The International Schools Review Forum

So... we went into this with low expectations, given that we don't have many years of experience. We had one interview set up in advance, so I went into thinking that if nothing else, at least we had the one interview.

We've had seven interviews so far. One school seemed very uninterested, another school seemed to have a fantastic head of school, but the school wasn't the best fit for us, so we turned it down. We have one offer in hand, and we're waiting to hear from three other schools.

It's the waiting that gets to me. Unless you've received twenty interview requests (the most I've heard so far is 10), there is a LOT of downtime. One nice thing about the downtime is the opportunity to talk to other candidates. I feel like there's a real camaraderie in the candidates' lounge. I've had a lot of fun talking to other candidates.

I sat with one woman who burst into tears after the head of NIST walked away. He offered her a dream position, she accepted, and then the stress and elation of it all got to her. A nice moment.

The waiting really is the worst part. All of our interviews are over. Now it's just a matter of seeing if there will be follow up interviews.

How's everyone else doing?

Seems to be lots of goodwill and interest, but no offers yet. Hoping for something tomorrow...but if not, it is not the end of the world!

We will probably accept our one offer. We feel good about the school/country, and it's IB, which is something we really wanted to get into. But we're waiting until tomorrow morning, just to see if the other three schools have anything to say.

The paranoid part of me is waiting for the school to turn around and rescind the offer.

Meanwhile, I've seen some real superstar teachers here. One teacher got offers from JIS, Nagoya, Concordian, and IS Beijing, and was waiting on a few more offers before formally turning down JIS and Nagoya. Single teacher, too. It's not just a couples' fair.

I ended up only visiting 3 schools due to availability of positions in desired schools/countries and largely due to the general melee of madness that ensued! I was just too fried by the time I got in there and saw the chaos and long lines - I just lost all enthusiasm. One school I must have gone back 5 times and the line never did seem to shrink.

Anyway that said, I did get 3 interviews and have had an offer at a good IB school already which is exciting. Oh, and I'm with a non-teaching partner.

Good luck in your waiting everyone!

Which school is JIS? And Concordian is the one in Thailand?

JIS=Jakarta IS

Thanks! Goes to show how much I don't know, when I see J I think Japan, so I am glad I asked.

And Concordian in Thailand is a good school? The reviews on here seem not so great, so I am just curious.

[quote="sevarem"]Meanwhile, I've seen some real superstar teachers here. One teacher got offers from JIS, Nagoya, Concordian, and IS Beijing, and was waiting on a few more offers before formally turning down JIS and Nagoya. Single teacher, too. It's not just a couples' fair.[/quote]

Out of interest, what did the superstar teach?

From what I have heard Concordian is a good tier 2 school and is not trying to become a tier 1 school. You might not get paid as well as somewhere like JIS or IS Beijing but you probably work half as hard.

I have not worked at the school though.

Congratulations Severam! Did you stay warm, or headed cold? LOL

We ended up with two job offers, and we went with the one that really interested and spoke to us the most. Looking forward to the move in August!

The superstar teacher is a male kindergarten teacher. I believe he took the Concordian offer.

Shadowjack, we're sadly not all that warm to begin with. It's pretty cold outside right now, but we're heading to warmth and very happy about it! The school feels like a great opportunity for us (IB training, curriculum building) and it's in a (warm) country/region we're interested in!

We met one teacher who hadn't gotten a single interview. Another teacher left with no job because he was very picky. He would only interview with schools in Japan. You really do need to think broad, at least for Bangkok.

@sevarem

I have to disagree with that. Why should he or anyone think broadly about the BKK fair or any fair, when they have a specific purpose. That teacher wanted to teach in Japan, why should he interview or apply to other schools if he doesn't want to teach anywhere but Japan? If he's not going to accept a position from anywhere else, and he's not interested in practicing his interview skills, what would be the benefit of interviewing with schools you would say no too?

A significant number of teachers care about the job, and the school and less about the region or the location, but for the teachers that are interested in being ITs for a SPECIFIC experience, the heart wants what the heart wants, and their goals are no more or less valid then anyone else's.

PsyGuy - if the guy is only interested in schools in Japan, why didn't he just contact directly, fly there and knock on doors, to show his seriousness. Search asks candidates to indicate the areas they want to teach in. The guy obviously lied.

For those people going to ANY job fair, being flexible leads to many more leads. As you say, if the guy only wants Japan, that's his right.

What bothers me is that likely had he been honest with Search, he would not have been at the BKK fair (skews their results, honestly). So he most likely (since I am not 100% sure) lied about his interest.

I have found in IT that honesty is the best policy. Had a school at the fair ask me where we stood with regards to them, and I was honest (not my top choice, which we were waiting to hear back from), but not a desperation pick. If our top choice wasn't there and I had been offered a job at this school I was talking to, I would have quite happily gone there, even though it is in a very different part of the world.

That one guy who wanted only Japan took up a spot where another teacher may have walked away with a desired job, but who never got the chance...

Yantantether - great news for you! I, too, have a trailing spouse, but one who wants to transition into teaching...

Sevaram - as you head warm, we are heading cold. Looking forward to leaving heat, actually, as the sunshine is still there despite the cold :-)

@shadowjack

Because Japan is not the size of the fair hotel... Those Japanese schools are not all next door to one another in the same place. Organizing potential interviews with schools that may not even be predisposed to interviewing and recruiting would be pretty disastrous.
This individual came to the BKK fair to have all the schools he was interested in in one convenient, interview ready place.

What good is being flexible if the leads wouldn't produce offers you would accept? All the leads in the world wouldn't matter to this person if those leads weren't in Japan.

I'm sure the deciding criteria for this individual was NOT the the number of regions he was interested in. I've known plenty of teachers who were only interested in EU or or a single country who got invites to BKK. SA cares more about your marketability then your motives.

So what if he did lie? This is about individual interests, not some sense of community fair play, or good sportsmanship award.

No honestly is not ALWAYS the best policy. If a Muslim extremist has an AK-47 pointed at me and asks me who my god is, the BEST answer is Allah.
When your significant other asks you if this dress makes them look fat, the BEST answer is "My love if you keep this up were going to have to talk about getting you therapy for skinny girls with borderline anorexia".
When parents ask you how their child is doing in your class, the BRST answer is to start with a.compliment.

No honestly always being the best policy is extremely naive and disingenuous.