I think they do take a long time, I can see it's also the case at my current school (another large international school). It's just so hard to wait for so long!

I applied for a job in a large school there, got an interview 10 days ago and absolute silence since then. Isn't that weird? Don't they usually notify people if they got to the interview stage?
I think it's a bad sign :(
Would rather know though, as I check my emails about 200 times a day!

Well, I like to be aware of what's going on around me, just like I like to learn the language etc. But I know what you mean, Psyguy, I won't let it spoil my time there.

Nemo, I'm not sure I like the distinction between 'third world' and 'developed' when it comes to safety. Look at Japan; not exactly 'third world', yet things went wrong fairly quickly there. I know it was mainly a natural disaster, but with a couple of bizarre decisions were made too. And look at New Orleans! It didn't much look like a bright developed land anymore once it'd been abandoned and looted after the hurricane.

I've lived in a few places, but the most dangerous one by far was in the UK, in a very 'hot' suburd. Yet it isn't a third world country...

Expatguy, I thought you were being a little alarmist, but then I thought about what you said a bit more and I think you are right, one is never too cautious. It doesn't cost much to have the basic precautions in place.

I have a couple of good (Thai) contacts in Bangkok, which might help too, as well as very reliable friends in Cambodia.

Thanks for your wise advice.

Thanks everyone. I'm keeping an anxious eye on the Bangkok Post every day. I'm starting to understand what's going on, a little anyway. We'll see what happens around July 3rd...
I guess London got bombed the week I found a job here and I was a bit nervous to say the least. I had to go past one of the scenes of wreckage every day on the tube, you could still see the burnt underground walls. Stuff can happen anywhere, sadly.
I'm so happy to go to Bangkok right now and I won't focus on the possible negatives, as it's not a good way to live. I'll just stay aware of the situation just in case. I'm guessing good international schools are pretty good at getting their staff out when things really go wrong?

I'm about to start a new life in Thailand with my family and am a little worried about some of the news. I know that there is constant low-level unrest and frequent protests that usually don't come to anything too serious (still, 90 dead last spring...) but I wonder how safe it really is?

Anyone here has experience of living in Thailand? Is it likely to kick off in a big way or do you think it is just minor unrest? Could the elections on July 3rd turn nasty?

I'm not too worried but still keen to hear what others think...

(I'm off to Bangkok, by the way)

Hi, I looked into that in detail when I was considereing HK and the ESF, and I really think you can live well with a family if you have a reasonable lifestyle. For example, there are fancy expat-style flats in swanky developments with swimming pools for HK$35.000 a month, which is more than your monthly salary (or about equivalent to it). But you can also find nice typical village houses in some areas for as little as HK$7500 a month (which is less than the $8050 ESF gives you). If you want a fancy lifestyle with a chauffeur and a maid, don't go to HK. If you're ready to live like at home but in an amazing, exciting place with a great school and great kids to teach, then go for it.
Also, HK is one of the only places where (I think) your wife is entitled to work on her dependent visa. Can't she do a few hours to make things a bit easier financially? They are forever looking for native English speakers for ESL lessons etc.

Well done, aussiechick! It's so nice to know that some people had a good experience at the fair and are coming out of it very happy indeed. Congratulations!

I had a great time at the fair. I was really impressed with the level of professionalism all round. The candidates were really professional and definitely tough competition!

I was initially disappointed with the choice of interviews as three of my top choices did not even want to interview me, but the weekend went better and better, and I finally landed a dream job in a great school! I'm deliriously happy. I only had five interviews but offers came out of all of them! So I had to pick. What a nice position to be in.

I hope your fair went well too, aussie and kiwi. Let me know what happened.

So, I had my interview today (it went well, I think!) and gathered the following intelligence, which I thought would be interesting for everyone:

- They had over 1800 applications, that they tried to sort in one week.
- They are interviewing 180 people (90 in London, face to face or via video conference; 90 in HK and Singapore). So that's about 1/10.
- I think there are about 50 positions, roughly. That's about 3 to 4 interviewed candidates per position. But also 30-40 applicants for each position!!! That's a tough market!

m101, you are SO lucky! Why is it so hard to get shortlisted at that place?!
I thought I had put a decent application pack together and was a very good match for one of their positions, but I didn't get shortlisted. Boohoo!

Hi aussiechick,
I'm new to this too and I did ask my Associate a few days ago, as I was concern by the fact that I had heard back from very few schools. That's what he replied to me:

"As regards job openings at schools attending the January London fair, there is no need to contact the schools in advance. Almost all the business of the fair happens at the fair itself, not beforehand, including the fixing of interview appointments. However, candidates sometimes make advance contact with schools they are particularly interested in – some schools welcome these approaches, others don’t – and schools sometimes make advance contact with candidates they are particularly interested in. Most school heads don’t start to focus properly on individual candidates until they get to the fair. They then normally write written messages (on the Friday) to those candidates they are particularly interested in, for the candidates to find when they arrive at the fair, inviting them to fix an interview appointment time during the “sign-upâ€

So, only one week to go until the Search fair in London! Exciting!
CIS London is starting today... please leave some jobs for us Search people!
There are only about 3 positions I'm interested in, I pray that they won't be all gone by the time the Search fair starts.
I wonder if there will be any new positions too. Unlikely, I reckon.

Hm, I guess we've missed the boat for that one girls...
Hope we get more success at the fair!

It depends a lot on what subject you teach and what kind of school you've teaching at...