I struggle to believe that even you could write something as brainless as this:

"MEMO
Date:
To: All Overseas Recruited Faculty

The board has determined that no teaching contracts will be renewed or extended for the upcoming (insert year) year. The administration of _____ International School thanks all of you for your dedication and service."

No wishes needed, no magic lamps, Genies, Fairies or Leprechauns needed. Takes 5 minutes."

I thought you said you had worked in Europe? Sounds to me like you were working on Fantasy Island if you think a head in Europe could send a memo like this to the faculty. This is the land of protective labor law. Once a teacher has tenure, he or she is practically irremovable. It is only in parts of the world where teachers are hired on fixed term contracts that school heads have any real flexibility about engineering a change of faculty.

I note that you didn't hazard a guess about the number of new teachers at SAS in the last three years...the answer is more than 100. According to your logic, that makes SAS a bad school - along with IS Bangkok. In fact a turnover of about 10% a year is part of what makes these schools so good - and the corresponding lack of turnover in Western European and Japanese schools is what holds them back.

Let me explain why. Schools become great because of the quality of the faculty. Of course there are other contributing factors: quality of leadership; facilities; resources; a supportive community; a stable environment etc etc but it is the classroom learning experience that is at the heart of a top class school - and that is largely down to the teacher. Not every teacher one hires starts off as good; not every good teacher stays good. Top schools spend a lot of money on professional development, and top administrators work with teachers who need support, but this investment in personnel doesn't always pay off. That's why every year, top schools may say to some teachers "Thanks for what you've done; now it's time for you to find a fresh challenge." The school can then go out to try to find a replacement who can give what the kids need. Any such conversation in Europe would take you to the labor court in about 60 minutes, which is why too many schools here have a rump (small or large) of teachers who really shouldn't still be in the job.

I should be clear that still the majority of those who leave great schools like SAS and ISB don't leave under these circumstances. They do so because their adventure in that part of the world is over and it's time to move on. No one should become an international teacher in order to take up permanent residence in the first country they go to. Meanwhile, the influx, every year, of bright, sparky teachers determined to make their mark gives a tremendous charge to schools in many parts of the world.

By the way, I've noticed that when you are asked questions that you don't like, you a) avoid them and b) lash out like a wounded animal.

You never did tell us how many times you have been at a recruitment fair as a recruiter or as a candidate...

Are you really still a full member of SEARCH? Not from what I see.

"I'm very sure it's important to you that departing schools speak well of your school and administration, I'm also really sure they don't. If you were such a great school you'd be one of those schools that could go years without having to recruit, since if your such a great school why would anyone leave?"

Firstly, I presume you mean "departing teachers", otherwise your post makes even less sense than usual.
Secondly, those teachers who do leave our school tend to speak very well of it, and very useful recruitment tools for us.
Thirdly, the premise of the last sentence is utterly wrong and reveals how little you know about international education:
1) People tend to become international teachers because they have the travel bug. They are, by nature, itinerant workers and aren't looking to stay in any one place for the rest of their lives.
2) Few, of course, are as "itinerant" as you, since you choose - or the choice is made for you - to move on in a matter of months rather than years.
3) Some teachers do decide to stay on at an international school when they find a spot that really suits them.
4) It is more likely that this will happen in Western Europe or in the few international schools in North America.
5) That isn't in any way because these schools are "better" in any way than international schools in other continents. It is more a case of people finding a culture and a community that works for them rather than the school itself.
6) Most heads of these schools actually wish that they did have more turnover than they do - because turnover helps regenerate and revitalize schools.
7) Nonetheless, all of the top schools are out looking every year, because someone is always leaving. Best school in UK: ASL - they hired last year; best school in France: ASP - they recruited last year; best school in Switzerland: ISZ - they recruited last year; best school in Germany: FIS - they recruited last year etc etc etc. Tell us from your ¨data¨which top school didn´t hire.
8) You keep us all up to date with the top schools in other parts of the world. What did you tell us is the top school in Bangkok? ISB. How many teachers do you think they hired in the last three years? More than 10? More than 20? The answer is more than 60. Do you think that makes them any less the top school? What´s the top school in Singapore? SAS. Guess how many teachers they have hired in the last three years. In both cases I am talking about overseas hire full time teachers. And you can´t explain this away by talking of growth. Both these school populations have been stable in this time.
9) There are always exceptional situations, and Japan is one of these. International schools in Japan are suffering declining enrolment because international companies are pulling out of the country. It´s too expensive to do business there, and the economy has been struggling for nearly twenty years. Obviously that means that there are very few vacancies as these schools, ASIJ included, downsize, but even then most will have some openings. Please don´t misconstrue the shortage of avalable positions as some kind of testimony to the quality of these schools. It´s just not true.
10) And of course I know who you are Dave. Funnily enough, I was on the SEARCH site yesterday and noticed that you are no longer on display. Does this mean that you have pulled out of SEARCH? Or is there another explanation?

I'd become bored correcting Dave Jaw's perpetual nonsense as encapsulated in this illiterate drivel:
"If admins valued honesty, they would lbe more honest themselves. Have you even looked at the paid review side of this site? What admins want is to know all your cards while keeping theirs secret. I dont know and have ever experienced an admin that was so with one of their teachers professional lives that they actively advocated for their teachers in the job process at any fair or PTD event. The vastly overwhelming experience I have seen by admins is that as soon as a teacher indicates they are on the way out, the admin wants little if anything to do with them."
1) Virtually all schools experience turnover. I was at recruitment fairs with heads from the very top schools in Asia and Europe last year, and all of them hired new teachers.
2) Good schools look after their departing teachers. For me it is important that a colleague who moves on from our school speaks well of us on the international circuit. Administrators here do their best for those who are going: we look through their latest versions of resumes; we contact administrators in schools in which they are interested; we give them our hotel room numbers at fairs for them to pass on to those with whom they are interviewing to facilitate a speedy reference check; we meet with them during fairs to check how they are doing and to see if we can help.
3) On the one hand, this is how colleagues should behave toward each other: supportive, helpful and trusting. On the other hand, it speaks to that notion of enlightened self-interest: after the fairs are over, departing teachers may have another five or six months at our school - how does it make sense for the school to have these teachers feeling resentful and miserable?
4) Of course you are entitled to your own warped view of teacher/administrator relations, but please do not present your sad opinions as facts.
5) All of which isn't to say that there aren't bad schools, bad administrators and bad teachers out there. It's helpful for everyone to join together to weed out those who shouldn't be in the profession. Your generic advice - to lie, deceive and doubt - hardly helps in all this.

"I actually have the knowledge and experiences I claim, (sic) that's how I'm able to relay it in my posts."

I love this. I asked you in an earlier post to tell us how many fairs you've attended as a candidate and how many as a recruiter. Funnily enough, you never answered.

Please, please be at a fair in January or February!

Stupid advice - but given its provenance, that isn't a surprise:

"You can also still search from the hotel and apply with schools while there. You can also slip a hanging file folder into the teacher boxes in the candidate room, so that you can receive messages from schools. You an also send messages and put resumes in the schools folders. You can wonder in and out of the candidate room without anyone giving you problems as long as you don't spend much time in there. You could go to the social, it's dark, and people don't always wear their name tags and talk up the recruiters. The hardest is sign up, but you could buy some name tag card stock, and some holders, and print your own, you will need a packet of random and different colored stickers, to make sure yours matches, but that's only a couple hours."

I go to a lot of SEARCH fairs and every year at every fair recruiters are told about such and such a candidate who is trying to scam his way in to interviews without being registered. My own guess is that recruiters are often the ones who turn in such candidates. If you follow Dave Jaw's advice and get caught, as you likely will be, then SEARCH may well blacklist you.

Of course you can go to the hotel and try to see recruiters on a pre-arranged basis - but only on the days outside the fair itself. Just don't do what this dimwit advises and go down the path of going into the candidate room or attending the social or anything else that will really annoy the fair organizers and maybe the recruiters as well.

"The general guidelines as written earlier are 1 page for entry level, 2 pages for mid career, and 3 for administrators."

For your own sake, don't believe this.

"Recruiters and admins dont read narratives, as discussed earlier. The Bio section of your Search profile is largely wasted space."

For your own sake, don't believe this.

"Its disingenuous of Walter to suggest that any amount of literary skill can compensate for deficiencies in one of the above factors. It doesnt matter what you say if I need an IB DIP physics teacher and you've only taught middle school general science. If I want teachers with 5+ years experience, and you only have 2, nothing you say in your bio, teaching philosophy or cover letter is going to make up for that."

Dear Psyguy, judging from the times you've used "disingenuous" recently, I assume it's a word you have just discovered. I discovered it many decades ago, and I can assure you that I am not being "Insincere", "Artful" or "Deceitful" in my advice.

Nor did I ever say that "literary skill" compensates for required qualifications. You really do have a problem with reading, don't you? What I said was that I look askance at those who, in their written submissions, fail to check their work for spelling and punctuation. This is part of the first impression you are making on a recruiter, so make it a good impression.

Yelsol, I shall have read your SEARCH document carefully if you make it on my possible interview list. The bio section is important to me in helping me decide whether to interview. If I interview you, I shall want to see your own resume. If it's one page of where you worked and what you've studied and nothing else that will count against you. If you hadn't made the original interview list and try to get an interview at sign-up, the impression you make in the time you're at the desk will be crucial; so will the resume I ask you to leave with me.

You have to understand that Psyguy has never been a recruiter - except for his contested story that he attended the SEARCH Australia fair unofficially and hung around th lobby trying to "bump into" candidates. Take any of his advice with an excavatorful of salt...

"Most admins recruit differently then Walter."
You know, of all of the things that I find irritating about your posts, it's your complacent arrogance that really hits the spot. Tell us how you justify such a claim? Tell us how many administrators you know so well that you have this information. Tell us how many recruitment fairs have you attended
a) as a candidate
b) as a recruiter
Please provide this information so we can judge whether your experience allows to say these things.

Yelsol, please make your resume sufficiently comprehensive to give a portrait of you rather than just a bare outline of qualifications and experience. Two pages maximum if you're in the early stages of your career; three pages if you are mid-career.

I don't know of a school head who doesn't look at confidential references at the recruitment fairs and who wouldn't look for flags in terms of scores that your referees check against the various criteria. Recruiters also look at the brief narrative comments for tell-tale signs of concern. I am very much less interested in references that you also have copies of. You should know that I would be surprised if at least one of your references didn't come from one of your current administrators. Hard to understand your current principal being so immature as to take your decision to leave so personally.

Hi yelsol:
You should believe whomever you prefer. Dave Jaw has had six jobs in seven years and obviously has a lot of experience in trying to find work. I have been to over 100 recruitment fairs as a school head and have a lot of experience in trying to find teachers.
Unlike Dave, I can't tell you what all recruiters do or don't do. I can tell you what I do. If I am at a fair, I spend the two days before candidates arrive looking at files. Depending on whether it's ISS or SEARCH or CIS or UNI, the method changes slightly because of the organization but essentially it's the same.
1) I look at the basic information of all of those who seem to fit the vacancy. I would rule out those who don't have as a minimum two years' experience and a teaching qualification. I would also rule out those who are obvious teacher tourists with a year here, a year there and a year elsewhere. Good schools aren't interested in dilettantes.
2) With that basic list I would then look more closely at bio information and geographical preferences. If you are filling in one of these forms, my advice is not to rule out anything in terms of location.
3) Next I look at the references to see if there any flags, and then I read the teacher statement. I look at this for form as well as content, so make sure your grammar, spelling and punctuation are up to snuff.
4) All good so far, then you join the pile of those I may want to interview.
5) I may have to review that pile and do some weeding if the number is too large.
6) Once I have a manageable list, I send a note to those candidates asking them to make an interview time with me at sign-up. If I happen to see at the fair one of their referees I do a brief confirmation of references.
7) At sign-up, there is always a line up of people wanting to make appointments. It would be very unusual if I hadn't already looked at their papers. I ask for a copy of their own resume and say I shall get back to them.
8) Depending on the impression they made at the time and the resume they hand - and if I have had any cancellations from those I asked to interview - I make an appointment.
9) This is where the resume matters. I have seen the recruitment fair version - but that's generic. It interests me how people choose to present themselves. One side of A4 with bare bones details of work and qualifications doesn't cut it for me. Of course I look at that, but I also want to get a sense of the person behind the paper.
10) So if there is anything else about you that is interesting, different, relevant, then put it down. Do you coach or play sport in any serious way? Are you a performer in any serious way? I want to know if you have any passions like this. Do you speak other languages than English? (Not HS French but maybe functional Spanish or Mandarin.)
11) Obviously if you have had a brief career, you won't be providing more than two pages. If you are mid-late career, you may have up to three. Include a photo to help me remember you.
12) Remember the old line: "You only have one chance to make a first impression."

Dave, there are few creatures sadder than the one who likes to refer to himself in the third person. Please get over this "psy guy nemesis" nonsense. I correct you because you are a fool and a fraud. There is nothing personal about it.

"Recruiters generally dont (sic) read the bio section. So anything included their (sic) is likely to be overlooked."

Hi yelsol:

This is total nonsense. Of course you should include such information, and of course recruiters will read it. You may think that we administrators are as lazy as we are stupid, but believe me most of us are capable of digesting two pages of a resume. And the bio section is really important if you include things in there that are meaningful and relevant and interesting. Good schools want to hire real people, and a well written bio section tells us about you, the person.

Dave Jaw, please stop generalizing - especially in areas where you have no experience. You are not a recruiter and never have been.

You made my day. There was just a little too much bait on the hook, which made me think it might be a cod post but Dave Psyguy's ego is such that I can imagine his eyes spinning around when he saw your invitation. I shall certainly be in Iowa and even if I don't have the right jobs available by then, I owe you a beer.

"Your (sic) not a teaching couple. In many countries (mainly outside Western Europe) your relationship isnt (sic) recognized, and few recruiters (sic) admins would approach your application as anything other then (sic) individually. (sic)"

Dear Rehpsw:

Please ignore this nonsense. Most international schools outside the Middle East would have no problem if you are in a long-standing relationship. I hire unmarried teaching couples every year as do colleagues in other international schools. The CIS form even has a box for teaching couples to check. Sometimes teaching couples break up. Sometimes married couples break up. Schools deal with this stuff. What schools don't like is people who misrepresent themselves. Dave psyguy is a fervent advocate of lying to get a job. Perhaps that's why he only manages to stay in each post for a year.

"Can you tell me a little about this school Psy Guy? You know so much about so many, hope you can shed a light for me."

Please, please tell me you are being ironic!

No Saigon South is not the best choice for teachers, the British school and Australian schools are the 1st tier schools.

Well Dave, I don't work at any of these schools, but the information I get is that you are off target again. Let's see if any teachers who really know will put in their two penn'orth.

Have you noticed a difference in the way people respond though? Others express opinions as just that. You present opinions as facts.

Don't confuse dave jaw by asking him to provide a rationale for his blurts.
I think most educators would agree that there are three really good schools in Bangkok: ISB; Patana and NIST.

"its not an elite school, low first tier at best..."
Yet another of your absurd distinctions. In a previous posting you already demonstrated your ignorance of this school when you referred to the present head as male when demonstrably she is female, an interim, and one of the most respected and well known figures in international education. You have NO idea about Saigon South.
Meantime I like this line from the page before: "Personally I would pass on this school..." Dave, the idea that Saigon South would even think of offering you a job is one of the more spectacular examples of chutzpah.
For the original poster: with the decline of ISHMC since the takeover by Cognita, Saigon South is almost certainly the best option for teachers (and kids) in the city and well worth considering.