SF Search Fair

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 1:11 am

WoW what a day!

I live 40 min away from the hotel so I drive to the fair, just got home had dinner and put the kids to sleep.

Nice day in the city, nice hotel, everyone seemed very friendly. Search did a good job, well at least for the first day. They had a good IB workshop in the morning, very informative. After that we spent time filling out little yellow slips for interview requests and placed them into the schools mailbox. Then had some time to spare so we went out to have lunch at a place near by that we were looking forward too. Upon returning the schools started their presentations. After a few presentations it was over!

Some notes: I checked our mailbox about 20 times throughout the day, I couldn't help it people were walking around with green interview slips. Also, its funny how some people would jump in front of the recruiter while they walk into the room for presentations and ask about jobs...

Tomorrow morning we have some presentations that we plan on attending and then the long awaited interview sign ups.

Day 1 done: score 1 green slip, I guess I can complain its better then zero. Sorry that that my blog is not as informative as other from other fairs.

Does anyone have any info about, Riyadh Schools (Saudi Arabia)?

shadowjack · Post by **shadowjack** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 2:47 am

Just looking at their site now. Never heard of them, but then again, as it is a school for Saudi students and perhaps, expat Arab students, that is not surprising. If you are hired, it would likely be for English, as I suspect most other instruction would be in Arabic.

You will not be dealing with Western students, except possibly "Western" Arabs who hold dual passports from Arab and Western countries and who want their children educated in a more Islamic environment than that provided by the American, British, or Multinational Schools.

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:23 am

Not sure who they are, I was hoping someone worked there or knew someone that worked there.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:34 pm

Thanks for the update coach. Is it unusual that this fair starts on a Sunday? All the others seem to be weekend affairs.

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:52 pm

[quote="Trojan"]Thanks for the update coach. Is it unusual that this fair starts on a Sunday? All the others seem to be weekend affairs.[/quote]

Thanks everyone, keep the good vibes coming.

Actually the fair started Saturday and ends on Monday, its a 3 day weekend here. Monday is Presidents day so its not a workday.

Just finished our first school presentation of the day, then checked the mailbox. Score: Zero green slips - 4 thanks but no thanks...

shadowjack · Post by **shadowjack** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 2:24 pm

Also, at Riyadh Schools it is not likely you would get Christmas holidays...most likely you would get summer, the October Eid, and the mid-year break in January and spring break in March (1 week each).

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:14 pm

[quote="shadowjack"]Also, at Riyadh Schools it is not likely you would get Christmas holidays...most likely you would get summer, the October Eid, and the mid-year break in January and spring break in March (1 week each).[/quote]

I went to their presentation and they covered that. Its not really a big deal for me, I'm not much of a holiday person. I am more of a time off person, as long as I get my days off, I'm not too picky about the times.

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:43 pm

The fair is over for us!

This was an amazing experience and very well put together. Search did a great job.

For us this fair was a roller coaster of emotions, at times you feel like you are on top of the world and times that its over and you walk away with nothing. As mentioned before our target was the ME. Our first presentation was for a school in Kuwait and there was only standing room. This was the case for most of the ME schools that we attended.

I found out some information that really placed a hardship for me to find a job in certain countries. I will try to explain this law/rule the best that I can:
To get the work visa ones Bachelor degree has to match the subject they are teaching. To their Ministry of Education the teaching credential does not matter. So if you have a teaching credential in Math and 15 years experience teaching Math but your Bachelor's is in Biology they will not give you a job as a math teacher, you will only get a job as a biology teacher.

That law took us out of the running of 4 schools that we had a good chance of getting an offer. Also by the time this fair started positions that fit us were gone. After a few interviews we ended up going home empty handed and one maybe....

We had a good time we meet some great people. I saw a lot of offers and people celebrating their success.

junglegym · Post by **junglegym** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:29 pm

CoachM, it sounds like you did some good networking and had a good experience, so congratulations. Fingers crossed for the maybe, and good luck with the rest if your search. There is so much left to happen, and great jobs that still might open up if you can wait. :)

PsyGuy · Post by **PsyGuy** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:26 pm

@CoachM

Thats BS, sorry to say they were making excuses. Its true in theory, but in practice its irrelevant. If your degree is in biology the school will just qualify you in biology "officially" and assign you to whatever classes/department they are really hiring you for. Either that or they will hire you as a generalist/humanities teacher and assign you to whatever classes/department they are hiring you for.

Guero · Post by **Guero** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:22 pm

Can anyone else comment on experience dealing with the above rule mentioned by Coachm? This if the first time I have heard someone mention this type of hurdle and it worries me for our future job search. Wife and I are both alternatively certified and teaching different subjects than we have degrees in.
Thanks

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:27 pm

@junglegym
It was great, I hope its not over. I was really looking forward to teaching abroad next school year.

CoachM · Post by **CoachM** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:30 pm

@PsyGuy
This may be the only time that I agree with you, it is complete BS. I asked multiple Directors about this rule and they all agreed that its true.

@Guero
Before the fair we did not know about this but ran into it at interviews. It came up when one of the Kuwait schools mentioned it in their presentation. It sucks because it changes everything for my wife and I too.

junglegym · Post by **junglegym** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:36 pm

With regards to the major matching the position, this was mentioned in one of the school presentations I attended. What the recruiter said is just what PsyGuy said - they'd hire you to teach x subject on paper, but in reality, you'd teach something else. It would be easier for them to find someone who meets the legal criteria, though, so maybe that adds an extra competitive factor (in that if you're not *perfect*, they won't go through the trouble).
Keep this in mind CoachM, if you can convince them that you're the best, they will do what it takes to get you.

SF Search Fair

SF Search Fair

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