How many schools would you recommend targetting? i.e. Do you have a set number you look to request interviews with?
How many interviews is enough/too much?
Also re. the sign ups, is it really a case of us all whoring ourselves out to schools for 30 secs? Do they simply then accept or decline our amorous advances right there and then? And is that the only way to request interviews?
Thanks in advance all, oh and HNY!
Targeting schools at the fairs
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Well, if you have made pre-contact, whether you receive a response or not, you might find a request in your file at the fair. This means the school is interested. This can happen even if they don't respond directly to you - especially, I think, if you mentioned you are going to be in XXX (the fair city).
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Most people get the bulk of their interviews by advance invitation. You either get an email in advance or a note in your mail box. This allows you to skip to the front of the line during signup, and get an early interview slot. Its a good indication how much the school wants you, the earlier your interview.
The 3 other ways of getting an interview are:
1) At the schools presentation: At the end you approach the recruiter and give them your 30 second sales pitch. Depending where in the fair schedule you are they may be more receptive, usually they pass. id say of 10 people talking to them after a presentation 1 of them gets a shot.
2) A the social: sometimes a conversation at the social becomes an interview. ive seen people talk their way into a late night early morning interview, usually with schools the candidates werent interested in, but they dont want to leave with nothing.
3) "In Passing": Usually in the elevator, at the bar, restaurant, etc. It happens, I was in the elevator with a math teacher and recruiter and the recruiter made him an offer before they got off. All the recruiter had to hear was "I teach AP calculus". The whole deal was done in less then a minute.
There isnt a set number, you should already know which schools have vacancies in your teaching field, and which schools/regions are your primary choices. I suggest creating a list that rank orders your schools from your "dream" school to your "safety" schools.
The you have to decide whether to start at the top or the bottom of the list:
"TOP OF THE LIST": If you start at the top of the list your going to ahve fewer schools to make contact with. This is because your dream schools are very likely to be other candidates dream schools as well. You could be waiting in line 20-30 minutes for one school. This means you get to meet fewer schools, and with much higher competition increases the likelihood of a school passing on you. So you just spent 2 minutes waiting in line for nothing. It happens every year, that a number of candidates leave signup with ZERO interviews. Of course if you dont wait inline you really limit your ability to get an interview.
BOTTOM OF THE LIST: If you start at the bottom of the list your very likely to have shorter if any wait times and will get to talk with more schools. These schools are also likely to have less competition and more open to filling their interview roster. Of course these are more likely to be the schools your less interested in. It doesnt do any good to sign up for an interview, and go to the interview if you wouldnt accept an offer from them anyway, or you have some unrealistic expectation of what they would have to offer to get you to say yes. These are also likely to be the school that will be hiring through online interviews when the fair season is over, so you spend valuable F2F time on a school you didnt have to. Lastly, if you focus on the bottom of the list your not going to get to the school(s) on the top of the list, which is an opportunity you may never get again.
Yes, its really a 30 second cattle call where you whore yourself out, on the basis of a look and a few sheets of paper.
Yes, they dismiss you on the spot, usually with a "sorry not this time" and a hand shake, before they have forgotten you and are already introducing themselves to the person behind you. It makes you feel cheap and worthless the first couple times, but you get over it when you realize everyone else has the same experience.
The 3 other ways of getting an interview are:
1) At the schools presentation: At the end you approach the recruiter and give them your 30 second sales pitch. Depending where in the fair schedule you are they may be more receptive, usually they pass. id say of 10 people talking to them after a presentation 1 of them gets a shot.
2) A the social: sometimes a conversation at the social becomes an interview. ive seen people talk their way into a late night early morning interview, usually with schools the candidates werent interested in, but they dont want to leave with nothing.
3) "In Passing": Usually in the elevator, at the bar, restaurant, etc. It happens, I was in the elevator with a math teacher and recruiter and the recruiter made him an offer before they got off. All the recruiter had to hear was "I teach AP calculus". The whole deal was done in less then a minute.
There isnt a set number, you should already know which schools have vacancies in your teaching field, and which schools/regions are your primary choices. I suggest creating a list that rank orders your schools from your "dream" school to your "safety" schools.
The you have to decide whether to start at the top or the bottom of the list:
"TOP OF THE LIST": If you start at the top of the list your going to ahve fewer schools to make contact with. This is because your dream schools are very likely to be other candidates dream schools as well. You could be waiting in line 20-30 minutes for one school. This means you get to meet fewer schools, and with much higher competition increases the likelihood of a school passing on you. So you just spent 2 minutes waiting in line for nothing. It happens every year, that a number of candidates leave signup with ZERO interviews. Of course if you dont wait inline you really limit your ability to get an interview.
BOTTOM OF THE LIST: If you start at the bottom of the list your very likely to have shorter if any wait times and will get to talk with more schools. These schools are also likely to have less competition and more open to filling their interview roster. Of course these are more likely to be the schools your less interested in. It doesnt do any good to sign up for an interview, and go to the interview if you wouldnt accept an offer from them anyway, or you have some unrealistic expectation of what they would have to offer to get you to say yes. These are also likely to be the school that will be hiring through online interviews when the fair season is over, so you spend valuable F2F time on a school you didnt have to. Lastly, if you focus on the bottom of the list your not going to get to the school(s) on the top of the list, which is an opportunity you may never get again.
Yes, its really a 30 second cattle call where you whore yourself out, on the basis of a look and a few sheets of paper.
Yes, they dismiss you on the spot, usually with a "sorry not this time" and a hand shake, before they have forgotten you and are already introducing themselves to the person behind you. It makes you feel cheap and worthless the first couple times, but you get over it when you realize everyone else has the same experience.
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wntriscoming
- Posts: 114
- Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:44 am
Last job fair I went to (UNI), when we finally made it to the front of the lines of two schools we were quite interested in, the schools told us that they were waiting for the candidates they had pre-selected to come sign up for interview times. Since didn't have a yellow slip, they politely let us know that they weren't interested (even though they had our positions open). After that, we immediately looked at our yellow slips and signed up for interviews with those schools ASAP.
Is it still this way at UNI? Is it different at other job fairs?
Is it still this way at UNI? Is it different at other job fairs?
More than a few schools will have recruiters talking to people waiting in line, kind of a pre-screening before you get to the front. This saves a lot of time as well. I remember I was in the line for NIST (Thailand) and the recruiter was dismissing everyone who didn't have at least 6 years of IB experience.
Comment
I just wish the schools would right on their vacancy sheets their cut of criteria (candidates with less then 6 years IB experience need not apply, etc.)
@wntriscoming
You get invitations for the Search/ISS fair, and schools save their early interview slots for those candidates. Some schools though will only interview those they invite, but in those cases the recruiter doesnt usually attend signup and will just schedule interviews in advance.
@wntriscoming
You get invitations for the Search/ISS fair, and schools save their early interview slots for those candidates. Some schools though will only interview those they invite, but in those cases the recruiter doesnt usually attend signup and will just schedule interviews in advance.
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buffalofan
- Posts: 350
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:08 pm
Wow, I know Bangkok schools are really competitive, but people seriously can't even make it up to the NIST table at a fair to even ask for an interview without 6 years of IB???
It is totally depressing that the market is that bad for teachers. Anyone know if NIST is always like this, or did durianfan just pick the wrong year to attend a fair?
It is totally depressing that the market is that bad for teachers. Anyone know if NIST is always like this, or did durianfan just pick the wrong year to attend a fair?
Comment
A lot of schools and recruiters are like that, every year. Some are more blatant and direct about it, and flaunt their egos. Some are more polite about it. The BKK fair has always been the fair for highly competitive and marketable candidates. This is why the whole idea that anything other then what you have taught and can teach matters. Recruiters have a mental checklist and if you dont make the cut, after glancing at it for 10 seconds, they stop reading and move on.
Some schools have admins prescreening the line to determine if you actually get to go to the table, and shake hands with the recruiter. Having an invite moves you right up to the front of the line.
One school in Japan had an AP going down the line asking if you had 5 plus years experience and dismissing you if you didnt. Another school in China wouldnt talk to anyone without prior IB experience in the subject they were applying for. One school in France was only interested if you were conversational in French.
Some schools have admins prescreening the line to determine if you actually get to go to the table, and shake hands with the recruiter. Having an invite moves you right up to the front of the line.
One school in Japan had an AP going down the line asking if you had 5 plus years experience and dismissing you if you didnt. Another school in China wouldnt talk to anyone without prior IB experience in the subject they were applying for. One school in France was only interested if you were conversational in French.
At least NIST was honest about it. I stood in line for 20 minutes to talk to the recruiter from Vientiane International School. I got up to the front and the guy said "sorry, but I'm not allowed to talk to anyone without IB experience." Like PsyGuy said, it would really save people a lot of time if they mentioned their cutoff qualifications on the poster boards.