Search Job Fair 2017

[skybluesky]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I have the following experience:

Me: US Teaching Certification – Elementary/Middle K-8 Multiple Subject, Single Subject (Spanish), (IB Certificate: Language acquisition: Implementing the MYP curriculum)

US Citizenship, Work Permit to work in Spain

Before Certification: 2 yrs ESL Spain, 2 yrs. Private School (5th Grade), 1 Year Middle School/High School, Private School in Colombia (not International Schools)

After Certification, 3 yrs (Elementary School, 3rd Grade California) 1 Year(Spanish Teacher, Middle School, California)

Wife: Spanish Teaching Certification (Spring 2017), School Psychologist,

Experience (4 Yrs IB School in California, 4th Grade Teacher PYP (Spanish), and Learning Specialist


This year we moved back to Spain to be closer to family and for my wife to finish her teaching credential here. We will be attending the 2017 Search Fair in London for the first time. Ideally, we would like to be secure teaching/school psychology positions for the 2017-2018 based in Spain, or somewhere close. What are our chances of being successful at this fair? I feel like my lack of true IS experience could be an issue. Last year I had offers from Turkey and Brazil (from TIE) but we decided to wait another year to try and move closer.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[PsyGuy]

Forget the LON fair, the only reason for you to be repped by a premium agency is to get into the BKK fair because you are looking for a tier 1/elite tier IS, otherwise you dont need representation or really anyone.
You are in the very fortunate position of having EU passports and working papers. In May a lot of WE ISs will have vacancies and because of the time frame will require applicants to have working papers, a number of mid tier ISs in Spain will make you offers the same day of interviewing once those vacancies become available. Thus the only benefit of a premium agency is if you are focused on an elite tier IS in Spain or WE, and those ISs do their recruiting early or at BKK.

If you stay with the LON fair based on your resumes the only real issue is having EU passports, otherwise its not an issue of you being successful or not its what your expectations are of what successful means to you. You will absolutely have offers, more you than your spouse, who will be the deciding factor. Just about any IS will create a primary vacancy for a candidates spouse if they really want the primary IT bad enough.

[skybluesky]

Thanks for the reply. I'm guessing that attending the London Fair would be a waste of time/money then? As far as targeting schools for May, what do you think is the best way to proceed aside from sending an email with cover letter, CV, and mentioning my Search profile? In California, I was able to meet and talk to principles by approaching the school and talking about possible job opportunities face to face. How do ISs look at this? I always felt that it was a nice way to get to know a school by getting a chance to visit before interviewing.

I am not that interested in teaching at an elite tier IS. It's more important to me what the students/families are like, along with colleagues and location.

[Thames Pirate]

No, go to the London fair if your target is Spain or nearby. The London fair attracts far more European schools. Last year, 40 or so schools from WE attended, including two from Spain. While school signup is not over yet, there are currently only 5 from WE on the list for BKK, and none from Spain (there were schools from Spain in London last year). You could even piggy back it with the CIS fair, which is also heavily Europe.

I do think you will be competitive. You have IB experience, experience living abroad, and EU passports. You are a teaching couple, and you are versatile. What's not to love?

[Thames Pirate]

Just adding that we got invites to BKK last year, and we opted for London because our target was Europe and there were far more going to London. Our top pick went to BKK, but most of the rest we liked were only in LON, so we decided to risk not getting our top pick to go for the bigger range. As it turned out, we got three pre-fair interviews lined up, the first of which was with our top pick school. They offered us a contract on the spot, and we cancelled everything and took it. They had not filled the position in BKK, and here we are at our dream job. So it isn't that BKK is super-elite and everything else is sub-par. Maybe that used to be the case, but now it is far more geographic. With Skype and the growth of independent applications, the reality is that this trend is likely to continue.

So go to London. Best of luck!

[reisgio]

Am I missing something? You want school psychology positions? What is your experience in school psychology?

[Thames Pirate]

It's the partner who wants the psychology job if I read it correctly.

[skybluesky]

Yes, my partner will be looking for a school psychology position. She is a Spanish national with experience in the US at an IB school, and certification from Spain. She has taught 4th grade in Spanish, and has also worked as a learning specialist.

We're hoping that we'll be able to secure positions for next year in Spain or any position in WE. I'm not sure how many ISs outside of Spain have open positions for Spanish speakers. I know some have advertised for Spanish and the ability to teach French.

[reisgio]

But does she have school psychology experience, or will she just have school psychology education?

[skybluesky]

6 years working with children in early intervention, diagnosing learning difficulties, in schools as well as clinical work..

[PsyGuy]

@skybluesky

I disagree with @Thames Pirate, the LON fair is the EU fair, but you dont need to compete with everyone else who is trying to get "into" the EU, and your not trying to get "into" Spain, you are already there and you want to stay there. The only reason for you to go to a fair at all is if your primary goal is to move into one of the 1st tier/Elite tier ISs, because everyone outside superstar ITs has to compete for those vacancies, and those ISs do their recruiting either in early recruitment, first night recruiting or at the BKK fair. They will likely have filled or identified their preferred candidate before LON.

It really depends what you consider a waste of time and money is, $225 each for the agency fees, plus air and hotel, all to mill around with a bunch of ITs who are competing for vacancies literally in your backyard. If you were an actor would you prefer a private meet and greet with the director, or going to a casting call with everyone else? The scenario changes if you say your just interested in relocating anywhere in the EU, and you dont have EU passports and Spanish working papers, then the LON fair gives you convenience and access. You arent doing that though, your goal is finding a local IS/DS, and your local so I dont see a benefit of going to all the effort and resources of IE recruiting, why choose to be a fish in a big pond, when your already a fish in a small pond, your voluntarily submitting yourself to more competition. If you wait until May those ISs are going to consider you the answer to their prayers, if you participate in LON, your forgoing those advantages your locality and passport give you.

Youll be successful at LON (at least you will be), thats why I advised BKK, your spouses education field is dying in IE. Only the very large ISs have S. Psys on staff anymore, and those ISs are the elite and 1st tier ISs. A school counselor that does the initial intervention and then refers out is the trend in IE. ISs just arent mental health clinics/centers. In those ISs that have S. Psys its mostly as part of the SPED/SEN/LS/LD department, and that department needs to be robust enough to warrant a S. Psy.
Your spouse is more marketable presenting themselves as a school counselor, but without a credential and experience almost exclusively in clinical, without any career/Uni counseling experience, its going to be a very hard sell. Most of the smaller and modest size ISs in EU have one counselor who does all of it. A school counselor is a junior admin whos tasking is going to involve doing presentations, and morning coffee mixers with parents than clinical work. Your spouse is going to be the hard sell, if theres a vacancy and fit for her, a primary appointment for you as part of the deal isnt much of an issue, but thats going to be the issue finding an IS in Spain that needs a counselor and will find a S. Psy acceptable. Literally, with such a narrow range, its entirely probable there simply is no vacancy this year for your spouse. Your spouse will be even more marketable as a SPED/SEN/LS/LD IT. Marketing yourself as a lower secondary generalist and your spouse as primary or as a FL IT is more marketable than a S. Psy.

Sending an email with cover letter and mentioning your location and availability of an in person interview. In May they will probably want to interview you at the absolutely earliest time, so Skype would be more convenient, but if you could be available in person within a day or two of scheduling without much fuss an in person interview would likely work and be acceptable.

I wouldnt just drop by an IS and request an interview, thats not likely to work, and I wouldnt advise it, but in your contact with them you can mention your availability and if you start talking and showing mutual interest a meet and greet would be appropriate. If you were in the same city, you could do a little stalking, find out where the HOS hangs out and then arrange for the two (or four with spouses) to bump into each other.

[reisgio]

I agree with PSYGUY on how to market your spouse. But the timeframe of the schools may be earlier than you think, so keep your eye out.