Hello,

I've been given the unenviable job of recruiting teachers for our school in China, but the administration has given me no budget to work with. I previously recruited a teacher through Edpost, which is run by Saint Cloud State University as a sort of public service. It seems to have started as a job search service for graduates from local universities, but for whatever reason it grew and grew and now they get job postings (and qualified applicants) from all over Minnesota and the Dakotas and maybe even beyond, and schools can post there for free. It's a great site/service, I can't recommend it enough and I'm using it, but for one of the positions I'm hiring for, I just haven't been able to find anyone using Edpost.

I would love to use Joyjobs/TIE/Search or LinkedIn or whatever else, but clearly I'm not going to use my own salary for it and my administration won't budge on this issue. So...does anyone know any other free sites where school recruiters can post jobs, for example for recent college graduates? It could just be school websites (with large teacher training programs), anything like that that has a reasonably large audience. We are perfectly willing to hire new graduates with good records/credentials.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

"Getting a valid teaching certificate is a non issue"

Well then you should definitely get it ASAP, it makes a huge difference. I have various teaching experience (including as a licensed math teacher) but no current license, and it was very hard to find decent work, even as a single male.

Get a license that would allow you to teach in Canada. That's the first step. Then apply to every job that fits your specs, using all the specialized search engines. Don't just apply to dream jobs, apply to dream jobs but also safety jobs. If you ask me, there's a good chance you'll find something reasonable, though I suppose my definition of "reasonable" might be colored by the fact that I'm young, single, unattached, without children. I'm sure your needs in terms of salary/health insurance/etc. are much higher. Since you have experience in Asia, maybe you should ask around about other Asian countries? Philippines, Taiwan, etc. I don't know what the educational environment is like there.

I wouldn't describe myself as thin-skinned, it's just I feel some posters in this forum are very apt to jump in with a certain attitude which is counterproductive when giving advice or attempting to provide mentorship. Yes, telling the truth is important, but if what you mean is that "principals aren't going to give much credence to X experience," and you say "you have no experience," just what's the point of butchering the language towards the negative like that? I've seen someone here say "I've never lived abroad before," and he/she gets replies like "oh man, the principals aren't going to like that," then I come on here and say "I taught ESL two years abroad" and people say "oh man, the principals aren't going to like that." In short, some people, who may well have their sh*t together nowadays act like it was always like that. Not all of us are obsessed with the "tier 1/tier X" pissing contest, we think education is a decent profession and for whatever reason want to live abroad; some of us are at the beginning of our careers and would just appreciate a bit of mentoring. Again, I'm not saying this because I have particularly thin skin, but I think a person with thin skin would possibly not like posting here very much. Atmosphere and being collegial matters in a professional forum, that's my two cents.

I've definitely thought about staying in USA, I'm not 100% sure I'll go abroad, but since I've already gotten job offers in China for example, and I would be interested to go there, I might just jump in. I just didn't want to start without the license, in which case it would be very difficult to climb the ladder or in which case I would have way fewer options if a contract went sour. The master's is for long-term mobility you might say, and for the sake of CYA.

And yes, I'm fairly open. I mean, yeah, probably my dream is to work near the beach in Brazil or maybe a ski resort in Switzerland, but I'm perfectly aware that it's probably not going to be my first posting. I put down Asia not because it's my first choice, but because I'm aware that it's a big industry there and not hard to get on the bottom rung.

And the part "75% of International Schools will take anyone with a pulse" combined with "you'll get a job at a bad school" makes it seem that you consider 75% of International schools to be bad. Is that a fairly accurate number?

For what it's worth, I appreciate your advice on staying in the USA, and I thank PsyGuy for mentioning the internship program. However:

[quote="shadowjack"]you have no real experience teaching[/quote]
[quote="PsyGuy"]You dont have 4.5 years of experience. None of your irregular teaching, LSAT, or ESOL instruction count. [/quote]

I'm sorry, but this is some high-horse bologna. I'm aware that there's a difference between working as a certified teacher and working non-certified positions (I should, as I was formerly certified, with all the training that entails), and I [i]specifically[/i] stated that I'm aware I don't have 2 years post-certification. But let's not butcher the English language and say that classroom teaching experience for professional outfits is "not teaching" or that it's not "real" experience. Take the average certified teacher with 2-3 years teaching and I can almost guarantee that I'm as good or better at classroom management, planning and assessment techniques, questioning methods, and all sorts of skills which apply to any classroom. It's ridiculous for you to assume that my CV is bad or that principals and recruiters are all lying to me en masse like it's some massive conspiracy; you know nothing about my academic record or other work experience.

In any case, what you both mean is that principals in international schools might be likely not to see my LSAT and ESL experience in a terribly positive light. To that extent, it's a useful thing to know for interview purposes, and hopefully I don't run into any principals who have their heads stuck so far down in the sand they think classroom experience that didn't happen in his or her school or a school just like it is the pedagogical equivalent of digging ditches.

I suppose that post was fairly informative, however I started reading a couple other threads and thought I might include a bit more, just to nip potential questions in the bud.

1. I'm an unmarried male
2. Though my licenses will be in business and social studies, I'm likely qualified to teach basic mathematics (algebra, geometry) in a pinch. Similarly, I could likely fill in for TESOL and also for literature/writing, as I have knowledge/experience in those fields.

Hello,

I'm posting because I have a slightly unusual employment and schooling history, and am not sure about my course of action in finding a teaching position for fall 2014.

Basically, I'm about 30 years old; my first job out of university with an economics degree (plus liberal arts minor) was as a mathematics teacher in New York. After one year and one summer, I resigned as I knew I didn't want to teach mathematics, and took a job as an LSAT teacher. Since then I've had irregular teaching and tutoring jobs as well as 2 years as an ESL teacher overseas. All told I have about 4.5 years of full-time classroom experience; one year of that was with a provisional license at a public school, the rest private.

I'm currently getting a master's in education, and next June I expect to receive dual licensure for business and social studies, 7-12. I'm 90% sure that I want to go abroad to teach again, rather than staying in the USA. I'd like to teach AP economics, or at least, I'd imagine that's my most marketable skill as I have a B.S. in econ. Of course I'm willing to teach history if it's the right position, but I'd like to build experience in AP econ.

So, can anyone recommend a course of action for getting a good job? I have a decent amount of classroom experience and my academic credentials are good, however I've not taught in my new subject areas, though of course I am knowledgeable in those fields. I've heard some recruiters (Search Associates maybe?) tend to require experience post-certification, and some job postings ask for the same thing, however in some locations (I looked at jobs in Kazakhstan since I speak Russian) when I actually wrote to recruiters and principals about that requirement, they said "you have experience, so if you had a license we would certainly consider hiring you." I've already had offers to teach AP economics at lower-tier schools in China, for example, but in the end I decided to do the master's instead, such that I'd have more options and better long-term prospects.

In terms of areas I'd like to go; Russia and CIS is okay since I speak Russian, I also speak some Spanish and wouldn't mind South America/Brazil, would maybe consider Europe and I've heard that Asia might be the best, especially for a new teacher: good schools, good lifestyle and saving opportunities. In short, I'm fairly flexible. I'm mainly looking for a good lifestyle (normal workload is okay, but nothing too punishing as I have artistic hobbies I would like time for). Money is a consideration, but certainly not the primary one. Good lifestyle is more important than upward mobility per se.

Not sure what else to say; since my post is a bit broad, let's say the two main questions are:
1. Where would an AP Economics teacher be most marketable for the best jobs?
2. What recruiters or other services should I use to find those jobs?

In short, if anyone wants to offer advice about a good course of action to take someone with my work history and credentials in a good direction, I'd really appreciate it.