Hi all. I'm a journalist and a non-teacher living in the US, currently pitching a story that has to do with the expanding market for international schools and, specifically, the phenomenon of hiring fairs. I've been told in conversations with teacher friends and acquaintances that the January Bangkok fair is kind of the Wimbledon of international-school job fairs: the most competitive, with the most elite schools and most experienced applicants. I've also noticed, however, that Search seems to market the Cambridge job fair as its flagship event, and that it also seems rather competitive.
I wonder whether anyone can help contrast these two events for me. Maybe it's wrong-headed to try and "rank" them, but I'm curious to know how the fairs are regarded among veteran teachers. Where do you go if you're aiming for top-tier schools? What are the fairs that relative newbies might be wise to avoid? If schedule and travel costs were not an issue, what factors does one way when choosing between Bangkok and Cambridge (or, for that matter, London or some of the others)?
Many thanks for any light you can shed.
SEARCH Bangkok vs. Cambridge
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BrianKevin
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I'd say it would be London and Bangkok as 1 and 2, in no order. First off they are earlier in the season and allow top schools to fill voids. Furthermore, most teachers there are already living/ teaching abroad so they are already in the field and much less of a flake out risk for recruiting schools.
Hard to rank'em - London is more for European schools while Bangkok is more Asia centric.
Cambridge is later and lacks international experience.
Hard to rank'em - London is more for European schools while Bangkok is more Asia centric.
Cambridge is later and lacks international experience.
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BrianKevin
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Big thanks, this is really helpful. When you say that the Cambridge fair "lacks international experience," do you mean that the applicants tend to be inexperienced? A lot of folks there looking to teach abroad for the first-time? Does it still draw a fair amount of teachers who already have international experience?
If anyone else cares to weigh in on this, I'd be super grateful for your insight.
If anyone else cares to weigh in on this, I'd be super grateful for your insight.
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BookshelfAmy
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Here's my newbie contribution: Teachers without international experience, without IB or other specific curriculum experience, and/or without much teaching experience don't necessarily get to choose their fairs. London was my dream fair, Cambridge was my goal, but I ended up with an invite to San Francisco. Fairs in the US tend to have higher numbers of teachers without international experience because of geography and timing, I think.
Have you looked into any of the fairs not hosted by Search Associates?
Have you looked into any of the fairs not hosted by Search Associates?
Reply
I like the tennis - but Id say the Bangkok (BKK) fair is more like the Olympics, the London (UK) fair more like Wimbledon, and the Cambridge fair more like the U.S. Open (these are the super fairs).
They are all competitive (depending on what level of teacher you are) they just focus on different classes of teacher candidates. You need an invitation to attend any of them and the various agencies vet the invitees very closely. Not only is keeping the size of the fair manageable important, but so is keeping the candidate pool from getting watered down important as well. Recruiters dont want to waste the short amount of time during signup fielding candidates who arent competitive and inexperienced.
The BKK fair is "THE" fair for rock star teachers. This fair is one of the super fairs and runs back to back with the ISS BKK fair. It has the highest concentration of top tier schools, and most of those schools fill their few vacancies from this fair. Its very competitive but overall the caliber of teacher candidates is also very high. These are the experienced ITs (international teachers) in the IS (International School) market. Typically thats IB, AP, or IGCSE experienced teachers with an advance degree and 5 years experience, with at least 2 years of that being at an IS. Being a teaching couple and having a high demand teaching field are pluses as well. This fair is the first fair in the peak of the recruiting season (which starts in early January with the BKK fair, and runs to early February with the Cambridge [BOS] fair). The BKK fair is also convenient for experienced ITs already in ISs and non western teachers that would have logistical issues traveling to a western country to attend the other fairs.
You most certainly can rank them. The UK fair (another super fair that runs back to back with the CIS fair) is primarily attended by european schools, but the BKK fair is the "Global" job fair (not the asian job fair), there are other fairs (such as the HK fair) that focus on smaller local communities of schools. The Cambridge fair is more the Asian fair to attend as these regions (outside of JP and HK) along with ME schools and a handful of European schools comprise the bulk of the BOS fair.
The Cambridge fair is the American fair that focuses on on inexperienced and new teachers to the IS market (in of and on years it runs back to back with the ISS BOS fair). Of the attendees the vast majority of them are american teachers who are looking for their first IT teaching position, are very young in their IT teaching career, or are looking for ISs with an American curriculum. Its just as competitive as the other super fairs but the caliber of the teachers attending is lower, and the bulk of schools that attend are lower tier schools as well (mostly 2nd tier schools with a handful of 1st tier schools). This fair is also SAs intern job fair, which attracts a number of candidates.
If your really a rock star teacher and shooting for another top tier school, you dont use a fair, not even the BKK fair. If youve got 5 years at ASIJ and another 5 at ISB, you just email them your resume for a vacancy and they interview you on Skype. Either that or you go to a fair event but you get hired the night before the fair begins. The rest of the non deity veteran teachers who have been on the 2nd tier or 1st tier circuit would aim for an invitation to the BKK fair.
There isnt a fair for a newbie to really avoid, these fairs even the undesirable ones have a market and produce successful pairings of teachers and schools, if they didnt they wouldnt exist. The rule is earlier is better, so the earliest job fair you can get an invite for is the best. The peak of recruiting season ends with the BOS fair, so the pool of schools recruiting after this fair grows smaller and smaller, and right after the SF (San Francisco) fair the makeup of the schools shifts to less desirable regions, you start seeing more ME and SCA schools with a diminishing number of asian schools, and almost non existent european schools.
Which fairs should a candidate avoid? About the only two that I can say is a horrible match is 1) the SA Toronto fair in Canada. It coincides with the SA UK fair (which is a super fair) in London, the only people id recommend going to it are teachers who are in Toronto, and dont have anything better to do (like washing their hair). 2) The Atlanta fair (ISS) is a dead fair, as it runs back to back with the AASSA fair (SCA region schools) which if your a newbie is a better choice for you, and if you were competitive in any real way, youd have gone to the ISS France fair which is a week earlier.
The Australia fair is very early in the season and before the BKK fair, unless your in melbourne or Australia its a very early fair, but most schools even if attending will hold out to see whats at the BKK fair, and most of the attendee candidates are locals.
The Bethesda fair is really the last minute (desperate) summer scramble fair, its bottom tier schools with a few european schools that have last minute hiring and candidates that just need a job.
The rest of the fairs, except the SF fair are really only appropriate and recommendable if your local to the fair. They are often re-vists to the same cities in the fall peak rush, and just leftovers. If your in Lisbon (ISS), or Dubai (SA), etc and want to stay in the region those fairs work are viable options if you have nothing else to do. At this point (after the SF fair) however your really better off just applying and interviewing through Skype at home.
Several universities have IT job fairs but the only one I can recommend is the UNI (University of Northern Iowa) fair, its very close to the CAmbridge fair and is an alternative for teachers that couldnt get an invite to the SA BOS fair. It attracts mainly teachers who are recent graduates and have no/little experience (the bar for Search is 2 years), so unless your going to Search as an intern your not likely to get an invite to the BOS fair in which case the UNI fair is my recommendation.
Cost isnt an issue when it comes to the recruitment fairs, It cant be. You simply go to the fair that your most competitive for that have the most schools your interested in with the most vacancies in your field that you can get an invitation for. You dont choose between the BKK and BOS fair, If your marketable and competitive you go to the BKK fair. If your not competitive you go to the BOS fair.
There are teachers ive seen at the BKK fair who werent competitive (had 2-3 years experience, no IB, no advance degree, no IS experience) but were a teaching couple and had high demand teaching subjects who didnt get any interviews during signup and spent the first day emailing schools only to give up early the first day because no one wanted to interview them.
Its a waste of time going to a fair if you wouldnt accept an offer from the schools attending (dont go to the Dubai fair if you dont want to work in the ME). You should also focus on fairs that have a large number of vacancies in what you can teach. If you want to go to the UK fair in London because a bunch of european schools will be there, and you want to go to europe but no one or very few schools have a vacancy in your subject, you greatly reduce the probability of being successful.
They are all competitive (depending on what level of teacher you are) they just focus on different classes of teacher candidates. You need an invitation to attend any of them and the various agencies vet the invitees very closely. Not only is keeping the size of the fair manageable important, but so is keeping the candidate pool from getting watered down important as well. Recruiters dont want to waste the short amount of time during signup fielding candidates who arent competitive and inexperienced.
The BKK fair is "THE" fair for rock star teachers. This fair is one of the super fairs and runs back to back with the ISS BKK fair. It has the highest concentration of top tier schools, and most of those schools fill their few vacancies from this fair. Its very competitive but overall the caliber of teacher candidates is also very high. These are the experienced ITs (international teachers) in the IS (International School) market. Typically thats IB, AP, or IGCSE experienced teachers with an advance degree and 5 years experience, with at least 2 years of that being at an IS. Being a teaching couple and having a high demand teaching field are pluses as well. This fair is the first fair in the peak of the recruiting season (which starts in early January with the BKK fair, and runs to early February with the Cambridge [BOS] fair). The BKK fair is also convenient for experienced ITs already in ISs and non western teachers that would have logistical issues traveling to a western country to attend the other fairs.
You most certainly can rank them. The UK fair (another super fair that runs back to back with the CIS fair) is primarily attended by european schools, but the BKK fair is the "Global" job fair (not the asian job fair), there are other fairs (such as the HK fair) that focus on smaller local communities of schools. The Cambridge fair is more the Asian fair to attend as these regions (outside of JP and HK) along with ME schools and a handful of European schools comprise the bulk of the BOS fair.
The Cambridge fair is the American fair that focuses on on inexperienced and new teachers to the IS market (in of and on years it runs back to back with the ISS BOS fair). Of the attendees the vast majority of them are american teachers who are looking for their first IT teaching position, are very young in their IT teaching career, or are looking for ISs with an American curriculum. Its just as competitive as the other super fairs but the caliber of the teachers attending is lower, and the bulk of schools that attend are lower tier schools as well (mostly 2nd tier schools with a handful of 1st tier schools). This fair is also SAs intern job fair, which attracts a number of candidates.
If your really a rock star teacher and shooting for another top tier school, you dont use a fair, not even the BKK fair. If youve got 5 years at ASIJ and another 5 at ISB, you just email them your resume for a vacancy and they interview you on Skype. Either that or you go to a fair event but you get hired the night before the fair begins. The rest of the non deity veteran teachers who have been on the 2nd tier or 1st tier circuit would aim for an invitation to the BKK fair.
There isnt a fair for a newbie to really avoid, these fairs even the undesirable ones have a market and produce successful pairings of teachers and schools, if they didnt they wouldnt exist. The rule is earlier is better, so the earliest job fair you can get an invite for is the best. The peak of recruiting season ends with the BOS fair, so the pool of schools recruiting after this fair grows smaller and smaller, and right after the SF (San Francisco) fair the makeup of the schools shifts to less desirable regions, you start seeing more ME and SCA schools with a diminishing number of asian schools, and almost non existent european schools.
Which fairs should a candidate avoid? About the only two that I can say is a horrible match is 1) the SA Toronto fair in Canada. It coincides with the SA UK fair (which is a super fair) in London, the only people id recommend going to it are teachers who are in Toronto, and dont have anything better to do (like washing their hair). 2) The Atlanta fair (ISS) is a dead fair, as it runs back to back with the AASSA fair (SCA region schools) which if your a newbie is a better choice for you, and if you were competitive in any real way, youd have gone to the ISS France fair which is a week earlier.
The Australia fair is very early in the season and before the BKK fair, unless your in melbourne or Australia its a very early fair, but most schools even if attending will hold out to see whats at the BKK fair, and most of the attendee candidates are locals.
The Bethesda fair is really the last minute (desperate) summer scramble fair, its bottom tier schools with a few european schools that have last minute hiring and candidates that just need a job.
The rest of the fairs, except the SF fair are really only appropriate and recommendable if your local to the fair. They are often re-vists to the same cities in the fall peak rush, and just leftovers. If your in Lisbon (ISS), or Dubai (SA), etc and want to stay in the region those fairs work are viable options if you have nothing else to do. At this point (after the SF fair) however your really better off just applying and interviewing through Skype at home.
Several universities have IT job fairs but the only one I can recommend is the UNI (University of Northern Iowa) fair, its very close to the CAmbridge fair and is an alternative for teachers that couldnt get an invite to the SA BOS fair. It attracts mainly teachers who are recent graduates and have no/little experience (the bar for Search is 2 years), so unless your going to Search as an intern your not likely to get an invite to the BOS fair in which case the UNI fair is my recommendation.
Cost isnt an issue when it comes to the recruitment fairs, It cant be. You simply go to the fair that your most competitive for that have the most schools your interested in with the most vacancies in your field that you can get an invitation for. You dont choose between the BKK and BOS fair, If your marketable and competitive you go to the BKK fair. If your not competitive you go to the BOS fair.
There are teachers ive seen at the BKK fair who werent competitive (had 2-3 years experience, no IB, no advance degree, no IS experience) but were a teaching couple and had high demand teaching subjects who didnt get any interviews during signup and spent the first day emailing schools only to give up early the first day because no one wanted to interview them.
Its a waste of time going to a fair if you wouldnt accept an offer from the schools attending (dont go to the Dubai fair if you dont want to work in the ME). You should also focus on fairs that have a large number of vacancies in what you can teach. If you want to go to the UK fair in London because a bunch of european schools will be there, and you want to go to europe but no one or very few schools have a vacancy in your subject, you greatly reduce the probability of being successful.
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BrianKevin
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