The International Schools Review Forum

I am new to this site. I am a high school math teacher with 8 years American public school experience and 8 years of international (China and Malaysia) experience teaching IB Math HL and SL as well as MYP and Theory of Knowledge.

I attended the 2014 Cambridge Search job fair and did not get even a single interview.

I sent 30 applications/resumes and cover letters to schools in October and November 2014 and again, no school wanted a Skype interview.

My references are in order as far as I know and I left my schools on good trems.

Does anyone have any explanations?

Wow, that's discouraging. Besides the American experience, those credentials nearly match my partners. Yikes!

Perhaps there is something within your references that is not so flattering - all it takes is one red flag. Just a question: were those 8 years of service at 8 different schools? Someone who moves around a lot could be viewed in a less than favourable light.

Climberman,

just out of curiousity, why didn't you do BKK Search? That would have likely been a better fair for you than Cambridge.

Remember, by Cambridge, schools have been to 2 other big fairs, plus had new applications pop up on radar.

What's the fall back plan?

Do you have dependents?

Two questions.

How many dependents?

How broad or open was your search? (location, tiers of school, etc)

Climberman,

Unless you have three children and a non-teaching spouse, I agree with gengrant that there is probably something in your references. I was at the Cambridge fair as a recruiter. There were a number of math openings and your IB experience would be highly valued. The fact that no one responded to your applications in October, November also indicates it is an issues with the references.

Shadowjack:

My fall back plan is to do another year here at my U.S. public school then go to the Bangkok Fair. I had the same idea that this might be a better fair for me. Any ideas what I can do if a reference hurt me?

Nomads:
I got along with all of my administrators I would have easily been rehired at their respective schools - they told me this during my last year - so I assume they gave at least good references. Is there any way I can know for sure and if there is a questionable reference is there anything I can do about it?


And I am single with no dependents.

Thanks to all who replied and will continue to reply.

And I worked 6 years at the same school in China and 2 at the same school in Malaysia. I only left Malaysia due to a personal matter I had to attend to back in the U.S.

Even with one or two not so flattering references, its shocking to me you didn't at least get an interview. There aren't that many HL math teachers out there. How wide a net did you cast? Were you aiming exclusively for one region?

Climberman,

I suspect that most IB schools locked their candidates in earlier, especially for maths. I know one school I used to work at had hired their HL/SL math positions by November. Better to be early than late and miss the boat is their philosophy.

If you feel you have a really bad reference, ask your associate if your references hurt your chances, or if you should update your references. He/She should check and, while s/he can't tell you what they say, you can certainly get an indication.

Personally, I would network, hit up schools early in the year that you really want to be at, and go to BKK.

You might also want to hit up places that don't do Search, such as the United Word College in Singapore, which is IB and huge. Great package, but you will work yourself very hard ;-)

SpedMaestro:

I would at least interview with a school in ANY country and work pretty much anywhere except Europe.


Shadowjack:

I am going to start in October, call in all administrators who can help, and make a push to get hired before the fair. If that does not work, it's Bangkok, since Asia is still my first choice of areas.

Anybody else have any other strategies?

Thanks for any and all help.

Climberman,
I know of a good school in SE Asia looking for a HL math teacher for next year. If you are interested, PM for details.

Climberman - what else could there be? 8 years IB HL experience and no interviews? Plus the ever-desirable TOK experience, which so many Admin are clueless about and so revere? Plus MYP...

Seriously....what the heck?

Is there something else you are holding back on us?

Seein' the World

The only other thing I can think of is that after my 6 tears in China I returned to teach at a U.S. public high school for 2 years then back to a Malaysian school for 2 years, then due to personal matters back to my present high school in the U.S.