London Fair - a belated summary
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:19 am
Part 1:
This was the first Fair for my partner and me, and though we are fairly experienced IB educators (including Master’s degrees and a combined 18 years international teaching), our experience of the London Fair was one which may inform others in their planning and expectations. I’ve benefited much but contributed nothing to previous SR discussions, so it’s time for me to give a little back. The post is a long one, so not to tax your time too much at once I’ve decided to break it up into chunks.
Before the Fair our objective was straightforward: a good school in western Europe which had positions for both of us. We had already turned down requests for interviews from some good schools in south-east Asia (been there) and central Asia (ten years ago maybe), but on the eve of the Fair there was just the single school with advertised positions that matched our interests. My partner and I had already sent letters of application to this school and to a few others with a position for at least one of us, all the time expecting that that more matching posts would appear once we were at the Fair. We left for London already facing limited options and wondered openly whether we should relent from our narrow focus and expand to consider non-European schools. However, we also knew that our current school was keen to keep us and had generously extended our notification deadline to the first work after the Fair, so if we left London with no contracts that didn’t mean we would be jobless for the next school year.
The evening before the Fair tested our resolve as a great school in east Asia whose fortunes we had been following for years emailed us asking to interview before sign-up. Neither my partner nor I would have considered working at School A as anything other than a great outcome for our job search: the positions, school, the city, the package, the leadership – everything appealed, notwithstanding that it was not Europe. Some advice that had always been given to us about approaching a Fair had been to go in with open minds, and we were prepared to change our plans if it meant working at School A. We accepted the invitation to interview and prepared to fly out that night with a heightened sense of expectation.
Day 1: We arrived in London in the early morning and after the three-hour commute from Heathrow to Gloucester Rd Station, were thankful we had changed our original flight times. Had they been kept, would have arrived late for the 1.00pm Fair orientation. The orientation itself wasn’t too informative – it basically covered the information in the pre-Fair emails sent by Search – but the timely arrival meant we could prepare for that unexpected early interview with School A. Also, that morning another school we were interested in, this one in a great northern European city, had invited my partner to interview at the same time as the orientation. A note for our future reference: schools will schedule interviews as soon as it is convenient for them to do so, so an early Fair arrival can be helpful to candidates.
We also had time to reconnoiter the Fair venue, touch base with our Associate, survey job listings in the candidate lounge, check the candidates’ mail room, and drop our CVs and notes into recruiters’ folders in the schools’ mail room.
A few observations:
1) the school listings in the lounge area was almost identical to what was on the Search database, something that surprised us;
2) there was not a single paper communication other than advertising to our candidate folders for the duration of the Fair;
3) we wondered whether the paper CVs and handwritten notes had any effect on potential recruiters as we garnered absolutely no interest from this contact method; and
4) we were again grateful that out hotel was only 100m from the Fair venue, and we welcomed the opportunity to take breaks from the Fair venue to relax and reflect.
Two Fair features that are worth mentioning were the Attendify app and Fair Portal. The former was activated about a week before the Fair and allowed us to contact other candidates and, later, we used it to contact school representatives once mutual interest had been established either through email or at sign-up. The Fair Portal on the Search site was particularly useful, among other things, for its list of school representatives who would be attending the Fair. A few days before the Fair, my partner and I emailed the directors and principals of our target schools to remind them of our applications and that we looked forward to meeting them at the sign-up. Most of the messages that we sent were at least acknowledged and a couple were keen on arranging an interview, so this enabled us to queue-jump later at interview sign-up. We also wondered whether Attendify and the Fair Portal would eventually supplant the need for mail rooms for candidate and recruiters respectively. Our experience with the app and the portal was generally positive, much less so with the mail rooms.
My partner’s interview with School B’s section leader went well and was told that a follow-up Skype interview with other staff would be arranged for the next day. However, no position was open yet for me though the prospect of something becoming available was a possibility closer to the end of the school year. Our joint interview with School A’s director and section leader went very well. Each showed knowledgeable familiarity with our CVs and they sold us on their educational philosophy and vision for the school Our heads were turned, and the prospect of working at this school with these leaders became a very appealing one. We were contacted after the interview and informed that School A wished to progress our application, asked if referees could be contacted, and if so would set up follow-up interviews with our prospective line managers in the days ahead. My partner’s interview was scheduled for Day 2 of the Fair, and I was told mine would be set for a later day. What we inferred from this delay was that other candidates had probably (and reasonably) been prioritized ahead of me.
The sign-up was bedlam. Half the schools (those with from countries whose names started with A-K) were in one venue (downstairs), while the rest were upstairs (or vice versa, I can’t recall). My partner and I approached three schools only, all in western Europe and to which we had sent applications before the Fair: two which had positions for me only, and one which had had positions for both of us. The first two were interested in me (I’d like to think) but confirmed that nothing was available for my partner, so we agreed there was little point in pursuing the application. The only other target school at the Fair with jobs for both of us – School C - invited us to interview on Day 2.
So, the end of Day 1 summary: a joint interview concluded with School A in east Asia with the prospect of follow-ups; a single interview for my partner with School B with a follow-up scheduled for the next day; a joint interview with School C set for Day 2.
This was the first Fair for my partner and me, and though we are fairly experienced IB educators (including Master’s degrees and a combined 18 years international teaching), our experience of the London Fair was one which may inform others in their planning and expectations. I’ve benefited much but contributed nothing to previous SR discussions, so it’s time for me to give a little back. The post is a long one, so not to tax your time too much at once I’ve decided to break it up into chunks.
Before the Fair our objective was straightforward: a good school in western Europe which had positions for both of us. We had already turned down requests for interviews from some good schools in south-east Asia (been there) and central Asia (ten years ago maybe), but on the eve of the Fair there was just the single school with advertised positions that matched our interests. My partner and I had already sent letters of application to this school and to a few others with a position for at least one of us, all the time expecting that that more matching posts would appear once we were at the Fair. We left for London already facing limited options and wondered openly whether we should relent from our narrow focus and expand to consider non-European schools. However, we also knew that our current school was keen to keep us and had generously extended our notification deadline to the first work after the Fair, so if we left London with no contracts that didn’t mean we would be jobless for the next school year.
The evening before the Fair tested our resolve as a great school in east Asia whose fortunes we had been following for years emailed us asking to interview before sign-up. Neither my partner nor I would have considered working at School A as anything other than a great outcome for our job search: the positions, school, the city, the package, the leadership – everything appealed, notwithstanding that it was not Europe. Some advice that had always been given to us about approaching a Fair had been to go in with open minds, and we were prepared to change our plans if it meant working at School A. We accepted the invitation to interview and prepared to fly out that night with a heightened sense of expectation.
Day 1: We arrived in London in the early morning and after the three-hour commute from Heathrow to Gloucester Rd Station, were thankful we had changed our original flight times. Had they been kept, would have arrived late for the 1.00pm Fair orientation. The orientation itself wasn’t too informative – it basically covered the information in the pre-Fair emails sent by Search – but the timely arrival meant we could prepare for that unexpected early interview with School A. Also, that morning another school we were interested in, this one in a great northern European city, had invited my partner to interview at the same time as the orientation. A note for our future reference: schools will schedule interviews as soon as it is convenient for them to do so, so an early Fair arrival can be helpful to candidates.
We also had time to reconnoiter the Fair venue, touch base with our Associate, survey job listings in the candidate lounge, check the candidates’ mail room, and drop our CVs and notes into recruiters’ folders in the schools’ mail room.
A few observations:
1) the school listings in the lounge area was almost identical to what was on the Search database, something that surprised us;
2) there was not a single paper communication other than advertising to our candidate folders for the duration of the Fair;
3) we wondered whether the paper CVs and handwritten notes had any effect on potential recruiters as we garnered absolutely no interest from this contact method; and
4) we were again grateful that out hotel was only 100m from the Fair venue, and we welcomed the opportunity to take breaks from the Fair venue to relax and reflect.
Two Fair features that are worth mentioning were the Attendify app and Fair Portal. The former was activated about a week before the Fair and allowed us to contact other candidates and, later, we used it to contact school representatives once mutual interest had been established either through email or at sign-up. The Fair Portal on the Search site was particularly useful, among other things, for its list of school representatives who would be attending the Fair. A few days before the Fair, my partner and I emailed the directors and principals of our target schools to remind them of our applications and that we looked forward to meeting them at the sign-up. Most of the messages that we sent were at least acknowledged and a couple were keen on arranging an interview, so this enabled us to queue-jump later at interview sign-up. We also wondered whether Attendify and the Fair Portal would eventually supplant the need for mail rooms for candidate and recruiters respectively. Our experience with the app and the portal was generally positive, much less so with the mail rooms.
My partner’s interview with School B’s section leader went well and was told that a follow-up Skype interview with other staff would be arranged for the next day. However, no position was open yet for me though the prospect of something becoming available was a possibility closer to the end of the school year. Our joint interview with School A’s director and section leader went very well. Each showed knowledgeable familiarity with our CVs and they sold us on their educational philosophy and vision for the school Our heads were turned, and the prospect of working at this school with these leaders became a very appealing one. We were contacted after the interview and informed that School A wished to progress our application, asked if referees could be contacted, and if so would set up follow-up interviews with our prospective line managers in the days ahead. My partner’s interview was scheduled for Day 2 of the Fair, and I was told mine would be set for a later day. What we inferred from this delay was that other candidates had probably (and reasonably) been prioritized ahead of me.
The sign-up was bedlam. Half the schools (those with from countries whose names started with A-K) were in one venue (downstairs), while the rest were upstairs (or vice versa, I can’t recall). My partner and I approached three schools only, all in western Europe and to which we had sent applications before the Fair: two which had positions for me only, and one which had had positions for both of us. The first two were interested in me (I’d like to think) but confirmed that nothing was available for my partner, so we agreed there was little point in pursuing the application. The only other target school at the Fair with jobs for both of us – School C - invited us to interview on Day 2.
So, the end of Day 1 summary: a joint interview concluded with School A in east Asia with the prospect of follow-ups; a single interview for my partner with School B with a follow-up scheduled for the next day; a joint interview with School C set for Day 2.