The International Schools Review Forum

Hi all,

I have been asked to schedule two interviews on Thursday at Cambridge before the official "fair" even begins. Is this normal? Will schools offer a contract on Thursday so they avoid the Friday craziness? Any advice or experience on this would be greatly appreciated!

It's normal if they want to snap people up before the other schools get a chance.

It doesn't mean you are necessarily the only one they are speaking to, however.

Yes, normal. Yes, you may get an offer. Make sure you know what you will say if you get the offer, keeping in mind that you still have so much fair ahead of you. Don't get caught up in the excitement. We had a before-the-fair offer, and they even asked us not to talk to the other schools and to come to their school. It was our top choice and we already knew we would take a job if offered, so it was an easy call--especially since the other interview we had scheduled was one we were not really interested in but thought we could take the interview to check it out. Even if our other top choices had also had interviews scheduled, we probably would have taken the offer. However, if we weren't so sure, we might have asked for 24 hours to consider. So have a game plan, and if possible, schedule your interviews in descending order of interest.

Its normal, but uncommon. What you are referring to is a 'first night' recruiting. Typically it is reserved for superstar ITs that are top choice selectees for an IS in which the fair is a meet and greet, hand shake, lets finalize the offer. This is normally very good, however interest isnt always good. Recruiters at lower/bottom tier ISs sometimes use the quise of first night recruiting to appeal to an ITs ego, by encouraging their perception of specialness, in practice attempting to remove a candidate before they have had an opportunity to determine their marketability and utility to other ISs.

Psyguy is right. That's why you HAVE to have a game plan and be willing to do your research. We had three schools ask us to pre-interview. One was our dream school, one was a school we hadn't considered but upon doing some research (friend ran PD there and spent considerable time there, checked them out here on ISR and of course their website, etc.) decided they were worth at least considering and talking to, and one we rejected outright. We knew we would not accept an offer from the second before interviews, we knew we would take an offer from dream school on the spot, and we knew nothing school 3 said could convince us.

So plan ahead, research the school, and keep your wits about you. Good luck!

If you interview with a school, get an offer, and then turn them down, have you pretty much burned the bridge with that school should you decide you may want to work for them in the future (say later in the recruiting season that year or in future years)?

Teach1010 wrote:
> If you interview with a school, get an offer, and then turn them down, have
> you pretty much burned the bridge with that school should you decide you
> may want to work for them in the future (say later in the recruiting season
> that year or in future years)?

I think for the current year you probably have. If you turn an offer down, most schools are going to move straight to their next choice candidate. For future years, who knows?

@Teach1010

In most scenarios yes, you would very likely not be considered further for that recruiting year. The assumption of a recruiter and IS is that if you are interviewing for the vacancy you will accept appointment if one is offered (since all ISs believe they are first tier ISs). Its not irrational, an ISs compensation package is going to remain stable over the course of the year, if you said no once and now your back, its likely because they will perceive you as being desperate.

Future years is a different scenario, IS policies and recruiting change, IS culture and environment change and leadership changes. In addition you have changed and have more experience to offer, as such previous events are not generally a barrier to application candidacy in future years. A recruiter however may have a long memory, and they may be offended by your rejection, and possibly not be interested for some time if ever.

Thanks for your help and advice! We had two interviews on Thursday and ended up accepting an offer from one of the schools on Friday. It was a great success! We are excited to be IT's next year!

Congrats! Best wishes for your new job!