The International Schools Review Forum

Tell me about the Search San Francisco fair. I know Cambridge is better but there is a wait list. I did not plan to sign up with Search but now wondering if i should. Maybe to late? I spoke to the rep for my area and while he said my credentials are extremely good, he couldn't guarantee I'd get into Cambridge. I don't want to pay $225 if it's not going to be beneficial for me.

I did sign up with TIE awhile ago-simply to become aware of vacancies. I found a couple of available positions not listed on TIE that are listed on the school websites. Not sure if they are advertised on Search. Does Search do a better job posting vacancies?

It's the leftovers fair. All the tier 1 and high desire regions will have filled their position before SF. It's basically low end 2nd tier schools and 3rd tier schools. The only situation id commend the fair under is if you were local to the fair location, and didnt have anything better to do,and you were already a member of Search.

It's not to late to sign up with Search, there is more to the big agencies then the fairs, mainly the access to their database and job vacancies.
Search has about 650 schools, more then anyone else, but still a very small part of the international school market (there are over 2000 IBO schools outside the USA). Your going to have to do some hunting on your own even if you join Search, for instance you never see vacancies in Ireland with Search, but they do come up.

If you join Search, you will get a daily update of new vacancies, and vacancies posted in your teaching preferences. It can save you time and having an establish profile makes your application (though many schools will require you to fill out their own application) and references convenient.

If your deciding and only factor for joining Search is to go to the SF fair, I'd pass.

I found Search SF a mixed bag when I attended. Some schools were clearly finished hiring and just finishing out the fair circuit, some schools didn't even show up in the end (most of these were the big name schools), and other schools still had plenty of positions and were hiring. There are jobs there for the taking if you are flexible.

I found the job postings in the Search database are usually the most accurate. Watch out for job listings on school websites, some schools are really slow to update those.

If one cannot get an invitation to Cambridge, which is better UNI or SA San Fran?

Depends what your looking for as far as schools go. UNI has a strong S/C america base, with the rest mostly low end 2nd tier schools and third tier schools.

SF is going to be the third tier schools and a couple of everything else.

Your best bet is to request an invitation to SF and as the dates get closer see which fair has vacancies in your teaching subject at schools youd like to go to.

If i had to pick now, Id say UNI, the schools will not be as competitive but they will be better schools.

If I ask for an invitation to the San Fran fair and get it, and then I decide not to go b/c I've already accepted another position at UNI, for example, is it frowned upon by SA to cancel my attendance?

Not for the SF fair, the 3 big fairs yes, but in any scenario, as long as you give your associate notice, which shouldnt be a problem since there is a 2 week difference between the SF fair and the UNI fair.

PsyGuy, if one receives a job before the fair, and cancels, why is that frowned upon? Or is it about the amount of time in which a cancellation needs to occur?

I have just accepted a job offer, informed Search that I would not attend the fairs for which I had registered, and they were delighted. Not only will they get their finders fee, my withdrawal from the fairs means that others on the. Wait list can attend. There are no negative repercussions from accepting a job before the fair, as long as you acknowledge if Search has been a part of the process.

There are two issues involved. First understand that Search/ISS any agency wants you to get a job and too get hired. getting an offer and accepting is not in any way frowned upon.

The problematic issues occur when;
1) Teachers accept a position, and then dont notify their associate directly and formally (an email is fine). Dont switch their profile to inactive (by selecting "I am no longer available") from the website. Not completing/submitting the end of fair paperwork. Many novice candidates assume that the agency will simply find out, either from the school or indirectly. There isnt a lot of automation and checking is pretty much done by hand and is manual, and labor intensive.

2) Teachers/Schools try to cheat. Either the teacher wants to "keep looking" (for a better job, or in case things dont work out with the school) or wants to have access to the database longer, or the school doesnt want to pay. Many schools use a variety of advertising and recruiting channels, and the longer they can wait the more likely they are to avoid paying the agency fee by claiming they recruited a teacher through another source.

Lastly, as you know travel to a fair can be expensive, and the more time you have to make travel arrangements the less expensive it is. The sooner you notify your agency you wont be attending the sooner they can extend an invitation to those waiting, and those teachers can make travel arrangements, and arrange for missed work, and other scheduling.

So... do you guys go ahead and book flights & hotels at multiple fairs, and then cancel all of it if you get an offer? We have invitations to SF. Trying to decide whether we should go with SF or UNI, or book both and see how things look closer to February. We would just rather not waste $900 on non-refundable plane tickets to Iowa if we can avoid it.

I have my hotel reservation for Cambridge because I wanted to be in the hotel where the fair is, but I am holding off on buying airline tickets until I know for sure that I need to go. The school I am skype interviewing with this week even has their attendance and Cambridge listed as tentative, so it looks like hedging isn't that uncommon. If I do get an offer and accept, I'll be sure to cancel asap because I know there's a waiting list.