Burnt by ISS!!

Toby

Burnt by ISS!!

Post by Toby »

Be aware that ISS will not support you should you resign form a position prior to the termination date of the contract. The director of a school can abuse you in a variety of ways that would land him or her in court in the States and still you are the culprit for resigning. Lets face it, the money comes from the schools and therefore the school is blindly supported while we teachers are immediately discredited and banned from recruiting.

I was black balled from ISS two years ago. The director of the school I worked at was the most miserable, abusive person I had ever met. In self-defense I resigned. I then found myself black balled by ISS. No one seemed interested in my side of the situation. All that mattered was that I resigned.

I sincerely doubt that any of the staff at ISS would want to subject themselves or a family member to this director yet they think its okay to continually allow schools that abuse teachers to recruit at their conferences. My advice to you is to be very careful about who you agree to work for. The larger, more extablished schools seem to be better as they have policies in place. At the smaller schools the director seems to make it up as he goes along. This can be a big problem. Once you leave the States you are on your own. ISS will not back you, but will instead black ball you should you resign in protest.
Guest

ISS burnt me, too!!

Post by Guest »

I, too, was black balled because I terminated my contract after one year. The director came-on to me at staff parties and even during school hours. He went so far as to start asking me out for dinners. I decided not to return after summer vacation. Since ISS knew I had a two-year contract at the school they questioned why I wanted to attend the upcoming recruiting fair. I explained my side of the story and was told by ISS that they would no longer support my candidacy. It appears they are afraid of teachers showing up at conferences and telling the truth about some of these schools. Anything for a dollar!! I did manage to find another position on the Internet at an overseas school. I am very happy with my present situation. Even if ISS offered to let me recruit at one of there conferences for free I wouldn't attend.
Guest

Beware of ISS and Jane Larsson

Post by Guest »

Jane Larsson will pretend to be your friend and act as if she is going to support you when you decide to resign due to an abusive director. The truth is that after you resign her standard position will be... " we are not in a position to know what actually happened." Translation: ISS will blindly support the director and not you!! Although you may have an advanced degree and years of overseas teaching experience your credibility level is zero in the eyes of Jane Larsson.

Jane Larsson of ISS is not your friend and thinking that the sympathetic tone she begins her emails with will develop into her assistance is a mistake on your part. You will always loose because long after you leave the international circuit the school you left will still be recruiting through ISS and forking over good cold cash. You can't compete with paying customers. At least we have ISR to help us avoid these situations now.

You are on your own out there. I learned the hard way!!
lubulu

Anyone been blackballed by Search Assoc?

Post by lubulu »

Wondering if anyone has been blackballed by Search Associates? So far I am disappointed in the service. I have researched schools, followed all guidelines in their contract, yet was not allowed to attend the fair where I had lots of interesting possibilities. I had to attend another fair where there were barely any positions!
guest

blackballed by SEARCH

Post by guest »

A former colleague was 'blacklisted' by SEARCH and denied entry to any fairs when she 'broke' contract. This came about when she failed to return to work during the timefrate that the school requested after being evacuated during the war against Iraq last year. Apparently, SEARCH has no grey areas for mitigating circumstances such as a war. Be forewarned.
mukiwa

ISS et al

Post by mukiwa »

I have not been black listed by any of the agencies, and have attended fairs by ECIS, ISS and Iowa. Nevertheless my experiences have been less than positive. Really, we are asked to pay out for air tickets to the fair, hotel during the fair (if you don't stay at the hotel you are at a disadvantage)and registration fees. For What? Basically a crap shoot. I have also tried applying to schools directly, but find that this has been even less successful that the job fairs. Most of the good schools are part of the network and reluctant to hire outside the job fairs, even if you offer to fly over for an interview.
I am not sure what the answer is, as long as we continue to support the job fairs, they will continue to be too lucrative economically, as well as networking for our administrators, for anything else to take their place.
Pity.
Bill

Search treated me better !

Post by Bill »

I have attended both Search and ISS conferences in the past. ISS treated me like a number but offered what I consider a false sense of caring. It must be my money they cared about, as they are infinitely more expensive than Search. Search, on the other hand, offered personal treatment and I was actually helped to find a great position. An ISS conference has a phony air about it and feels like a pressure cooker. Search, by contrast, has a more relaxed feel and everything about it seems more genuine.

It's too bad that Search does not offer a conference in the States before the ISS conference. That way we could use ISS as a back-up and with luck not have to attend ISS!!!
Alex

Search

Post by Alex »

I have to say that at Search, very few of the schools were hiring. They all seemed to be waiting for the big ISS fair before making decisions. I and my fellow staff members were in a bad situation once with ISS - we had an insane director...no really...certifiable...you were lucky if anyone finished their contract and ISS was supposed to provide oversight. The ISS Rep would show up each year and listen to our anguish about the mad ding-song oppressor (sp?), smile and then tell him everything we had said in confidence!! He was eventually chased out of the country by the school parents. Did we hear anything from ISS? Not a cheep.
Martha

ISS

Post by Martha »

I agree with you. I worked at school in Central America. We had to fight to get our money every month. It got so bad that some of the teachers lost their apartments and had to move in with each other. The school broke its contract with us in more than one way.

Ten teachers wrote to ISS for help. ISS did nothing to help us and the school was allowed to continue to recruit at their conferences, even though the ten of us broke contract and left at the end of the first year.

ISS goes with the money and doesn't care about us. It's obvious right from the start. Conferences are held at very expensive hotels in expensive cities. The directors get their expenses paid by the school and go and . and talk about us behind our backs. The ISS folks go and ., too, on their expense accounts. And us...we line up for the cattle call and pay for it all.
guest

ECIS London

Post by guest »

My wife and I attended the ECIS London fair for the third time and we will not be returning in the future. I recommend against this fair for the following reasons:

1) ECIS does not keep your file "EVER". You must get your heads to resend in their references all over again - a real pain!

2) Marble Arch Hotel is a hole.

3) The quality of the schools are very poor. (mostly schools that do not provide housing etc).

4) Small number of positions offered.


Ironically, The last three international schools we accepted work at were by direct email over the internet. Our first fair in IOWA was okay and we landed our first international school job there.
Guest

Jane Larsson

Post by Guest »

Avoid ISS and Jane Larsson. $$$$$$ Talks and teachers walk. Play the game, smile and eat crow and you and ISS will get along just fine. Raise your hand, speak your mind, stand-up for yourself and you be out like me!!!!
Guest

You Gotta Love ISS

Post by Guest »

I attended an ISS fair recently and found what I thought to be a great position. Now I am receiving letters from the school quite contradictory to what we discussed at the conference. ISS tells me this is between me and the school. Obviously they don't screen who can recruit at thier conferences and think of us as cattle.
Lara

CIS and/or SEARCH January 2005

Post by Lara »

I haven't the money or the time to travel the distance to get to ISS's job fairs or UNI's. Has anyone attended the CIS and/or SEARCH fair in London? Is it worthwhile to attend both as they are held back-to-back? Do I need a strong pyp background? Thanks!
Tim

Search Fair in London

Post by Tim »

Hi Laura,

I was planning to attend the Search fair in London but when I saw the positions that were available I decided not to go. Being a specialist I teach a specific subject so unless that position is being offered by at least a few schools it's not worth going. I do remember that there was a very extensive list of schools and positions and I would have gone if I taught a different subject. Search was pretty good about letting me cancel and not loose my money. ISS is very expensive. Between the fee to activate your file and the fee to attend a fair you're into them for about $500. And then you have the air fare and the very expensive hotels they always choose. If I were living in Europe I think I would check out the Search Fair.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Laura,

I have been to the London ECIS fair three times but never again. To me, there are not enough schools attending and the schools seem to hold off until they get to the USA fairs. For specialists - it is not worth it. For general classroom teachers who want to live in Europe, Africa or the Middle East, then it is fine.
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