper secondary maths, or who have cross curricular value in upper secondary sciences and/or ICT. Why hire you when they can hire them. The answer to that is youre either a better fit, which youre going to need an interview to showcase, or they really want an IT who exclusively and specifically works well with the lower secondary population. Thats just a smaller pool of available vacancies than the more generalized all level maths IT.
Re: How Desirable Am I
As always, does it matter? If you would let opinions on a message board dissuade you from applying overseas then its probably not the thing to do. There is some financial investment to make to land jobs overseas but they are not onerous. Apply and see what happens, wait until you are offered a job and then decide whether you are a good fit for that particular school or country, but to ask before applying seems a bit pointless. If my wife and I had taken ISS"s rejection (we actually got our application and original check back in an overstuffed envelop) back in the late 90s to heart then we wouldn't have spent 18 of the past 24 years overseas.
Re: How Desirable Am I
First, thank you all for taking the time to respond to my question. Very insightful to say the least.
I guess the reason for my posting this question is more than anything else curiosity. While I plan to apply to as many schools as possible that have a suitable job opening and are somewhere I'm interested in going, I wanted to get a better idea of which schools are more realistic for me landing an offer at. And yes, I understand there are a lot of factors at play.
So far this year I've applied to 14 schools and it has mostly been crickets, but I know it's still early in the recruiting season.
As I'm currently planning on attending two job fairs this year (two different recruiting agencies), do you feel in-person fairs give you a leg up or is that more a thing of the past?
I guess the reason for my posting this question is more than anything else curiosity. While I plan to apply to as many schools as possible that have a suitable job opening and are somewhere I'm interested in going, I wanted to get a better idea of which schools are more realistic for me landing an offer at. And yes, I understand there are a lot of factors at play.
So far this year I've applied to 14 schools and it has mostly been crickets, but I know it's still early in the recruiting season.
As I'm currently planning on attending two job fairs this year (two different recruiting agencies), do you feel in-person fairs give you a leg up or is that more a thing of the past?
Reply
@mysharona
The LW has already spent a year OS in an IS, they arent a noob.
@justme123
The fair effect is still a thing, though not as much as it was in the past. Candidates get offers at fairs, that still happens. Whats changed is the increase in recruiters/leaders wanting to "wait" as opposed to locking a hire as early as possible. It used to be you went to the BKK fair if you could get an invite and recruiters and leaders wants to fill vacancies at that fair and then move on to the other historical super fairs and their respective regional fairs. Each later fair was considered a step down, so in general the ITs you found at LON and then BOS and etc. were lower quality than the ones you found before it (big broad brush with that statement, there were and always have been other factors of course). Of late though your finding increasing numbers of recruiters/leaders at early fairs (BKK, etc.) waiting for later fairs (BOS, etc.) before making an offer/offers. There are a lot of dynamics happening at fairs but the primary two driving effects involve feeling stress and pressure to not leave with nothing (you dont want to feel like a loser if you spend all this coin and time and leave with nothing) and the loss opportunity pressure of signing now (the offers only good now/a few hours/today and then its gone). This increasing trend of waiting means those pressures increase. Ive seen all too often ITs sign with hardship location ISs and lower tier ISs because it was better than leaving with nothing and hope/promises. Why do leaders/recruiters do this, because as they have become more comfortable with online recruiting they have increased and opened up their applicant pools. They have less a pressure to sign an IT early because the fair gave them an idea and a poo of candidates they can turn to later. Most ITs are very indistinct from each other, the salient factor they focus on is fit, so if a recruiter walks away from a fair with a handful of candidates who will wait, there really isnt any loss for them.
The LW has already spent a year OS in an IS, they arent a noob.
@justme123
The fair effect is still a thing, though not as much as it was in the past. Candidates get offers at fairs, that still happens. Whats changed is the increase in recruiters/leaders wanting to "wait" as opposed to locking a hire as early as possible. It used to be you went to the BKK fair if you could get an invite and recruiters and leaders wants to fill vacancies at that fair and then move on to the other historical super fairs and their respective regional fairs. Each later fair was considered a step down, so in general the ITs you found at LON and then BOS and etc. were lower quality than the ones you found before it (big broad brush with that statement, there were and always have been other factors of course). Of late though your finding increasing numbers of recruiters/leaders at early fairs (BKK, etc.) waiting for later fairs (BOS, etc.) before making an offer/offers. There are a lot of dynamics happening at fairs but the primary two driving effects involve feeling stress and pressure to not leave with nothing (you dont want to feel like a loser if you spend all this coin and time and leave with nothing) and the loss opportunity pressure of signing now (the offers only good now/a few hours/today and then its gone). This increasing trend of waiting means those pressures increase. Ive seen all too often ITs sign with hardship location ISs and lower tier ISs because it was better than leaving with nothing and hope/promises. Why do leaders/recruiters do this, because as they have become more comfortable with online recruiting they have increased and opened up their applicant pools. They have less a pressure to sign an IT early because the fair gave them an idea and a poo of candidates they can turn to later. Most ITs are very indistinct from each other, the salient factor they focus on is fit, so if a recruiter walks away from a fair with a handful of candidates who will wait, there really isnt any loss for them.