Choosing the right fair..

[Thames Pirate]

No, the rule is go to the fair that has the most jobs you want.

Most of the schools in Europe go to London. Only 13 European schools are on the list for BKK:
Vienna IS, IS Azerbaijan, AIS Zagreb, IS Dusseldorf, IS Stuttgart, AS Hague, AS Warsaw, AIS Bucharest, AAS Moscow/St. Petersburg, IS Basel, IS Zug Luzern, Zurich IS, Pechersk Kiev

While they are good schools, this is a small sampling, particularly if your target is Western Europe (7 schools), which may or may not have openings.

London has over 60 schools in Europe on its list, including 11 of the 13 above (the Hague and Basel are only attending BKK). The top schools in Europe are going to London, including:
AS Paris
AS London
Frankfurt IS
IS Amsterdam
IS Brussels
Munich IS
AIS Budapest
Many of the Swiss schools

So when it comes to volume, London is better. When it comes to prestige, at least as far as European schools, London is better. Yes, most (but not all) of those schools are IB, but some of them do hire without IB experience. If you DO have IB experience, all the better. And they wouldn't consider you if they can't get a work permit for you, regardless of the fair, so don't worry about that too much. And yes, schools do hire with families; it is just harder to make it work on a single salary. Of course schools prefer teaching couples, but that is true regardless of location.

There is NO reason to go to BKK unless you really want Basel or the Hague.

[PsyGuy]

No the rule is go to the most competitive fair you can.

Breaking the metric down to its core those ISs at BKK and LON will fill vacancies between BKK and LON, and once those vacancies are gone, it doesnt matter how great a match you are, the vacancy is gone.

The BKK list will grow, and add more EU ISs (though it wont be a lot), so as I wrote, if your competitive for those ISs and thats your focus, than going to LON even if you get the first interview its still after all the interviews that happened at BKK, and your vacancy once gone is gone, and thats the reason to go to BKK before LON (all else being equal).

Some of those IB ISs may hire without IB experience but they dont need too, and LON is early for an ISS to settle for less than the whole cupcake and the Hello Kitty Sprinkles. It doesnt mean its impossible, and its not improbable an IS may settle earlier.

They would consider you if they cant get a work permit, but that doesnt mean they will want to, its much easier for an EU IS to appoint a candidate who already has working papers and/or an EU passport, and LON is still early for the EU ISs who can be selective. This is why BKK is better than LON, in LON your ina room with a lot of Europeans, those ISs at BKK are more open to arranging visas for ITs, who dont have a right to work, they just have a lawyer or a HR staff that handles everything.

ISs do hire families but its nutter talk to believe its not an issue, an EU IS cant hire you on a salary that wont meet the minimum living standards for their area.

Best practices are best practices so if you can perform at DIP, you can do it in AP or A levels, and many of those upper tier ISs at BKK have NC programs either by themselves or with IB.

LON does have volume and thats why I advised "If you do not have an EU passport and are an average performing IT with no children, if its the EU or bust go to LON.".

When it comes to the recruiting race, you have to remember its a race, and you can be first, be smarter, or cheat; being first is easiest.

[Thames Pirate]

Funny, in addition to the anecdote I shared, we got our previous position in Europe with no IB experience, no IGCSE, no international teaching at all, in London. So yes, they do hire without perfect-on-paper resumes, and yes, they do hold jobs (as I said, our school did virtually all of its hiring at LON in spite of having been to BKK). Yes, there is the risk that some jobs will be gone, but since there are TONS of schools not going to BKK, it seems reasonable to assume that most of those aren't filling the vacancies at BKK ;) If they are filling via Skype, then it doesn't matter whether you do or don't go to BKK.

What is the point of going to the prestigious fair if there are virtually no schools or jobs for you? To say you went to BKK? The point of a fair is to get the job you want, and your odds are best if you go where those jobs are.

Yes, those lists might change slightly, but the pattern is clear. In fact, there has been a clear shift over the years of fairs becoming more geographic. This makes sense as online hiring grows.

By the way, fully 2/3 of the new hires at our school were non-EU citizens, only two of them married to EU citizens (my hubby and one other couple). My hubby doesn't have his work permit through my citizenship because there was a paperwork glitch with our license that we are still trying to sort. So no, they don't necessarily favor EU hires.

Yes, it is a race, but it is more complex than that unless you are only targeting one school. Remember, some schools also like to go to several fairs, then make their decisions.

So go to the one that gives you the most paths to the job you want. That sounds like London.

[Walter]

If Europe is your target, then of course you would go to London. Absurd to suggest that Bangkok is the better option for European schools.

[reisgio]

I would avoid London if at all possible. The hotel is wretched compared to Boston's hotel. I also don't particularly enjoy being strung along and treated rudely by admins from Spain, Latvia, Kenya, Italy, and Denmark who would not able to hold a librarian position in a high performing US independent school. Just no fun for me. Boston and BKK seem to benefit the candidates more in different ways, whereas London is just a complete elitist-fest of non-elites.

[Thames Pirate]

Yes, you should pick based on the hotel . . . .

We didn't stay at the hotel, but they gave us a partial refund that we were not even expecting after our cancellation, so that was nice. We didn't have a problem with it when it came to interviewing/fair set up. There are certainly nicer ones, but there are also worse.

Sorry you had a bad experience there with particular admin. We had the opposite both times--admin who were up front about our chances, our situation, etc. There are good and bad admin everywhere. The location of the fair is not a factor. If that administrator is going to behave rudely, they are just as likely to do so in BKK or BOS.

The rule remains: Go to the fair likely to have the most jobs you want. For Europe, that is still London. Sure, there are benefits to the other fairs, but the benefit you want is still the job in Europe.

[PsyGuy]

No, the rule remains: go to the most competitive fair you can get an invite too.

[Vernacular]

None of them.
Yet if by circumstance you're forced to attend, then follow PsyGuy's advice:

"...the rule remains: go to the most competitive fair you can get an invite to."

[reisgio]

I am not a fan of the hotel, and I have every right to complain if I feel like it. Is London incapable of producing a clean hotel with space? Or does Gez want candidates to feel like cattle as a form of psyops to close more deals and earn him more money? I am no fan of Jessica, but at least she doesn't have her fair at the Red Roof Inn.

[Thames Pirate]

Of course you have a right to complain about the hotel, but it is a silly reason not to go to a fair. The hotel is what it is. You don't go to a fair for the hotel (and if you do, stay at a non-fair hotel!), but for the jobs. Go where there are jobs.

Seriously, if you are going to a fair for the prestige, great! You got to go to Bangkok! You walked away without a job! See how silly that is? Or: You got an invite to BKK! You are a small fish in a big pond with almost no food!

Again, the rule about prestige only matters if you care about prestige. If you care about getting a job, go where the jobs are. If you care about spending a lot of money to tell people on this forum that you went to BKK, then go to BKK.

[Walter]

Reisgio, I have some bad news for you. Jessica isn’t a fan of yours either. I am impressed that you’re on first name terms with Jessica and Gez though. You’re obviously an important figure in international education.
As for London hotels, this is the third that SEARCH has tried in its time in London. CIS (ECIS as was) has tried six. Frankly, they are all disappointing – for two reasons, cost and space. First, London hotels are ridiculously expensive, and the Fair sponsors have to bear in mind that some at least of the candidates prefer to stay in the Fair hotel. Second, there are very few London hotels that can serve as conference centers with sufficient space to offer space to sign up for 200+ schools and 650+ candidates. So if you aren’t prepared to pay $500 a night, I think you’re going to have to accept that you won’t be staying at the Savoy. Get over it. You’re there to get a job. Or not in your case. By the way, I’m fine with the Hyatt in Cambridge, but if that’s your standard of high end luxury, you really need to go to the ISS Fair in Bangkok.
You have a generous opinion of high performing US independent schools and their administrators. They tend to get good results of course – but that isn’t hard when you are super selective in your admission policy. I think you’d be surprised at the quality of teaching offered there. They do have exceptionally talented administrators though:
http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/mos ... -scandals/

[vandsmith]

so what's wrong with moving it to a less expensive european city?

v.

[Thames Pirate]

Absolutely nothing. Except that this is where the fair is. That's just how it goes.

It is a super fair, which also matters.

[Thames Pirate]

Oh, and airport and public transit.

[reisgio]

Walter, I am hardly an important figure in international education and I don't know Gez or Jessica but I call them as I see them and their fairs. The London hotel is a dump. End of story. The Cambridge hotel is fine and more orderly. Get a sense of humor Walter. Search should just ditch its London and Cabridge fairs and have one MegaMega Fair in Reykjavík. Most cheap airlines fly there!