It is early Thursday morning here in London. I arrived late last night and am staying at a hotel not too far from the fair hotel, about a 5 minute walk. This is my first fair. Decided to do the tourist thing today and will visit the 3 big museums that are in this area, the Victorial & Albert, the National Science and the Science.
Last week I interviewed with a school that is not attending the fair. I had two great interviews with them via Skype. Then the school attended the Bangkok fair. I woke up this morning to an offer from them. It is a very good school in our 3rdd choice of countries to live in.
This week I have used the info that Seach provides to contact the recruits that are attending the fair directly. I sent out 5 emails to my top 5 schools and attached my resume to each one. I used the school's website to research and customize each email to highlight my skills and how I would help the school fufill their mission statements. In the email I asked them to contact me if they were interested in me visiting them during the interview sign-ups, or if they had specific times for an actual interview.
I heard back from 3 schools, 2 of which scheduled actual times to meet and 1 which asked me to stop by during the interview sign-ups. Of the 3 schools that responded 1 is in our top choice of country to live in and the other 2 are located in our 2nd choice of countries to live in. I also arrived last night to an email from a school in a country that I never imagined living in that is interested in meeting me at the fair to discuss an opening at their school.
I am curious if the other 2 schools that did not respond via email will leave me a note in my mailbox tomorrow. I'm of the mindset that if I do not hear back from the other 2 schools that I will not pursue them. Even a thanks but no thanks is better than the silent treatment and I would rather work for a school that is professional and can take the time to respond in kind when an applicant reaches out to them.
Friday will be a busy day. I'm looking forward to the experience and with connecting with old friends and meeting some new friends. Good luck to all that will be attending the London fair this weekend.
Search London 2014
Re: Search London 2014
My fair ended on Saturday when I accepted an offer from my first choice school. Overall I left with a really great impression of the experience and most of the international school that I had either made contact with, or interviewed with. My card was full from Friday on, with many schools wanting to meet me before the sign-ups. I had 5 interviews on Friday + 1 2nd interview with my top choice school. At the fair I scheduled several more interviews and two more 2nd interviews.
When I returned back to my hotel there was a message waiting for me on the phone from my first choice that they wanted to meet early, 7:30 AM, for breakfast at a nearby caffe. I confirmed and the next morning enjoyed a nice breakfast and conversation with all of the leadership team that was attending the fair. They spent some time carefully going over my duties, their expectations, the contract and my package. They insisted that I talk it over with my wife before i answered them but that they were offering me the position.
I came back to my hotel and called my wife to discuss. We were both very happy with the offer, the school and the life/work balance, the country and the community. I emailed them to let them know that I would like to stop by to have a quick chat. They replied with a time for me to stop by in between some of their other interviews. I arrived and again all of the leadership team that was at the fair were in the room. I informed them that we are accepting the offer. Handshakes, congrats, smiles all around.
Back over to the candidate lounge to write thank you notes to all of the schools that scheduled interviews with me that day to let them know that I had accepted an offer. I filled out the fair forms, grabbed my hanging folder and turned it in with my name badge at 12:00 PM. My 1st fair experience was over.
That evening they all invited me out to dinner to celebrate with them and to get to know them. I am joining them as part of the leadership team, as you probably guessed. I am very excited. That night at dinner I get to know my new colleagues a little bit better. Really great bunch of folks and leaders. I know that I am going to learn a lot from them.
My take-aways from the fair:
1. Dress to impress. It matters.
2. Everybody is stressed out, even the recruiters.
3. Be yourself. It shows.
4. Be social. Make connections. You never know when you'll be sitting across the table recruiting with the person that you pushed aside to get on the elevator first.
5. You are always on. Treat everybody, even hotel staff and wait staff at local places to eat, with the respect that they deserve. I actually witnessed a head of school belittle a server who got his order wrong. I had interviewed with him earlier and his school was on my short list. When he saw that I had witnessed what he had done he didn't even seem to care. He even thought that I would be impressed more with him. I wasn't. Nobody was.
6. Enjoy the experience. Learn and grow from it. Reflect.
7. Smile
I want to wish everybody who got positions a big congratulations. For those that didn't, do not be discouraged. There is still plenty of time left. To those attending future fairs, good luck!
When I returned back to my hotel there was a message waiting for me on the phone from my first choice that they wanted to meet early, 7:30 AM, for breakfast at a nearby caffe. I confirmed and the next morning enjoyed a nice breakfast and conversation with all of the leadership team that was attending the fair. They spent some time carefully going over my duties, their expectations, the contract and my package. They insisted that I talk it over with my wife before i answered them but that they were offering me the position.
I came back to my hotel and called my wife to discuss. We were both very happy with the offer, the school and the life/work balance, the country and the community. I emailed them to let them know that I would like to stop by to have a quick chat. They replied with a time for me to stop by in between some of their other interviews. I arrived and again all of the leadership team that was at the fair were in the room. I informed them that we are accepting the offer. Handshakes, congrats, smiles all around.
Back over to the candidate lounge to write thank you notes to all of the schools that scheduled interviews with me that day to let them know that I had accepted an offer. I filled out the fair forms, grabbed my hanging folder and turned it in with my name badge at 12:00 PM. My 1st fair experience was over.
That evening they all invited me out to dinner to celebrate with them and to get to know them. I am joining them as part of the leadership team, as you probably guessed. I am very excited. That night at dinner I get to know my new colleagues a little bit better. Really great bunch of folks and leaders. I know that I am going to learn a lot from them.
My take-aways from the fair:
1. Dress to impress. It matters.
2. Everybody is stressed out, even the recruiters.
3. Be yourself. It shows.
4. Be social. Make connections. You never know when you'll be sitting across the table recruiting with the person that you pushed aside to get on the elevator first.
5. You are always on. Treat everybody, even hotel staff and wait staff at local places to eat, with the respect that they deserve. I actually witnessed a head of school belittle a server who got his order wrong. I had interviewed with him earlier and his school was on my short list. When he saw that I had witnessed what he had done he didn't even seem to care. He even thought that I would be impressed more with him. I wasn't. Nobody was.
6. Enjoy the experience. Learn and grow from it. Reflect.
7. Smile
I want to wish everybody who got positions a big congratulations. For those that didn't, do not be discouraged. There is still plenty of time left. To those attending future fairs, good luck!
Re: Search London 2014
Congrats! I wish you well BlueJay!
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Re: Search London 2014
Congrats Bluejay!
I am a bit shocked at the head - but then, I know a head who would be like that and would think it was impressive.
Good luck next year - and good luck to everybody else at the London fair. Keep us posted!
I am a bit shocked at the head - but then, I know a head who would be like that and would think it was impressive.
Good luck next year - and good luck to everybody else at the London fair. Keep us posted!
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chipmunk84
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:35 am
- Location: United Kingdom
Re: Search London 2014
Congrats Blue Jay!
I am also writing my experiences here, since in previous posts, people said it was quite helpful and I remember reading reviews beforehand and those made the fair a lot less stressful for me.
I came from one hour away by train so arrived around 8. In my opinion, arriving that early wasn't necessary. I wish I'd slept more!
I had an interesting time at the fair because I had already had a first interview with a school in the US via the search website a day earlier and they wanted to interview me again before the fair or during the first day/ evening of the fair, in case I found other positions. So in this sense the fair's timing worked really well for me! ( By the way, this ends well: I accepted the post at the school 'out of fair' in the end after a second interview on Friday night).
So back to Friday morning. Arrived, cloakroom, registration, candidate mail room to check messages. None but I had had a queue jumping slip sent to my email a few days before from a school in China.
As a teacher from a state school in the UK I was immediately struck by how friendly people were, how they talked to anyone who was next to them and engaged in very positive and supportive conversations about schools. People really were from all over, from other state school teachers like me with no IB experience to experienced teaching couples (a trend I noticed: the wife was doing all the planning, the husband was catching up on some sleep!), accompanying partners, etc.
As someone with international school experience as a child, I felt I had landed. It was another world from the pressures of my school and the negativity that plagues many state schools in England at the moment. I felt anything could happen.
Went to look at vacancies in the big candidate lounge. Obviously I was hoping for the school from Skype to make me an offer that evening but still sent messages to about 7 schools.
Then a long period of waiting for interview sign up. Again, I wish I'd arrived later. Wifi was very temperamental with that amount of people but I was OK with it for most of the time. Hotel was a fantastic venue, I thought. Very spacious. Loved the urgent email about the guy who had been taking CVs and messages out of a school's file and how we should watch out for these people.
Interview sign up session: make a clear list of where the schools are, ie. upper room, lower room, so you can complete the process quickly. You do not want to be in there too long! I saw one person trying to get in without a badge. They told her to go. I went to the schools I had sent messages to. Most had added 'IB required' on their posters so I knew I wouldn't be successful. They mostly said , sorry, IB required, or you need a degree in the subject you teach etc. China school gave me an interview early on Sunday. Another school in the ME said they would send me on IB training and it seemed like a great place to be with a really friendly Head but was worried about opportunities for my non teaching partner. Still had a good feeling about it in case the Skype interview didn't work out so signed up for interview slot on Saturday.
I was done with the sign up session fairly quickly so went to stay with a friend and prepared for my Skype interview, which happened in the evening and went very well. They made an offer and I accepted the next morning.
I then emailed the two schools I was due to interview with. The one from the ME sent me a really nice reply saying too bad as they were looking forward to speaking to me. The other one didn't acknowledge, but it was quite a large school so probably a lot of interviews that day.
After a relaxed morning updating search profile to Hired as instructed by Gez and the associate, I went back to the fair to file the paperwork about accepted offers/ fair evaluation and return my badge. I also visited my associate for the fair in their room and thanked them for the advice and for providing such a great service. They congratulated me and told me to keep in touch and to let them know when I wanted my file re-activated. Saturday seemed a lot more chilled out at the fair, people mostly in elevators going up and down for interviews, asking questions or just wanting to know how your fair went, recruiters too, which I thought was nice. Candidate lounge was fairly quiet so some were having skype interviews there and others were just working. I spent an hour or so there, before leaving to have dinner with friends and then went home.
I thoroughly recommend the fair because I could have possibly gotten a second offer on that Saturday and even though i did not have IB experience, some schools were willing to train you. Mostly I felt it was an extremely positive and uplifting experience and that the people attending were educators as opposed to parts in a big wheel, which is the way you can feel in a big state school with government pressures beyond your control. I felt from hearing parts of a skype interview a couple was having next to me that recruiters were talking about family a lot and getting to know the person and not just the skill. I therefore felt a lot more positive about entering this job market and I don't think I'll look back. This might seem obvious to someone who is already on the IS scene but for me, it was a breath of fresh air.I love the students at my current school but the pressure on teachers at the moment is a nightmare. Two friends teaching in Germany told me they were going to the fair next year as a married couple and I said they would probably be very successful. Although I technically didn't get a job through the fair, I felt I could have, and this was very different from how I felt in the weeks preceding the fair. I was set on staying in my current school after a string of unsuccessful applications and no acknowledgements but as a colleague at my current school said, 'it only takes one school'.
I am also writing my experiences here, since in previous posts, people said it was quite helpful and I remember reading reviews beforehand and those made the fair a lot less stressful for me.
I came from one hour away by train so arrived around 8. In my opinion, arriving that early wasn't necessary. I wish I'd slept more!
I had an interesting time at the fair because I had already had a first interview with a school in the US via the search website a day earlier and they wanted to interview me again before the fair or during the first day/ evening of the fair, in case I found other positions. So in this sense the fair's timing worked really well for me! ( By the way, this ends well: I accepted the post at the school 'out of fair' in the end after a second interview on Friday night).
So back to Friday morning. Arrived, cloakroom, registration, candidate mail room to check messages. None but I had had a queue jumping slip sent to my email a few days before from a school in China.
As a teacher from a state school in the UK I was immediately struck by how friendly people were, how they talked to anyone who was next to them and engaged in very positive and supportive conversations about schools. People really were from all over, from other state school teachers like me with no IB experience to experienced teaching couples (a trend I noticed: the wife was doing all the planning, the husband was catching up on some sleep!), accompanying partners, etc.
As someone with international school experience as a child, I felt I had landed. It was another world from the pressures of my school and the negativity that plagues many state schools in England at the moment. I felt anything could happen.
Went to look at vacancies in the big candidate lounge. Obviously I was hoping for the school from Skype to make me an offer that evening but still sent messages to about 7 schools.
Then a long period of waiting for interview sign up. Again, I wish I'd arrived later. Wifi was very temperamental with that amount of people but I was OK with it for most of the time. Hotel was a fantastic venue, I thought. Very spacious. Loved the urgent email about the guy who had been taking CVs and messages out of a school's file and how we should watch out for these people.
Interview sign up session: make a clear list of where the schools are, ie. upper room, lower room, so you can complete the process quickly. You do not want to be in there too long! I saw one person trying to get in without a badge. They told her to go. I went to the schools I had sent messages to. Most had added 'IB required' on their posters so I knew I wouldn't be successful. They mostly said , sorry, IB required, or you need a degree in the subject you teach etc. China school gave me an interview early on Sunday. Another school in the ME said they would send me on IB training and it seemed like a great place to be with a really friendly Head but was worried about opportunities for my non teaching partner. Still had a good feeling about it in case the Skype interview didn't work out so signed up for interview slot on Saturday.
I was done with the sign up session fairly quickly so went to stay with a friend and prepared for my Skype interview, which happened in the evening and went very well. They made an offer and I accepted the next morning.
I then emailed the two schools I was due to interview with. The one from the ME sent me a really nice reply saying too bad as they were looking forward to speaking to me. The other one didn't acknowledge, but it was quite a large school so probably a lot of interviews that day.
After a relaxed morning updating search profile to Hired as instructed by Gez and the associate, I went back to the fair to file the paperwork about accepted offers/ fair evaluation and return my badge. I also visited my associate for the fair in their room and thanked them for the advice and for providing such a great service. They congratulated me and told me to keep in touch and to let them know when I wanted my file re-activated. Saturday seemed a lot more chilled out at the fair, people mostly in elevators going up and down for interviews, asking questions or just wanting to know how your fair went, recruiters too, which I thought was nice. Candidate lounge was fairly quiet so some were having skype interviews there and others were just working. I spent an hour or so there, before leaving to have dinner with friends and then went home.
I thoroughly recommend the fair because I could have possibly gotten a second offer on that Saturday and even though i did not have IB experience, some schools were willing to train you. Mostly I felt it was an extremely positive and uplifting experience and that the people attending were educators as opposed to parts in a big wheel, which is the way you can feel in a big state school with government pressures beyond your control. I felt from hearing parts of a skype interview a couple was having next to me that recruiters were talking about family a lot and getting to know the person and not just the skill. I therefore felt a lot more positive about entering this job market and I don't think I'll look back. This might seem obvious to someone who is already on the IS scene but for me, it was a breath of fresh air.I love the students at my current school but the pressure on teachers at the moment is a nightmare. Two friends teaching in Germany told me they were going to the fair next year as a married couple and I said they would probably be very successful. Although I technically didn't get a job through the fair, I felt I could have, and this was very different from how I felt in the weeks preceding the fair. I was set on staying in my current school after a string of unsuccessful applications and no acknowledgements but as a colleague at my current school said, 'it only takes one school'.
Re: Search London 2014
Thanks, all. Very excited to be leaving the States and going IS. Looking forward to the opportunity to grow as an educator and leader. The fair was fantastic. Even the email of the person stealing contents out of American School in Paris' folder. Met some new friends. Ran into some old friends. Now having a blast being a tourist in London.
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newchapter
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:03 pm
Re: Search London 2014
@Bluejay...you're in the states? Just wondering why you didn't sign up for the Cambridge fair...seems so expensive to fly all the way to London...but fun!
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vettievette
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:31 am
Re: Search London 2014
@BlueJay and @chipmunk84 - Congratulations!!! What general geographic area are you both headed?
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chipmunk84
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:35 am
- Location: United Kingdom
Re: Search London 2014
USA. East coast.
Re: Search London 2014
I guess I will chime in my fair experience as well, even though it isn't over for me yet. Taking the evening to do that extra bit of research and comparisons of the offers I received and will decide tomorrow.
This is my fourth fair and I was very disappointed by the interview sign up area. There was at most three meters of space between two rows of tables so it was very difficult for people to form lines or maintain them with people also trying to simply walk by. I was fortunate to have some invites, so I could skip some lines, but you could tell how frustrated people were.
I agree with the comment that people were very upbeat on the interview days, sharing experiences and discussing decisions to be made. It was nice that Search gave us a list of candidates and what country we were living in. I had several people contact me with questions about where I live. It was good to be able to give them the pros and cons from an "outsiders" viewpoint.
Good fair, good people. Now just to make that final decision....
This is my fourth fair and I was very disappointed by the interview sign up area. There was at most three meters of space between two rows of tables so it was very difficult for people to form lines or maintain them with people also trying to simply walk by. I was fortunate to have some invites, so I could skip some lines, but you could tell how frustrated people were.
I agree with the comment that people were very upbeat on the interview days, sharing experiences and discussing decisions to be made. It was nice that Search gave us a list of candidates and what country we were living in. I had several people contact me with questions about where I live. It was good to be able to give them the pros and cons from an "outsiders" viewpoint.
Good fair, good people. Now just to make that final decision....
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buffalofan
- Posts: 350
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:08 pm
Re: Search London 2014
The fair is over for me as well after tying up a few loose ends today (Sunday). Some points:
-I completely agree with the last post regarding the interview sign ups. WAY too crowded and it made for a stuffy and stressful experience. Search needs to address this immediately.
-The email from Search the first day about the guy who sabotaged people by taking their CVs out of the American School in Paris folder was interesting to say the least. I sincerely hope this guy walks down a dark alley in London tonight and gets the shit beat out of him.
-Interviews and offers were happening on Thursday and on Friday before the sign ups even began.
-The top schools in western Europe were very selective about who they interviewed. It goes without saying that it is very, very, difficult to get a job at one of these schools.
-Some of the top tier Asian schools either cancelled before the fair or arrived in London with little to no jobs left. Go to the January Bangkok fair if you are targeting Asia.
-Schools were ready to pull the trigger on job offers. Saturday was intense!
-My final total was 4 first interviews, 2 second interviews, 1 canceled interview (the package was so bad I didn't even want to bother), 2 firm offers, and 1 likely offer (had I waited a bit longer). I accepted a great job in a great location.
-The atmosphere among the candidates was intense yet friendly and welcoming.
-No real need to stay in the fair hotel for 160 pounds a night. Plenty of other options within walking distance or a few tube stops away for less than half that price.
-I completely agree with the last post regarding the interview sign ups. WAY too crowded and it made for a stuffy and stressful experience. Search needs to address this immediately.
-The email from Search the first day about the guy who sabotaged people by taking their CVs out of the American School in Paris folder was interesting to say the least. I sincerely hope this guy walks down a dark alley in London tonight and gets the shit beat out of him.
-Interviews and offers were happening on Thursday and on Friday before the sign ups even began.
-The top schools in western Europe were very selective about who they interviewed. It goes without saying that it is very, very, difficult to get a job at one of these schools.
-Some of the top tier Asian schools either cancelled before the fair or arrived in London with little to no jobs left. Go to the January Bangkok fair if you are targeting Asia.
-Schools were ready to pull the trigger on job offers. Saturday was intense!
-My final total was 4 first interviews, 2 second interviews, 1 canceled interview (the package was so bad I didn't even want to bother), 2 firm offers, and 1 likely offer (had I waited a bit longer). I accepted a great job in a great location.
-The atmosphere among the candidates was intense yet friendly and welcoming.
-No real need to stay in the fair hotel for 160 pounds a night. Plenty of other options within walking distance or a few tube stops away for less than half that price.