It sounds like you are like us in overpreparing, too! We cold-contacted our top choices early just introducing ourselves and expressing an interest in the school for future positions. Directors do remember that stuff. We took every hint and lead and piece of advice, weighed it, and acted based on what we perceived to be the best course of action. It paid off, and we are headed to our dream school, having done the final meet and greet at the fair.

One thing we did that helped was familiarize ourselves with the mission statements, important people, and strengths of our top choices. We made a document with names, titles, and whenever possible pictures of admin from our top schools. We looked at the website to see what themes emerged or what programs the school highlighted and how well they lined up with the mission statements. That way we could have a good reference and a leg up when meeting recruiters in elevators, for example. "Oh, you're Dr. Such-and-such from That School. I was so impressed with the Green Schools Initiative I saw mentioned on your website! Could you tell me more?" goes a long way. It also helps your 10 second pitch at signups, and if you do it early you can use that information to write more customized cover letters when expressing interest before the fair.

We also didn't do an Ichiro in the traditional sense, but one poster on here mentioned a side-by-side CV. That was a good one to slip into a box or even email that allowed recruiters to do a quick look at photos, degrees, experience, etc. for both of us. We got positive feedback on that, and the flexible formatting allowed us to highlight our strengths while minimizing our weaknesses in a way traditional CVs didn't.

We arrived to the fair early so we weren't jet lagged. We networked with our friends at schools with vacancies for us. While on a vacation in one of our target regions, we took the time to set up appointments with what schools we could just to see and be seen, learn about the schools in that region, practice interviewing, and network.

In other words, we worked every angle we could possibly think of in advance, then trusted our personality and networking would do the rest. It did.

If you are the type who make better impressions in person than on paper, you should attend a fair. We attended the London fair years ago with no IB and no IS experience and ended up landing a decent job in spite of being picky. It took some networking and putting ourselves out there, but hubby is good at that. So I would say yes, go to the fair. You have enough positives on your resume that you should be able to land something, depending on how picky you are, what your goals are, etc.

However, prepare for an emotional roller coaster because fairs are by nature traumatic. Lots of stress, lots of stressed people, lots of pressure, and the inherent feelings of inadequacy and comparison. As long as you can handle the emotional aspect, be comfortable walking away having networked and getting the job AFTER the fair, etc. then go to a fair. If, however, the money is too stressful or if you don't feel you would fare well in a pressure situation, avoid the fair. Only you can decide if you are willing to be patient if not attending a fair (it's much harder to job hunt that way), if the fairs would show you to your best advantage, etc.

wrldtrvlr123 wrote:
> It's a made up construct

> The whole concept is a semi-urban myth and not really
> worth worrying about.

This is why I like to use the term unicorn.

This is PsyGuy's word for teachers who score high on his scale. However, even those who do that are not rockstars if they actually do things like post on here or talk to people or . . . well, exist. So I call them unicorns.

Basically PG's scoring scale is reasonably accurate.

"PsyGuy Applicant Scoring System:
1) 1 pt / 2 years Experience (Max 10 Years)
2) 1 pt - Advance Degree (Masters)
3) 1 pt - Cross Certified (Must be schedule-able)
4) 1 pt - Curriculum Experience (IB, AP, IGCSE)
5) 1pt - Logistical Hire (Single +.5 pt, Couple +1 pt)
6) .5 pt - Previous International School Experience (standard 2 year contract)
7) .5 pt - Leadership Experience/Role (+.25 HOD, +.5 Coordinator)
8) .5 pt - Extra Curricular (Must be schedule-able)
9) .25 pt - Special Populations (Must be qualified)
10) .25 pt - Special Skill Set (Must be documentable AND marketable)

IT CLASSES:
1) INTERN ITs have a score around 0
2) ENTRY ITs have a score around 2
3) CAREER ITs have a score around 4
4) PROFESSIONAL ITs have a score around 6
5) MASTER ITs have a score around 8"

So the metric works fairly well in that these are all qualities that can give a teacher an edge, and the points correspond to how much of an edge you get. It provides a good baseline. However, it obviously cannot take into account factors such as networking, personality, or standout resume/cover letter writing or other bizarre unknown that causes someone to stand out. For example, degrees from top institutions such as Oxford or Harvard, being a published author for teaching a lit class, etc. can make an otherwise ordinary CV stand out. A person can charm a recruiter and score an interview they wouldn't have gotten on paper. A recommendation from a trusted source can go far (a friend's father is a HOS in the same country where she was applying, for example). An EU passport is another example.

Not a one of these factors takes into account how well you actually teach. So it's a rockstar on paper, not in practice. We have all seen first year teachers be far more effective, efficient, and loved than folks who, on paper, should be the superior teacher because they have experience, etc.

In PsyGuy's world, schools fall all over themselves to hire these particular individuals who have these points. Except they don't. Schools turn down people who, on paper, look good because they are, quite frankly, not good with kids and it shows in an interview or cover letter or it's obvious from database references. Schools hire people who have less experience but who come with stellar references--if those people can get their CVs past the gateway gauntlet (admittedly hard to do). Even the best, most experienced teacher who truly is a "rockstar" both in the classroom and on paper can get bogged down the CV gauntlet. So the teacher the school perceives as a "rockstar" gets the interview pre-fair. The teacher who is a rockstar but wasn't able to get the pre-fair because they teach elementary and the school got 100 similar ones gets the interview at the fair signup. The teacher who is a rockstar but lacks the checkboxes has to talk their way into an interview and then into the job at the fair.

Remember, too, that there are factors such as nepotism, fit, and needing warm bodies as well as recruiters just wanting to fill the spots before signup. Those all lead to pre-fair hiring as well.

So rockstar doesn't mean good teacher. On this board it means people who score well on PG's scale because that is a guide to how well they might run the CV gauntlet. Unless they post on here, where they might contradict PG. ;)

Nah, it's real. It's just the exception, which is what makes it exceptional!

Unless it is a partial teaching position (or you are one of the really exceptional ones).

Thank you. Apology accepted.

The question was why a school might repost a vacancy. Visa issues are one of those reasons--whether through the fault of the IS for not doing its homework, the IT for not knowing about the rules or not disclosing medical issues, or through any number of issues that the IS doesn't want to bother fighting.

Yes, visas might be a reason a vacancy is reposted.

No, I'm right because I made my case. You, however, are not right because you said so. We have repeatedly asked you specific questions, and you have answered in vague and unsubstantiated terms if at all. What SPECIFICALLY does ISS do to help a candidate land job in Europe? Both for unicorns and mere mortals?

Again, the schools ARE recruiting at fairs because they cannot find enough unicorns. Therefore for a mere mortal wanting to go to Europe, SA is better because the schools go to those fairs. If you are a unicorn, you are sending an email to the school and watching them fall over themselves to hire you. You need neither agency--so no edge to either.

So where is the edge for ISS?

"The most difficult part is getting a visa, many private/independent schools just wont go through the expense and effort to apply for one, with a high probability of being denied (lots of teachers in the US)." --PsyGuy

"and you never know if a visa wont be issued until its not. that puts the school in the position of having to possibly break contract very late in the season." --PsyGuy

I wasn't looking for your words, but a quick search on here indicates that visas can and have been an issue. There are health checks in some countries that might be problematic. Numerous people reported difficulties, particularly in the ME. This board represents only a fraction of the ITs, so yes, visa problems.

I swear you like to argue with me just to be contrary.

Sure, if the IT knows to do that. Once the visa is denied, however . . . .

Visas seriously are denied all the time for unforeseen reasons. I have experienced it myself--not the visa in that case (it was in the EU and I have EU citizenship), but maybe the teaching credential isn't recognized (which can have a domino effect on the visa or the job as the school needs to stay accredited, for example). In our scenario there were at least four of us, one of whom had a host country credential from another state. The school did everything right, but the regional authorities did not recognize our teaching licenses. Boom, potentially no more job, and for those whose visa was dependent on the job, no more visa. Either way the vacancies were advertised. As far as I know the other three got things worked out, but it wasn't easy.

Sometimes the country changes its policies. Sometimes visas are denied for something the school didn't think would be a problem. There are countries where mail gets lost, documents are misread, or some official is simply crabby and denies an application. None of those are daily occurrences for ITs, but they do happen.

So yes, visa problems.

You seriously enjoy arguing with me just on principle, don't you? I can't even agree with you without you finding fault with what I say. I said your list was great, and I brought up another reason. None of the scenarios you described were necessarily very common (some more than others). This isn't common, but it does happen.

So they DO go to the fair for the meet and greet or to staff positions for which they haven't found that unicorn. Well, then they are going to the SA fairs.

Your "ISS consultants are more proactive" claim has no support and no explanation of how they actually give you an edge. Again, the unicorns don't need the agencies, and to fill the gaps when they can't find unicorns, the schools use SA.

I think I have made my case pretty thoroughly.

Okay, you are officially a nasty person. You make something totally normal into something torrid, use tongue in cheek comments to defend yourself, and mock after stating you were curious.

No, nothing torrid about a work group. It was educational, informative, and fun, but it wasn't sexy. It wasn't fishy. And I hope I have satisfied your curiosity and given you ample opportunity to mock something you have created in your mind. You do have a tendency to build up fantasies of how things work and then operate as if they were reality. It's an interesting tendency.

Okay, are you arguing with me just because I posted?

Sure, leadership may know not to hire someone over a certain age or from a certain country, but visas can be denied for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with anything that would come up in an interview. Some countries don't allow anyone who has an Israeli stamp in their passport to enter, much less work, for example.

If they are so well connected, they don't need either agency. If these immortals are simply firing off an email, why use ISS? What do they gain? Also, why would those schools hire at fairs if they had such magical unicorn candidates appear out of the mist? Since they do (and yes, they do hire at fairs), why not go with the company they are using for that hiring?