Although I'm teaching abroad at the moment, I got the job through a direct interview and have never attended one of the Search or ISS fairs (I have a Search profile, but I was only half-way through completing it when I got this job and it's currently inactive.) I'm in the first year of my contract and am happy to stay for the second, but the city I'm in is probably one where I could only stand living for two years so will be off at the end of the contract.
Firstly, I noticed that a couple of posts mentioned "ichiros" rather than resumes / CVs - what are they? (A Google search only brought up a Japanese baseball player!)
Should I register for both Search and ISS? Which is better?
Is there a real problem if I don't have a parent reference (Search strongly advises having this, but frankly I don't have the sort of contact with parents that would really make this relevant or appropriate.)
I get the feeling that most of the potential candidates who attend these are "Type A" personality people - which I am definitely not! Is this a disadvantage?
Some quick questions about fairs, etc
Re: Some quick questions about fairs, etc
Ichiros are like a one page summary of your CV but include pictures of you in the work place, possibly some quotes from parents or colleagues, your qualifications and any other important information. It's basically a one sided colour document that helps you stand out more at a job fair when there are thousands of boring CV's being circulated.
Hope that makes sense? Hopefully someone else can chime in and give you more detail..
Hope that makes sense? Hopefully someone else can chime in and give you more detail..
Response
contributor, much like the Reisgio effect.
An Ichiro is essentially an alternative resume to describe marketing any type of flashy/gimmicky/creative method of introducing yourself to recruiters. It would generally involve color photos of you teaching, amazing students projects, etc and a more limited amount of text. Some people go all out and mimic advertising flyers, brochures, wanted posters etc (kind of a high risk/high reward approach).
During signup your only going to have about 10-30 seconds to make contact with a recruiter and get an interview slot. A resume doesnt convey the highlights of you as a candidate. You want to convey the top three bullet points of what makes you special or at least worthy of consideration. Enter the Ichiro, which in its basic form is a flyer (in color) with basic contact information, some visual representations of your work, and a few bullet points of what makes you special. Ichiros are also good for slipping under doors and in school folders. A three fold brochure or business cards allow you to carry your resume everywhere without being cumbersome.
Ive seen a number of Ichiros from business card resumes with a photo, contact info and a few stared bullet points with a QR code leading to a digital portfolio, to printed CDS, coupons (Good for one amazing teacher, time limited must be redeemed at [web address] and currency bills for a "1,000,000 teacher", 3 fold "sales" brochures, a couple teachers have done commercials and one did a full 22minute "info-mercial" that included a staged interview answering 5 pretty common questions, that was distributed on flash drives (you get a couple of flash drives from schools in your invite folder). The best one I ever got was a full, professionally bound magazine on slick paper stock it was 62 pages long and had articles discussing their teaching philosophy, a center fold with their bio and resume, articles about differentiation, their approach to the whole student, special needs, learning support, a couple stories about past schools and what they learned, and what they wish theyd known. It was extremely well done. The most recent unusual one were bottles of wine the candidate had created custom labels for that had a photo superimposed over a vineyard, a mock review to one side and a short list of bullet points describing their strengths in a “Quality Profile”.
I would not advise registering with both ISS and SA. SA is the general audience premium agency. ISS is the boutique premium agency. ISS either lavishes attention on you or essentially ignores you. SA tends to treat everyone the same. If your special meaning your a rock/super star ISS is a better option, if your not SA is the preferred agency.
At the top you have the premium agencies: 1) International School Services (ISS) and 2) Search Associates (Search or SA) Search Associates recruiters dont do very very much to actually find you a job. Mainly what your paying for is access to the school database, and the fairs (of which your first one is free).
ISS is smaller and repps the better ISs (even if all they are providing a school is Recruiting Services) ISS has the "better" schools, as they have a higher bar/standard on what schools they will represent.
Search has a much larger datatbase (almost a 1,000 schools compared to ISS's 400), as they accept pretty much all of the tier 1 and tier 2 schools (and many of the tier 3 schools), so they have more opportunities available (although you have to tolerate all the job vacancies coming out of schools in the ME, which never seem to end). ISS also has higher standards for what teachers they will accept, generally ISS doesnt accept teachers who arent currently employed. ISS works a lot more personally to help you find a job, assuming your worthy. They are a boutique experience, they either are very attentive or they ignore you. Search recruiters may or may not do anything for you. Cost is also an issue. Search is $200 for three years of database access, and one free fair (additional fairs are $50 each). ISS is $185 for two years (2 seasons, it use to be one year). I'm a member of ISS, The really elite schools list with both companies, and the big fairs for each agency run back to back of one another (the "Super" fairs for each are the Cambridge/Boston fair, and the Bangkok fair).
Both give you access to a vacancy database.
CIS is another organization that does teacher recruiting though they arent as international, they primarily cater to EU schools (and the brittish school curriculum). Their big fair is in London (twhich is a Super fair with Search).
UNI is an international job fair held by the University of Northern Iowa. For close to the cost of a premium agency you get one fair and access to the fair attendees future vacancies. Its mostly lower tier ISs in Asia and South America. Trinity College in the UK has a IT fair as does Queens University in Canada
AASSA is another fair that focuses on lower tier CSA.
In the smaller recruiting agencies (and cheaper) you have Joy Jobs and TIE-Online (The International Educator), they have small fees about $40 each. They get the smaller schools, and some last minute positions, but they have pretty small databases. I've subscribed to both of them and prefer TIE, and have heard mixed reviews about them. It is essentially a jobs database and thats it.
Below that you have all the "free" web sites, though these mostly are for ESL positions, sites like: Daves ESL cafe, Gaijinpot, Ajarn, , are free and occasionally have non ESL positions advertised.
TES is a free educator site that maintains an extensive job database, though the majority of vacancies are for BSs (British DSs/ISs)
Lastly you have all the service agencies such as Footprints, Compass, etc. They are either operating as an introduction service, meaning they collect resumes and profiles and when they get an IS client they "introduce" you or forward your application for what they perceive is a good match. The other type are the agencies that have large IS clients and they are just trying to fill classrooms as cheaply as possible with anyone who has a degree and a pulse.
A parent reference isnt a deal breaker, you can usually substitute another supervisor or peer reference. However, I would advise that if you have the opportunity that you cultivate a parent reference either from your current position or a previous position. You can also use a character reference as a parent reference, just choose a friend who has kids.
Fairs (Recruiting Events) are for the benefit of recruiters, they want candidates to be stressed and insecure. There is a lot of competition and its filled with ego on both sides of the table. Its a mix of sharks and sheep.
An Ichiro is essentially an alternative resume to describe marketing any type of flashy/gimmicky/creative method of introducing yourself to recruiters. It would generally involve color photos of you teaching, amazing students projects, etc and a more limited amount of text. Some people go all out and mimic advertising flyers, brochures, wanted posters etc (kind of a high risk/high reward approach).
During signup your only going to have about 10-30 seconds to make contact with a recruiter and get an interview slot. A resume doesnt convey the highlights of you as a candidate. You want to convey the top three bullet points of what makes you special or at least worthy of consideration. Enter the Ichiro, which in its basic form is a flyer (in color) with basic contact information, some visual representations of your work, and a few bullet points of what makes you special. Ichiros are also good for slipping under doors and in school folders. A three fold brochure or business cards allow you to carry your resume everywhere without being cumbersome.
Ive seen a number of Ichiros from business card resumes with a photo, contact info and a few stared bullet points with a QR code leading to a digital portfolio, to printed CDS, coupons (Good for one amazing teacher, time limited must be redeemed at [web address] and currency bills for a "1,000,000 teacher", 3 fold "sales" brochures, a couple teachers have done commercials and one did a full 22minute "info-mercial" that included a staged interview answering 5 pretty common questions, that was distributed on flash drives (you get a couple of flash drives from schools in your invite folder). The best one I ever got was a full, professionally bound magazine on slick paper stock it was 62 pages long and had articles discussing their teaching philosophy, a center fold with their bio and resume, articles about differentiation, their approach to the whole student, special needs, learning support, a couple stories about past schools and what they learned, and what they wish theyd known. It was extremely well done. The most recent unusual one were bottles of wine the candidate had created custom labels for that had a photo superimposed over a vineyard, a mock review to one side and a short list of bullet points describing their strengths in a “Quality Profile”.
I would not advise registering with both ISS and SA. SA is the general audience premium agency. ISS is the boutique premium agency. ISS either lavishes attention on you or essentially ignores you. SA tends to treat everyone the same. If your special meaning your a rock/super star ISS is a better option, if your not SA is the preferred agency.
At the top you have the premium agencies: 1) International School Services (ISS) and 2) Search Associates (Search or SA) Search Associates recruiters dont do very very much to actually find you a job. Mainly what your paying for is access to the school database, and the fairs (of which your first one is free).
ISS is smaller and repps the better ISs (even if all they are providing a school is Recruiting Services) ISS has the "better" schools, as they have a higher bar/standard on what schools they will represent.
Search has a much larger datatbase (almost a 1,000 schools compared to ISS's 400), as they accept pretty much all of the tier 1 and tier 2 schools (and many of the tier 3 schools), so they have more opportunities available (although you have to tolerate all the job vacancies coming out of schools in the ME, which never seem to end). ISS also has higher standards for what teachers they will accept, generally ISS doesnt accept teachers who arent currently employed. ISS works a lot more personally to help you find a job, assuming your worthy. They are a boutique experience, they either are very attentive or they ignore you. Search recruiters may or may not do anything for you. Cost is also an issue. Search is $200 for three years of database access, and one free fair (additional fairs are $50 each). ISS is $185 for two years (2 seasons, it use to be one year). I'm a member of ISS, The really elite schools list with both companies, and the big fairs for each agency run back to back of one another (the "Super" fairs for each are the Cambridge/Boston fair, and the Bangkok fair).
Both give you access to a vacancy database.
CIS is another organization that does teacher recruiting though they arent as international, they primarily cater to EU schools (and the brittish school curriculum). Their big fair is in London (twhich is a Super fair with Search).
UNI is an international job fair held by the University of Northern Iowa. For close to the cost of a premium agency you get one fair and access to the fair attendees future vacancies. Its mostly lower tier ISs in Asia and South America. Trinity College in the UK has a IT fair as does Queens University in Canada
AASSA is another fair that focuses on lower tier CSA.
In the smaller recruiting agencies (and cheaper) you have Joy Jobs and TIE-Online (The International Educator), they have small fees about $40 each. They get the smaller schools, and some last minute positions, but they have pretty small databases. I've subscribed to both of them and prefer TIE, and have heard mixed reviews about them. It is essentially a jobs database and thats it.
Below that you have all the "free" web sites, though these mostly are for ESL positions, sites like: Daves ESL cafe, Gaijinpot, Ajarn, , are free and occasionally have non ESL positions advertised.
TES is a free educator site that maintains an extensive job database, though the majority of vacancies are for BSs (British DSs/ISs)
Lastly you have all the service agencies such as Footprints, Compass, etc. They are either operating as an introduction service, meaning they collect resumes and profiles and when they get an IS client they "introduce" you or forward your application for what they perceive is a good match. The other type are the agencies that have large IS clients and they are just trying to fill classrooms as cheaply as possible with anyone who has a degree and a pulse.
A parent reference isnt a deal breaker, you can usually substitute another supervisor or peer reference. However, I would advise that if you have the opportunity that you cultivate a parent reference either from your current position or a previous position. You can also use a character reference as a parent reference, just choose a friend who has kids.
Fairs (Recruiting Events) are for the benefit of recruiters, they want candidates to be stressed and insecure. There is a lot of competition and its filled with ego on both sides of the table. Its a mix of sharks and sheep.
Re: Some quick questions about fairs, etc
Thanks, psyguy. A lot of useful info there - a lot to think about too before August!