Here is a scenario that comes up at this time of year. I would like to know what people on this forum would do.

You accept a position in January even if you do not think it is the best job you can get. The money is good and you think it will help your career if you stay for a period of time. You are not wowed by the job so you keep your feelers out. One day you get an email from a school you really like. They want to talk to you about a position. It has some administrative duties, it is more money, it is a better school, and in a better location. You understand the repercussions (being blacklisted by a recruiting company) if you drop your other contract. Would you....

Interview only, because it is good for your ego.

Interview and accept, damn the recruiters!

Not interview, your word is your bond, accepting your situation and ignore the many benefits.

Thanks for playing....

Peter Mackenzie has a fairly good reputation. This year they have A LOT of openings as the house was cleaned. No one seems to know exactly why. The pay is about 10k USD more per year than schools with better DP programs in the area. They do have all 3 IB programs. The school used to be more "blond", but has recently been admitting more local students. The biggest difficulty teachers have is living in the fishbowl of India. This is what bothers even the most sedentary people I know. You will have a social life if you work at it, but no evening will carry on past midnight. Taxes on high end activities (30% at a good restaurant) kill any savings quickly. If you like downloading movies and staying in more than going out, you can get by. The Indian stare is not like the asian gawk, you will feel distain in the looks you receive. I would NEVER come here as a single girl, and I would tell single guys to commute to work and live in areas that have more of a nightlife (indiranagar, kominahalli etc.), but it will be difficult to find a local gf/bf.

I never worked at Stonehill so I cannot comment on the school beyond relating stories of people I have met. I have worked in Bangalore recently. Really think about the "living in India" before you make the committment!

I befriended someone at the ISS fair who had many years of teaching esl in korea, a masters in Tesol and had a VERY hard time getting offers because they did not have 2 years experience. I would secure that first before pursuing IS work.

@ newchapter. Please understand that I interviewed with 20 schools. I was on auto pilot after a while. I think the questions are different depending on your subject matter. I had some really good interviewers, one whose school was a shambles, one who just asked weird backwards questions (tell me about something not working etc.), one who was OUT there talking about the glory days of the mid 90's, i think you have to know yourself as a person and show it to them. It will either work or it won't. You just need that one offer to come through.

@ Rover - I think the ISS fair was easier to score a job. For me... I was a BIG hit there! I got turned down for one interview, and I proceded to fill my dance card so full I had to cancel 2 interviews. I turned down any school that didn't do exactly what I wanted and still had 3 offers. Search, I took a different approach. T1's only! 3 European, 5 Asian. I told one school no after 10 minutes (I was definitely wrong about their status... They were MESSED up!), and did not receive any offers from any of the others. Did I strike out to far beyond my grasp? Possibly.?,?? Who knows read my number 4 above. The reality is we are here supporting ourselves helping where we can, and these schools get to hear out hearts beating as we hold them to their ears they are so intimate with us, and one email of we are not pursuing is all we get in return. Try to respond to their email and you will get tumbleweeds in the desert back from your reply! If you run into them, you might elicit a responce, but only if you force their hand. More likely than not they will run, or duck and evade as much as possible. That is why there are candidate and recruiter lounges!!

I see the question ISS vs. Search a lot on this board, so I will give you my impressions of both fairs from this year as I went to both.

1. In most cases, NEVER do both fairs! I am beat to death and I can take a lot of punishment!

2. Judge yourself like schools judge you. ISS does not have as many tier 1 schools. Most of us reslly are not tier 1 teachers, we just aspire to be. MOST of the time T1's want you to be young and vibrant with a track record of staying 3-5 years at your previous 2 post and fully versed on most if not all current educational trends (or at least the ones they use.).

3. ISS was a candidate fair, Search is not. That being said ISS makes a big open distinction in how candidates are treated vs. recruiters. 4 tables? At least there were couches outside and food was free. Search gave 200 baht which was a sandwich and a drink while recruiters got 2000 baht. Ok I get it. Really it is about money.

4. Fairs fail candidates who do not get jobs. We are in the business of giving feedback. An assessment without feedback is a useless waste of time. Search was such a grind for recruiters that they do not take the time to provide one iota of direction to a candidate they reject. In one instance I had 3 interviews with a school only to receive the coldest rejection (or so it feels..) thanks, but we will not be making you an offer. YOU scream WHY???? Hired another?, the director didn't feel I fit?. My years of experience were not enough to convince you? I had a pimple? You hate blue eyes? Seriously write 2 sentences, give some small hope to this struggle.

5. Having little experience or even none can still land you a job. Just be wary of the job, and the school. I rejected as many if not more schools than rejected me simply because I didn't even talk to them. Several I just said no to in the interview because I simply did not want the same things as they did. That being said, you need experience and if you get an offer from a school ISR has everyone running from, sure take it, just know everyone is running and you are going in. Get your experience and get out.

6. Get to know as many people as possible. The best contact I made at this school was with a HOS who had no job for me. We just kept showing up at the same place at the same time, and the freedom to learn bits of wisdom from him all while having nothing on the line was fantastic! Really learned a lot from those encounters.

7. ISS vs. Search. - if you have less experience and are open to various opportunities this is the fair for you. If you are on the T1 track this is the fair for you. See my #1. ISS is more laid back because you are not constantly jockying for position like you are for Search. Search schools tend to go to multiple fairs and are willing to not hire anyone, especially the T1 European schools. Do understand some heads have been at this for 30+ years. They know each other! I have seen and heard them wheeling and dealing teachers like they are trading baseball cards.

No doubt there are people that go to the fairs just for the experience, and others just to work. I was fortunate to find an acceptable position which will further my career over the next 4-6 years. I saw super things happen and faces which covered disappointment. Be true to yourself, reach for the stars, but beware that if they are looking for a 1st grade teacher at Search BKK and you have taught Kinder and 2nd grade, you are most likely NOT qualified!

I have decided to recruit at search. I have 2 offers still on the table, but both are willing to let me go talk to a few people I want to see so that I can clear up any doubts. I actually told one of the schools no so I did not string them along, they made a counter offer to address the biggest concerns we had with the school and agreed to give me until the 12th.

I was impressed with the quality of schools at this fair, it far exceeded my expectations. I had several friends (new and old) take positions that were perfect for them.

Some drawbacks I saw or heard about. 1. Some directors come here without their decision makers and are not really able to make offers. 2. Some schools do #1 and then have decision makers conduct skype interviews. ISS does not have anything specifically set up to help with this, even though they got me a nice quiet area with low lighting, and my connection was horrible. 3. Some positions have few candidates and schools will wait until the search fair to make decisions.

I am a bit tired, but feel very well practiced. Congratulations to all who accepted positions, and good luck to those still in the hunt. Round 2 here we go.

Day 1. Interviewed like crazy. Had 8 face to face, a skype and 2 I cancelled. I had 1 interview on day 2 with a call back scheduled on day 3.

It was a great experience with a couple of offers and one just amazing chat about how to best position myself for the future.

My wife an I are spending the morning going over the plusses and minuses of all our potential decisions, one of which is the decision to go to search and keep recruiting. None of my offers feel like a perfect fit yet, and I think with a bit more shopping I can feel more confident. I will have a sitdown with my finalist. (Yes I am lucky to have multiple offers) and see if we can strike a deal (of course they do not like that and will have the option of pulling the offers, but that is the risk I might have to take.)

There are still quite a few amazing positions for me at search. Today will be a day of decisions.

I will go with a t-shirt that says psyguy and take bets on who hits me first, and who hugs me first.

Cherry, got to spend some time with your HOS tonight. Super cool impression. I would work for him in a heartbeat!

Day 1 super busy for me....

8 face to face interviews and a 2nd interview via Skype.

2 offers so far.

Met at least one person with a signed contract. Social was small and nice in comparison to search. Saw all of the schools I needed, set all things in motion for tomorrow.

I still think search having the school presos first is a better idea.

Better feeling overall, VERY tired... This fair is probably over tomorrow. Not sure why it goes to the 7th.

Thank you for your well wishes. I have a bit of trepidation about ISS, but it is a fair. Tiny little candidate lounge humored me. At least they put in a couple of computers. Orientation after a whole day of sign ins seems a little late. Also having school presos on the 3rd day after a day of interviewing seems like they missed the point of the presentations.

The whole idea is getting in front of the recruiter and getting your story out and hearing theirs, so we will see what tonight and tomorrow brings.

All checked into my hotel for the next 9 days to cover the ISS and Search job fairs. I opted to sign up for both fairs this time around and see if ISS would be a good fair and to hone my interview skills for the search fair. It was more economical to take my family to Thailand for the holidays and just stay here instead of flying back and forth. Thankfully my school allowed it, I just have to take the extra days with no pay. If things go well, I will just be sight seeing and not visiting the Royal Orchid.

Got the tweet this morning that our folders are ready and sign ups begin at 8am. So after writing this, I am off to shower, go grab some breakfast and to pop over to the Shangra-La to sign in for the ISS IRC. The big day is really tomorrow, but I have one school wanting to talk today and another who I have already spoken to about setting up an interview time. I have my chart of schools and jobs I want to hit for both fairs, I have read all of the reviews, I have written out answers to all of the important interview questions so all is go. My lucky wife will get to spend the time with me tonight going over my responses.

Good luck to all candidates this week!

Most references keep what they have written and merely need to cut and paste it in. Took only a moment for them to do it for me. I think the concept will take off. Super easy to apply for jobs. Search should have upgraded to a system like this 2 years ago. IMHO

As fine dude stated, it isn't usually in the hands of the school, they have to show certification in order to get your work permit. Best is to check with schools in Singapore and Hong Kong to see what they require. At first glance it looks like your waiting another year, but most likely you need an HR person to answer your query.

Just got a note from my associate to confirm placement (and to scare up any cancellations) so they are on top of it.