UNI-Recruiment Fair Advice

[Amy]

My husband and I are planning on attending the UNI Recruitment Fair in Feb. 2006. Does anyone have any tips from the fair or comments on what they thought of the fair? Thanks!

[wardsinabudhabi]

Having attended the UNI fair where I got my first overseas job 11 years ago, I have a biased opinion of the fair. I have been back to the UNI fair since then and find the atmosphere a little less stressful and competitive than the ISS fairs. Seems like the UNI staff is a bit more hospitable.

[Pat]

I've never been to a UNI fair. I work with a man that has been overseas for 14 years and he and his wife havae obtained every teaching position through UNI. He told me they went one year to the ISS meat market and that was enough.

[Guest]

My wife and I have been to UNI 3 times. Each time we were able to land a better international post. Tracy Roling who overseas the program is a very decent and professional person. I respect this fair.

[Guest]

I have attended both the UNI and ISS fairs at different times and find the UNI fair to be much more helpful and pleasant. The staff are friendly, supportive, and professional. I find ISS to be engrossed with money, unfriendly, and do not do the job teachers pay $450 (costs to establish a file and attend a fair) for them to do. For example, one simple service that ISS provides teachers is esblishing a file that includes various documents (references, transcripts, diplomas, resume, etc.). Despite completing and turning in documents well ahead of the deadlines, at times, ISS has left out or not included some of these documents, particularly references, in teachers files. Sure, mistakes happen, but ISS did very little to rectify the situation, let alone take responsibility and apologize for the error. I hesitate going back to ISS, though they do seem to have a FEW more schools represented at their fairs then UNI. However, UNI still has over a hundred schools attending with many topnotch schools.

Given the choice, I would attend UNI.

p.s. I have no experience with Search Associates

[Sulawesi]

I've been working overseas for 6 years. I first went to the UNI fair on the advice of a friend. I thought I had made a bad decision thinking Iowa and international doesn't seem to go well together but I'm glad I went. The fair was staffed with friendly, professional folks. I got my first job there and it was at a great school. UNI also had a forum on their website that candidates were able to use to get info on schools and parts of the world they were interested in going. However, my next two fairs were ISS since it was easier to fly into East Coast cities, not have to rent cars, do a little shopping, attend the fair and then make it make to work the next week. If I were a first time candidate, I would definitely go to the UNI fair. It's smaller (but attended by quality schools) and less stressful.

[E.B. White]

I have taught at three international schools. The first position I obtained through the placement office at UNI (of which I am a graduate); the second was obtained independently; the current position (now, with my wife) was obtained as a result of attending ISS-Boston. The year before going to ISS, my wife and I went to the UNI fair and we received a verbal offer from a school which the director that same evening denied having made. The fair personnel were not helpful or sympathetic at all, siding completely with the school and its director, in spite of some implicit suggestions that, given the statements made to us, we might actually have had an offer. Upon receiving the offer, we cancelled other interview appointments, and so had only one other prior - and lukewarm - interview to pin our hopes on. We were devastated and flew home to wait another year. The ISS fair, in our estimation, was thoroughly professional and they did everything they said they would. The opinion stated that the UNI personnel are friendly folks indicates exactly why I would not go back. I don't need friendly folks - I seek professional commitment and assistance. This we received from ISS. Is the whole fair process a bit too barbarous - of course; but, I don't think Boston and UNI vary much in that regard. Also, as a native of the Waterloo - Cedar Falls area, I was very surprised by how depressing the area had become - even a visit back to the UNI campus was very sad. The area around the fair in Waterloo is pretty dismal and the hotel situation was abysmal - we still laugh about the room we were in (though it was far from funny). Other than a couple of decent restaurants, there is little to recommend the area. The only people to whom I might recommend the UNI fair are young, first-time hopefuls who would rather deal with someone who reminded them of their mother behind the registration table and would rather deal with a Hootervillesque hotel and fast food than the offerings and adrenalin rush of a bigger venue.

[Guest]

My husband and I attended UNI 3 different times. It was a huge meat market and a bit demoralizing, yet we walked away with several offers on the first day each time and then had the rest of the weekend to think about it, read through material and talk to other candidates...which proved to be very, very helpful.

We were offered jobs and signed contracts every time we attended. We were offered verbal agreements too but never have accepted. If a school did not offer a contract to sign, we didn't even think twice. Period. Some heads say they have to go back to get permission from the board. Bull. That may be true for administrative positions, but not for the teachers. They're just going to go to other fairs and see what's there first.

Yes, it can be expensive to go to these fairs. That's international teaching. You are marketing yourself. The first and second time we went to UNI, we were in the states so it was only a couple of hundred $$ for airfare, hotel and car rental (our first job offer was from a country that went into civil war weeks before we were to arrive and the school closed for a year). The third time we went to UNI we traveled from overseas and so it was very expensive as we also had to take a pay cut during the time we were gone...plus resign from our jobs because we were going to a hiring fair...school policy at that time.

Over the years I've heard good and bad from teachers about ISS and Search. We just stuck with UNI because it was always a success for us. I do know that administrators and specialist positions choose ISS and Search venues because it's a bit more tricky to market oneself for those particular positions and school heads look to ISS and Search for assistance with those positions.