Documents to gather / prepare?!? Other random advice

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MedellinHeel
Posts: 169
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:59 am

Documents to gather / prepare?!? Other random advice

Post by MedellinHeel »

I am going back to the US in September and need to get everything lined up for my first IS gig hopefully next Fall.

What all should I do? (Apostile degree, CBC, transcripts etc etc)

Any random things I should take care of or set up?

Question regarding references. Can someone break down how many I should get. Can it be from any educator or admin, even ones that I have never worked with? Never had a teaching job, only done a short student teaching stint. Also, what is the format to get these references in, print, edocument, email, sealed etc?

Thanks.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

Bring AND have uploaded a copy of your contract, work permit, airline itinerary, passport, drivers license (including international driving permit/IDP). You should also have copies of your kids birth certificates and your marriage certificate (as well as their passports and other documents).

If your planing on driving in your new country you might need an IDP. They are only good for a year, but Ive heard people get and pay for 2 of them and just have them dated for subsequent years. That said if your REALLY going to drive you need to get a local license at some point, try to AVOID giving them your USA drivers license as in some countries they find their way on the black market.

Your passport is the most important document, and you should register with the nearest embassy/consulate in your area when you arrive. Avoid walking around with your passport, yes you can be asked for it anytime, but the only time you really HAVE to have it is when your going to the bank, checking into a hotel, going to the consulate and registering at the police/immigration office. The rest of the time carry a photo copy of the ID page and your visa page. If you ever get stopped and asked why you dont have the original tell them your very sorry, and you didnt know, but loosing your passport is a time consuming and expensive process, you have to replace the passport AND the visa. Once you get a PR/or alien registration card, carry that with you. Lastly have copies of important banking, including credit card numbers and checking account and routing (ISBN and SWIFT) numbers if you have bills back home to pay or plan on doing a wire transfer.

As far as apostiles go, its better to have a notarized copy of your degree, etc already completed and request the apostile (as they can be country specific) when you know where you are going.

CRBs are generally accepted if they have been completed within 6 months, these can take a long time to process depending how your local agency collects fingerprints. The Federal agencies can easily take 6 months to process a CRB and have it apostiled.

Schools rarely want to see transcripts, they want the degree (immigration wants the degree to be precise), but a copy of transcripts is often enough, though having a copy they can sight as authentic and then make a copy from that will likely satisfy them.

I would start looking into a bank that will give you the best accessibility overseas, and you may wish to start an investment account (many brokers wont open one for you if you are overseas when you initiate the account opening process).

Medically there is more work, ask your doctor to prepare a brief summary letter of your current conditions you are being treated for as well as a list of your current medications (in their generic chemical name). Make sure your routine vaccines are up to date, and I would strongly advise getting immunized for hepatitis A and B if you arent already, and Typhoid (the oral vaccine is good for 4 years). The others are very country specific and can be expensive.

You want at least 2 good strong references from previous supervisors, even if you have limited education experience you want to convey that you are a good employee. I would get a letter from your student teaching principal or program mentor as well. You can have additional letters of reference from co-workers and colleagues but they wont mean very much.
There are only 2 types of references open and closed. You should get your letters in print and then scan them yourself, but open letters (testimonials) arent worth very much. An IS will often contact your references you provide directly and obtain a closed summary, or simply confirm the letter. One advantage of a premium agency is that they will maintain your closed references for you, accessible by the ISs.
MedellinHeel
Posts: 169
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:59 am

Re: Documents to gather / prepare?!? Other random advice

Post by MedellinHeel »

Thanks for the reply PG,

I will not have any contract when I go back to the US. Going back to the US in September for a week and will apply for jobs in November onward while im abroad.

Regarding references, so your saying I should just get them to send me a reference (in letter or email?) then scan it?

Then when I apply to schools they will just look at the letter or copy and call the reference for verification?

Should I even bother with transcripts? I went to like 6 different Universities and it would be an annoyance to gather all those.

Regarding the job search, I put together a list of recruiting agencies and job boards etc. Am I missing anything?

SearchAssociates.com
TIEOnline.com
ISS.edu
Schrole.com
TES.com/jobs
TeachingNomad.com
TeachAway.com
JoyJobs.com
EteachInternational.com
Thames Pirate
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: Documents to gather / prepare?!? Other random advice

Post by Thames Pirate »

Don't forget CIS, particularly if you are interested in Europe.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@MedellinHeel

I would certainly include CIS as @thames pirate commented on, they are a cheap way into a EUR fair and have a higher concentration of EUR IS.
Schrole is a spin off of SA, its for ISs that have minimal and niche recruiting needs who dont want to be inundated with applications.
You could add Tutors Int. if your interested in very high pay tutoring while on excursion.
There are a lot of agencies like Teach Away (such as Compass Teachers, etc..). I would also recommend the country specific regional ESOL boards, Daves ESL cafe would be near the top of that list, but again there are a large number of such boards.
I would also strongly suggest you form a bookmark list of the 1st/elite tier ISs in a region.

Yes, you get a reference letter in print scan it and send it to the IS, they will verify or confirm it at some point (or just accept it at face value). This is one of the benefits of a premium agency in that they store confidential/closed references that they have sent out to your referees, this means your references arent continuously pestered by requests for a reference. Some ISs will wait until the short list, or an interview to check references, but many of them are obtaining them earlier in the recruitment process.

I would obtain the transcripts for all your institutions, scan them and then be done with it, especially if you have hours that demonstrate subject matter competence in a teaching field you dont have a degree in. At the least you should get transcripts from the Unis that granted you an actual degree. You can easily obtain most or all of them from the national student clearing house (http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/), though they are pricey, you can often get cheaper transcripts from your Uni directly, and I would just do it and request two copies from each asking for both of them to be notarized (this is equivalent to "sealed").
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