Contact from school
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newcounsel
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 10:33 pm
Contact from school
I have received emails from several schools that have expressed interest in me and would like to meet at the fair. My only concern is the schools that have contacted me via Search have stated on their profile that they prefer not to hire singles with a dependent. Should I even waste my time catering to meeting these schools even though they contacted me and not vice versa?
Reply
Just because they prefer not to hire singles, doesn't mean they won't. If the school has contacted you, you should assume they are interested regardless of you family status. I'd contact them by email, and make it clear what your family situation is. Email is cheap, and you have little risk or anything to lose. At worst they apologize and you both move on.
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eion_padraig
- Posts: 408
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 8:18 pm
Newcounsel,
It's going to work out for you. School counselors are very much in demand.
I know of another single parent, who has been hired as a school counselor at 3 different international schools (these were tier 2 schools in two different regions). Also, once you fulfill a successful international contract as a school counselor, and you network with other international school counselors, then you may not even have to go through the job fair route next time.
Like other posters have mentioned, many early hires have a contact at the schools where they are being offered jobs. I'm new to working at international schools, but I had contacts with international schools through conferences and previous work as a college admission officer. This helped me get an early Skype interview and an offer. Two of my friends who have already been working as international school counselors were also offered and accepted jobs through Skype without attending job fairs. They were known by other counselors at those schools. In these two cases, they both moved from tier 2 schools up to tier 1 schools.
I would suggest that for a school counselor looking for a school which will send you to relevant international conferences (EARCOS, ECIS, AASSA, MAIS, AISA, IB, OACAC, NACAC) is quite important. The actual conference (or conferences) they send you to will depend on the region you're in and what level you are working at (elementary, middle, high school). Attending these allows you to continue PD, but also network for your next job. The bigger and wealthier schools tend to send school counselors to more of these conferences.
Good luck.
It's going to work out for you. School counselors are very much in demand.
I know of another single parent, who has been hired as a school counselor at 3 different international schools (these were tier 2 schools in two different regions). Also, once you fulfill a successful international contract as a school counselor, and you network with other international school counselors, then you may not even have to go through the job fair route next time.
Like other posters have mentioned, many early hires have a contact at the schools where they are being offered jobs. I'm new to working at international schools, but I had contacts with international schools through conferences and previous work as a college admission officer. This helped me get an early Skype interview and an offer. Two of my friends who have already been working as international school counselors were also offered and accepted jobs through Skype without attending job fairs. They were known by other counselors at those schools. In these two cases, they both moved from tier 2 schools up to tier 1 schools.
I would suggest that for a school counselor looking for a school which will send you to relevant international conferences (EARCOS, ECIS, AASSA, MAIS, AISA, IB, OACAC, NACAC) is quite important. The actual conference (or conferences) they send you to will depend on the region you're in and what level you are working at (elementary, middle, high school). Attending these allows you to continue PD, but also network for your next job. The bigger and wealthier schools tend to send school counselors to more of these conferences.
Good luck.