My wife and I are new international teachers, and we've spent the better part of a year getting prepared -- Search Associates accounts, ISR account, organizing paperwork, clearing old debt, avoiding new debt, researching schools, and, of course, booking plane tickets and a hotel for the Cambridge fair.
Well, I guess we'll have to cancel those plans, since we were offered positions in a nice location based on Skype interviews. After months of sending emails based on positions listed in the Search database and getting next to no responses (a few auto-responses and one Skype interview that led to nothing), I was starting to get a little discouraged going into the fair.
If you were in the same boat as us, don't lose heart! Maybe your job is just around the corner, too.
Now the logistics of moving overseas for the first time... :shock:
No Cambridge after all! (Hope for the frustrated!)
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SushiBreakfast
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:09 pm
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flyingrob31
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:31 pm
More hope for the frustrated. I got no action in November and December. Then January rolls around and I am getting more emails than I can handle. Most of the school that emailed never responded. Because I have no international experience I did not even bother to email the "top schools". Now those "top schools" are emailing me and I am fairly confident an offer will come from some of them. I almost gave up in December (thinking that no IB experience was killing me), so don't give up! It seems you never know who will take notice and initiate contact....
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SushiBreakfast
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:09 pm
[quote="flyingrob31"]More hope for the frustrated. I got no action in November and December. Then January rolls around and I am getting more emails than I can handle. Most of the school that emailed never responded. Because I have no international experience I did not even bother to email the "top schools". Now those "top schools" are emailing me and I am fairly confident an offer will come from some of them. I almost gave up in December (thinking that no IB experience was killing me), so don't give up! It seems you never know who will take notice and initiate contact....[/quote]
I took PsyGuy's advice from another thread and cast my net wide. We applied in China, Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, Scotland, Poland, and Saudia Arabia. In many of those countries we had multiple applications... 4 in Korea, 6 or so in China at least.
Keep sending those emails!
While I'm here, my wife and I have a question:
What do you all do about car insurance while overseas? We plan on selling our current car and living without an automobile overseas (go go public transportation!), but we've heard horror stories about people coming back state-side and having to pay HUGE premiums after letting their insurance lapse. So, what do you experiences folks suggest?
I took PsyGuy's advice from another thread and cast my net wide. We applied in China, Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, Scotland, Poland, and Saudia Arabia. In many of those countries we had multiple applications... 4 in Korea, 6 or so in China at least.
Keep sending those emails!
While I'm here, my wife and I have a question:
What do you all do about car insurance while overseas? We plan on selling our current car and living without an automobile overseas (go go public transportation!), but we've heard horror stories about people coming back state-side and having to pay HUGE premiums after letting their insurance lapse. So, what do you experiences folks suggest?
Reply
You have a couple options for a car and car insurance:
1) Sell the car. Really by the time you get back its going to be worth that much less then when you left.
2) You could loan the car to a family member who would pay the insurance, registration, maintenance and gas on the car while they use it. Though you have to make sure you have the paperwork right, your basically leasing or renting them a car.
3) Garage/Give/Sell the car to a relative who if they are just adding a car to their liability policy shouldnt cost them anything more. When you get back they give the car back to you.
4) Me: Drop the coverages down to just comprehensive (no liability or collision) with the max deductible. This is called "storage" insurance. It costs about $35 a year, when you return youve have continual coverage so you just call the insurance company back and add the liability and other types of insurance.
1) Sell the car. Really by the time you get back its going to be worth that much less then when you left.
2) You could loan the car to a family member who would pay the insurance, registration, maintenance and gas on the car while they use it. Though you have to make sure you have the paperwork right, your basically leasing or renting them a car.
3) Garage/Give/Sell the car to a relative who if they are just adding a car to their liability policy shouldnt cost them anything more. When you get back they give the car back to you.
4) Me: Drop the coverages down to just comprehensive (no liability or collision) with the max deductible. This is called "storage" insurance. It costs about $35 a year, when you return youve have continual coverage so you just call the insurance company back and add the liability and other types of insurance.
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OrangeSoda
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:29 pm
Re: No Cambridge after all! (Hope for the frustrated!)
[quote="SushiBreakfast"]My wife and I are new international teachers, and we've spent the better part of a year getting prepared -- Search Associates accounts, ISR account, organizing paperwork, clearing old debt, avoiding new debt, researching schools, and, of course, booking plane tickets and a hotel for the Cambridge fair.
Well, I guess we'll have to cancel those plans, since we were offered positions in a nice location based on Skype interviews. After months of sending emails based on positions listed in the Search database and getting next to no responses (a few auto-responses and one Skype interview that led to nothing), I was starting to get a little discouraged going into the fair.
If you were in the same boat as us, don't lose heart! Maybe your job is just around the corner, too.
Now the logistics of moving overseas for the first time... :shock:[/quote]
That's fantastic news! Hope it all goes well. Do you mind me asking, what you think changed from the period of getting nothing to some interviews etc.? As me and my partner are in the position at the moment of getting nothing so trying not to lose hope! but we also want to learn from the experience in case it's something specific about us they may not want.
Well, I guess we'll have to cancel those plans, since we were offered positions in a nice location based on Skype interviews. After months of sending emails based on positions listed in the Search database and getting next to no responses (a few auto-responses and one Skype interview that led to nothing), I was starting to get a little discouraged going into the fair.
If you were in the same boat as us, don't lose heart! Maybe your job is just around the corner, too.
Now the logistics of moving overseas for the first time... :shock:[/quote]
That's fantastic news! Hope it all goes well. Do you mind me asking, what you think changed from the period of getting nothing to some interviews etc.? As me and my partner are in the position at the moment of getting nothing so trying not to lose hope! but we also want to learn from the experience in case it's something specific about us they may not want.
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amerikumar
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:16 am
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SushiBreakfast
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:09 pm
OrangeSoda: "Do you mind me asking, what you think changed from the period of getting nothing to some interviews etc.?"
We literally did nothing different between our early emails and later emails... I just changed the school name and cover letter where appropriate. I think what "worked" was emailing lots (and lots and lots) of schools until an administrator took notice.
It was the same thing with our Skype interviews... The first one went nowhere, but the second ended in a job offer. However, the interviews were close to identical, and we answered the questions in basically the same way. Again, I think it was hitting the right administrator at the right time.
amerikumar: "Do you have kids? My husband and I haven't heard anything in terms of scheduling interviews."
We do not have kids, and I'm assuming that was at least a minor plus. The Skype interview I mentioned that didn't go anywhere also had a, "Well, maybe we'll see you in Cambridge," ending.
For you and Orange both, I would just keep emailing schools. Email places that are not on top of your list. Email places with openings not especially amazing (I applied for several middle school positions when I am mostly a high school teacher). At this point, I would carpet bomb any school with openings as long as they don't have absolutely awful reviews! :)
We literally did nothing different between our early emails and later emails... I just changed the school name and cover letter where appropriate. I think what "worked" was emailing lots (and lots and lots) of schools until an administrator took notice.
It was the same thing with our Skype interviews... The first one went nowhere, but the second ended in a job offer. However, the interviews were close to identical, and we answered the questions in basically the same way. Again, I think it was hitting the right administrator at the right time.
amerikumar: "Do you have kids? My husband and I haven't heard anything in terms of scheduling interviews."
We do not have kids, and I'm assuming that was at least a minor plus. The Skype interview I mentioned that didn't go anywhere also had a, "Well, maybe we'll see you in Cambridge," ending.
For you and Orange both, I would just keep emailing schools. Email places that are not on top of your list. Email places with openings not especially amazing (I applied for several middle school positions when I am mostly a high school teacher). At this point, I would carpet bomb any school with openings as long as they don't have absolutely awful reviews! :)
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Amerikumar,
when we went to Bangkok we had one contact with pre-fair interview. No other schools had contacted us - then the day before the fair we had one more contact asking us to schedule an interview.
However, lots of candidates have no pre-fair contact and it is all done at the fair. Read Pippafrits summary of what she learned at the London Fair - she raised some good do and don't points...
above all, believe in yourself and get out there :-)
when we went to Bangkok we had one contact with pre-fair interview. No other schools had contacted us - then the day before the fair we had one more contact asking us to schedule an interview.
However, lots of candidates have no pre-fair contact and it is all done at the fair. Read Pippafrits summary of what she learned at the London Fair - she raised some good do and don't points...
above all, believe in yourself and get out there :-)