We got the offer from the top school today, and it was an amazing feeling. Having said that though, there was some turmoil regarding the ME school. It is a great school and the people seem like excellent coworkers. In the end we went with what was best for us right now, but anyone would be lucky to go with that school. Actually, we are recommended them to a few friends who are international teachers.

At the beginning of August we are off to SEA!

Congrats!

Buffalofan, just based on my and my wife's experiences here in London I would suggest. You choose London. A lot of recruiters seemed ready to pull the trigger on job offers.

I'm a relative newbie to the fair thing, but it seems pretty competitive in terms of positions here. Quite a few people seem to have been offered positions from conversations I have had and overheard. As Pippa mentioned in her thread, recruiters are getting frustrated by the candidates signing with other schools. We cancelled 2 interviews this morning, because of other more competitive offers.

Having said that, though, a couple of recruiters has mentioned that they are here to recruit for specific positions or programs (PYP, MYP, dp, etc) and aren't as keen to fill other positions yet. One school had positions throughout their school, but were only really looking into secondary candidates.

They are here. They are hiring for a couple of primary positions and a few secondary.

Congrats on the offer! It sure takes a weight off, eh?

Another day down. Today was the first official interview day, and Mrs. Cdn and I had a lot packed in. We met with five schools today, and the point five from yesterday actually became more of a one. They ended up interviewing us for quite a while and everyone seemed to leave happy. I don't believe an offer is forthcoming, because they didn't have positions for both of us. Still, they are a top school in Asia, so it was nice to meet them and get to know them.

We interviewed with a wide range of schools today. Three in South East Asia, one in Europe, and one in the ME. We had other offers for interviews, but most were in undesirable locations. At any rate, the European school turned out not to be a great fit for us, but they were very friendly and informative.

We are still waiting to hear from one of the South East Asian schools (our top choice). However, we have been offered positions at two schools. One in the Middle East and the other in SEA. We gave them a time frame for our deciosn, and all parties accepted that. So! We are very ecstatic. As I said, we are waiting n one school (and we have other interviews tomorrow), but overall this has been an incredibly positive experience.

I heard the odd grumble and saw the odd depressed face today, though. I talked with a couple of people that have had no interviews or nibbles at all, and I truly feel for them. In our case I think the fact that we are a teaching couple was a huge boon to our applications. We also went the route of the "ichiro" and I feel like they had a big impact. We made a double-sided graphical cover letter. One side for my wife and one side for me. We left these in several mail boxes, and when it came time for sign up yesterday many of the recruiters had us on top. We even had a few recruiters seek us out because of them, so I think that they are worth it for anyone considering going to a fair.

As far as the interviews themselves, they were pretty informal. We had quite a few questions to answer in each one, but they weren't especially difficult and they were often couched in friendly, natural conversation. As I said, a positive experience.

One last thing for tonight - My wife and I didn't stay in the fair hotel, and I don't think it was crucial for us to do so. In some cases I'm sure it is, but we managed to hang around and keep ourselves busy throughout the day and night (more so last night - we are back early tonight). We never felt the need to lie down or get away from the fair atmosphere, because we had a lot scheduled in (presentations, interviews, and research...oh and lunch at some point. Hah).

Anyway, I'll update this tomorrow when we get all of our ducks n a row.

Mrs. CDN and I arrived early yesterday and spent the day dealing with the ramifications of our red-eye flight. Today (Friday) was an encouraging and interesting experience. We had read all the negatives of the 'Fair Experience' (not getting one interview, mad house rush, being turned down point blank, etc) but our experience so far has been positive.

It was a long and busy day. There really wasn't any down time for either of us. From the morning meetings with advisors to the presentations to the interview sign up, we barely sat down.

Before arriving at the fair we were contacted by 3 schools, and 4 or five had interview invites in our mail folders when we arrived at the convention hall.

The interview sign-up session wasn't nearly as crazy as I thought it would be. There really wasn't much room for long queues, which may have helped with that. The longest waits I saw were for Discovery College and The British School of Bahrain.

During the sign-up we targeted schools that had contacted us and we were interested in interviewing (a few of the pre fair contacts were in undesirable locations for us). After going to those few, we focused on the schools that we would love to work at,but hadn't had a bite from yet. All in all we have 6.5 interviews lined up for tomorrow and Sunday. Some are with schools we would never have considered, but are intrigued by now, and some are with schools that are dream spots. One is with a school that we were initially excited by, but the director's way of speaking to us was off putting. He seemed annoyed that we wanted an interview, but decided to go ahead with it anyway. Odd.

6.5 interviews you say? Mrs. Cdn and I were having a beverage in the bar after the interview sign ups when we were approached by a recruiter from a very good school. They wanted to interview one of us, but they didn't have a position for the other. Good practice we thought, and they agreed. So...6.5. Nothing might come of it, but we will enjoy the experience nonetheless.

Time to brush up on our research. Have a good night.

Thanks for the responses everyone. We are going with an ichiro-type flyer, our CVs, and electronic copies of all necessary documents. We both have blogs that will hopefully attract some interest.

I've seen a few conflicting topics on portfolios. Should my wife and I have one ready/an electronic one? She has a pretty extensive blog about her teaching, so does that suffice? Will they even look at them? What should we include if we do create one?

Thanks.

Many of the schools in Kuwait employ PE teachers from Hungary and Bulgaria, so as a Romanian I'm sure you could find work there. Other ME countries might be the same.

I'll try and write some posts while I'm there. I imagine it will be a bit of a whirlwind. We already have a nibble or two, so our fingers and toes are crossed.

Thanks guys. We are oth anxious in large part because we haven't done a fair before. Thanks for all of the tips/guidance.

Out of curiosity - what is the interrnational school of Azerbaijan like? As far as the presentation, anyway. They will be at the London fair. I assume that's one you are talking about..

Thanks Shawdowjack. Your thinking is in line with mine, and your insights have been significant. I look forward to your final piece on it.

This is something I was worried about, but my advisor led me to believe London would be our best shot (we aren't in Canada, by the way). He did say that about 50% find jobs on the site and 50% find them through fairs (of those that get jobs)

We will see I guess. We have already had a few emails regarding interest from some decent-to-excellent schools (imo)