School and/or City You'd be Crazy to Reject

[ffmary]

Well, all is well that ends well. For those of you who remember me, I set out months ago with the goal of determining my final post before packing it in. Europe is where I spent my professional life, but before I bow out in two and a half years, I decided to go for South America as the cherry on top of my career. Let's just say, in the last few weeks I got exactly what I wanted - the city and school that were in my crosshairs. An old hand like me knows how to get things done once the eye is on the prize. Thanks to all of those on this forum who gave input along the way. I probably won't be visiting here again, as the sun is setting on this workhorse, but I wanted to leave with a question that hopefully won't get me banned or blocked again. Without rankings or ratings per se so we can get away with it, what is the school and/or city that would offer you a job that you would be crazy to say no to? I realize this is going to be somewhat different for each of you, but after a career of getting exactly what I want I feel like I have won the lottery again and again, and I think it is a useful exercise to have each of you zero in on your dream because only if you define it can you one day achieve it. I will check back soon enough with my pick, which will either be the name of where I am going next or where I was posted second, but in the meantime, have at it.

[Thames Pirate]

The job we just took! The city was at the top of our list and the school was everything we want in a school. The package is great, the direction of the school is fantastic, the priorities of the admin (as shown in our research as well as in the questions we were asked in the interview) are in line with our values, and the jobs fit not just our certifications, but our interests. In other words, EVERYTHING has to fit.

Some people value cities over schools. For example, some people want to live and work in London and will work just about anywhere to do it. Others prefer straight schools and will put up with living in Bangladesh simply because they love the school. Some are mercenary and would not turn down a job with high savings potential. So the better question is what elements are most important to you.

For us it was all of the above--the combination has to be right. Having worked in a fantastic city in a school that has great facilities, is truly international, etc. but had crummy leadership, I can say with certainty that having a good school is more important than its location to us, but location still needs to be something we'd enjoy. Hubby would be miserable in Beijing, so even WAB wouldn't work for us. However, the job still has to be good wherever we end up.

[reisgio]

Thames Pirate wrote:
> The job we just took!

Ugh..I think the OP wanted us to actually name a city and/or school. Congrats TP, but really, spare us the self-congratulatory nonsense.

I have a favorite city, which I won't name because I will cut off any of you at the pass before I invite more competition for when I ultimately am appointed there. So, I must mention my second choice, which would be great, but miles below my #1.

Prague, ISP.

[joanveronica]

@Thames Pirate

What city?

[Taylor]

THIS POST HAS BEEN MODERATED BY THE FORUM MODERATOR

We clearly ask that you not post school review type material to this forum. We invite you to visit the Member Forum (in the Member Area of the site). The Member Forum is specifically for asking for and posting school-review type comments.

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[MartElla]

THIS POST HAS BEEN MODERATED BY THE FORUM MODERATOR

We clearly ask that you not post school review type material to this forum. We invite you to visit the Member Forum (in the Member Area of the site). The Member Forum is specifically for asking for and posting school-review type comments.

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[Thames Pirate]

reisgio wrote:
> Ugh..I think the OP wanted us to actually name a city and/or school. Congrats TP, but
> really, spare us the self-congratulatory nonsense.

My point was that it is about not just the job and not just the city, but the combination. It's also about fit--as I said, we would not be happy even at the best school ever if it's in Beijing, and we would not be happy in any city if the job/school aren't good. I am not going to identify myself in the way you ask, @joanveronica, but I am going to say it's not unreasonable to be excited about landing one's dream job. It may or may not be someone else's dream job, but it is ours, and we are happy--it was the job we would have been crazy to reject.

That said, there are a bunch of cities we would jump on if the job is good--London, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, the Hague, Zurich, other Swiss cities depending on job, Vienna, Prague, maybe Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Warsaw, Madrid, Barcelona, Luxembourg, Budapest, Nice, Monaco (if we could afford it), Liechtenstein, maybe Frankfurt (not in love with the city, but could be convinced because of the school), Helsinki, possibly Dusseldorf. The job we got is in one of those places, and it was our first choice of those places.

We also talked seriously about Yangon, Panama, Costa Rica, Lilongwe, Harare, Gaborone, Lusaka, Ulaanbaatar, Tbilisi, most of Scandinavia, Hanoi, Singapore, Japan (most cities), and Bangkok, smaller European cities such as Krakow or Brno or Aberdeen. We would need to do more research on the schools and/or cities before deciding.

There are, of course, tons of factors, and they all have to fit to be the one you'd be crazy to reject. We took a job in one of the cities on my top list once and it was a disaster because of the school. We obviously know the reputations of schools and while people say we'd be crazy to turn down the school, we know we'd be miserable in Beijing. Therefore my answer stands--it ALL has to fit.

@reisgio, good luck in getting your own mystery city. Prague is also a wonderful choice.

[shadowjack]

THIS POST HAS BEEN MODERATED BY THE FORUM MODERATOR

We clearly ask that you not post school review type material to this forum. We invite you to visit the Member Forum (in the Member Area of the site). The Member Forum is specifically for asking for and posting school-review type comments.

Here is a link to the ISR Member Forum.

https://www.internationalschoolsreview. ... ers/forum/

Thanks very much for your cooperation.

Ben @ ISR

[martalin]

Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Tokyo

[PsyGuy]

Suva, Fiji

I disagree with @Thames Pirate pirate, I advocate region and location over IS. If your IS does not meet expectations than you are no worse off than anyone else who doesnt like their boss or their job or their work location, and work is work, its not entertainment. If you live in a hardship location than work becomes your life. If you live in a very productive and enjoyable location, your city and location can compensate for a poor work environment.

[Thames Pirate]

Oh, I agree that location is more important, but if the job is too terrible, then it doesn't matter where you are. If you are so overworked you only ever see your classroom and cannot enjoy the location, you may as well not be there. That's what happened to us. If you cannot afford even the smallest local pleasures, what's the point? Therefore BOTH must be good. But as no school is perfect and one can have a less than perfect job anywhere, location is more important. After all, isn't that the point of teaching internationally?

I stand by my point that the whole package must fit.

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

I agree with that, if you can have it all productive IS and exciting location, take it. Many ITs however have to make compromises. Great city in WE but lower tier IS thats struggling with enrollment and resources and no OSH package. Small IS where everyone is a family and staff and faculty truly care and watch out for each other but the location is in the middle of nowhere and after work and weekends its laundry and dinner and a movie at home, and no one in the city really understand English and there isnt anywhere to go that doesnt take up a day in traveling. The reality for many ITs is they just dont have the opportunity to work in an elite tier IS (which are located in major cosmopolitan cities), because thats the 'everything' offer.

[senator]

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Especially if you have a family.

[Thames Pirate]

Even schools with great resources, good enrollment (was expanding), OSH package can be awful if you are overworked. That was our situation. School looked great on paper--many at the fair envied us. However, they had a reputation for overworking some new hires while underworking others (not due to favoritism, but simply luck of the draw because they couldn't be bothered to pay attention to scheduling). They had admin problems out the wazoo (three principals in three years--we were hired by the first, so no red flags before we came--and other administrative disasters). Second tier school by all accounts, but so mismanaged it felt like a third tier in many ways.

Sometimes it's hard to predict these issues, especially if you're newer and not as good at reading between the lines. Also, the director who hired us was on his way out, so it was harder to predict because the new guy brought so much baggage. When we were hired we were beyond overjoyed at getting what we thought was such a good school in a city we thought we'd be crazy to reject. We loved the city, the pay was adequate (that was the big reason we said it was a Tier 2 school), the facilities modern and top notch, truly international--yet a complete disaster. We were far happier coming back home to a productive local school and leaving the awesome city.

Know what compromises you are willing to make to live in that city you'd be crazy to reject!

[marina]

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which has two major international schools: The American School (EARJ) and The British School.

I will not rank them here, but do note that The British School is nearly all Brazilian staff and nearly all Brazilian students. EARJ is becoming more local-student populated too after the oil bust sent companies away, but there are still a lot of American (and a couple Canadian) staff members and a good number of American and Central/South American expat students/families.