My job hunt experience / Cambridge Fair

teachman · Post by **teachman** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:43 pm

So... I've been lurking on this forum for about a year, trying to collect info on the IS circuit and how to break into it. I've been collecting some pretty useful tips this past year, so I figure I should share my experience, which I hope might help out other teachers in the future.

First off, I'm a certified HS math teacher with dependents. I've got 5 years of teaching experience stateside, but I've never lived abroad before. I found out early on that teaching math would make me more hirable, but the dependents would make me a tougher sell to recruiters. Didn't have any AP or IB experience either to bolster my CV, so I knew I had to do something to make myself marketable if I wanted to have a shot at the better schools.

I dedicated myself to completely revamping the way I teach for pretty much the past year, "leveling up" as a teacher (as I like to call it). I started using some new teaching practices that Iâ€™d learned over the years, started to use more technology in the classroomâ€¦ basically, tried to become a better teacher in a way that would make me more marketable in the IS world.

Signed up for the Search fair in Cambridge because it was relatively close by. Me and Mrs. Teachman have been religiously checking the Search site for the past 6 months, combing through all the schools in the database, emailing schools as position matches were updated.

The month leading up to the fair was pretty much dedicated to fair prep. I created a spread sheet with all the schools that were going to be at the fair that were position matches, so I could do side by side comparisons easily. I bought a new suit, polished up my CV and printed them out on nice resume paper, made thank you cards on nice card stock (included my picture and contact info), and printed out some business cards to hand out to potential recruiters.

I figured this probably wasn't going to be enough, so I created a video that highlighted my accomplishments as a teacher, and that showed me actually teaching in the classroom. I also made my own "ichiro" (look it up on the forum), which was basically a brochure on glossy paper that highlighted my career accomplishments, explained my teaching philosophy, and included my info about my extra-curricular interests. The week before fair, I had 50 resumes, 50 brochures, 100 business cards, 100 thank you cards, and a swanky new suit to take with me to the fair.

With only a couple weeks before the fair, I'd only had 2 interviews with schools, and nothing promising come out of it. The nervousness, that I'm sure everybody gets from job-hunting, was starting to set in with about a week before the fair. Some of our dream schools disappeared from the list as vacancies were filled at the beginning of the hiring season. Still, I remained optimistic about my prospects, and kept confident about my marketability as a candidate.

The weekend before the fair, I suddenly was contacted by a couple of schools that I was interested in, one of which was our top choice for the schools attending the fair. Me and Mrs. Teachman were ecstatic. I replied that day letting the schools know that I was interested, and requested interviews to be set up. A couple of days past, and I didn't hear anything from our top school. once again, the nervousness began to set it. After a lengthy debate about whether or not I would come off as being too pushy, I decided to email the school again to see if an interview could be arranged before the fair started. I got an email later that day asking for an interview before the fair. Once again, me and Mrs. Teachman were ecstatic.

I ended up staying at a friend's house nearby instead of shelling out $500+ staying at the Hyatt for 4 nights. In retrospect, staying at the hotel might've been the better choice, given that a Nor'easter ended up slamming Boston this weekend. I know the blizzard definitely put candidates staying outside of the hotel at a disadvantage, as they had to figure out plans for spending the night during the fair.

I was given an offer (!) after the interview with my top choice. I was ecstatic (again!). It was going to be a great fit for both of us. I fought the urge to accept the position on the spot, and told them that I was super interested in their school, that they were my top choice as an IS, but that I needed time to consider it before accepting. There were some other schools I was interested in that I wanted to explore, and I didn't want to leave with any regrets. Thankfully, the school was very understanding, and told me that to take the time I needed. They put me in touch with the principal of the school, and scheduled a skype interview with them for later in the evening.

Looking back, I'd say it definitely pays to find a way to make yourself stand out as a teacher if you want to break into IS teaching. Yeah, you want to make sure you sell the product (yourself as a teacher), but if the product itself is good, it'll definitely show when you're talking to recruiters. All the work I put in last summer â€œleveling upâ€

Taylor · Post by **Taylor** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:26 pm

Congrats teachman! Where are you and the wife heading?

teachman · Post by **teachman** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:33 pm

Thanks Taylor! We're going to a school in SE Asia

escapeartist · Post by **escapeartist** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:58 pm

Congratulations! I love the part about "leveling up" as a teacher. It's always inspiring when teachers are open to growth and change rather than stagnating in old habits. Just goes to show that effort pays off. Your students are lucky.

shadowjack · Post by **shadowjack** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:26 pm

Good pointers for prospective international teachers.

Lopaka · Post by **Lopaka** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 11:42 pm

I was hoping someone would write from Boston...thanks Teachman. And congrats on your new position...I too am heading to SE Asia..perhaps we'll run into each other. Really impressed with your preparation.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:02 am

Always good to hear how people prairie and succeed. Congrats!

durianfan · Post by **durianfan** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:13 am

Congrats teachman - good report. I'm also heading to SE Asia.

teachman · Post by **teachman** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:17 pm

Thanks everybody, and best of luck to all of you still in hunt for 2013-2014!

moose · Post by **moose** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:51 pm

Congrats to you, teachman! We have similar backgrounds, but had very different experiences. I am also HS math certified, with 14 years experience in the states, and dependents. Did much of the same thing as you did, but stayed at the Hyatt. I think it was actually a disadvantage--they scheduled people staying elsewhere for the Friday interviews, which led to a lot of offers before Saturday interviews were even conducted. I had no advance interviews.

I had 6 interviews scheduled, but 2 canceled because they filled the position before I got there. I expected that kind of thing, but it was disheartening. (One of the directors came to find me personally, and let me know, which I thought was kind, instead of leaving an impersonal note.) Many other schools told me at the Friday sign up that they would not consider me because if the dependents...two of my top ten picks said "you were our top pick until we saw that you have a trailing spouse and kids, sorry!"

I still have one school I'm talking to, and hoping to keep working through the database, but the fair was kind of a disappointment. I did meet a lot of lovely people, and learned a lot about ISs around the globe, so not a total loss!