Choosing the right fair..

helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

Choosing the right fair..

Post by helloiswill »

Hey everyone,

I think a quick profile of experience might be helpful to answer my questions.

*2 years ESL teaching experience in a non-international school in Taiwan (I know this doesn't count towards the 2 years of experiences many schools require.)
* 2 years ESL (state certified) teaching experience at an elementary school in the USA
* BA in English and currently completing my Masters of Science of Education at Johns Hopkins (this is being done remotely so teaching abroad won't impede my graduation date of 2018)
* Certifications in High School ELA, Middle School ELA, and ESL (K-12)

------------
So, I need some advisement on choosing the right fair that fits my needs. I have some college loans to repay over the next 5 years, because of this, I have identified SEA/EA as being the most attractive destinations because of their higher salary/saving potential. If flights, scheduling, and costs weren't an issue I would fly to the Hong Kong fair, however, it is not really an option. I have identified two fair locations that are "doable."

The first is the ISS Atlanta. I know that Atlanta is smaller but I am located in Charlotte, NC, so the close proximity makes this fair very convenient. I looked at the list of schools for last year's Atlanta fair (held in February) and there are many that I am interested in. However, this year the fair has been moved to early December. Do you think this will negatively impact the number of schools in attendance? As of now (August 22) there are only 11ish schools signed up... maybe more will join as summer turns to fall.

The second, is SA Cambridge. This seems to be the biggest fair that is in my travel budge/schedule-able with my current teaching job. It seems like many schools from all over the world come to this fair and finding a position should be easier. However, it would be more expensive take more time away from my current job to attend.

If both fairs offered a near equal opportunity for me to find a school in Asia/(other locations with medium/high savings potential) I would choose Atlanta. However, if SA Cambridge had a large enough upside I might reconsider.

So, which fair do you think would fit my needs best? Or is there another fair that I am overlooking? I want to figure this out in the next 2 months because I will need to choose either SA or ISS to join the appropriate fair. Thank you for any help/guidance you can offer.

-Will
reisgio
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:17 am

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by reisgio »

You need to join SA or ISS NOW to have any chance of getting a handle on whether or not fairs in the next six months are even possible for you.

I personally prefer SA, but I don't like them. That's the nature of the beast. Lots of Asia with Iowa, SA, and ISS. I think Iowa is the cheapest.
twoteachers
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:15 pm

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by twoteachers »

Due to your newness and budget, I'd go with Iowa or Search Cambridge....Sign up with Search ASAP....Lots of paperwork....
Nomads
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2013 2:08 pm

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by Nomads »

Helloiswell,

If you can only go to one, go to Search in Cambridge. There will be over 100 schools there many from Asia but also others around the world. Like the previous posts, I would advise you to move fast to get your file activated and a confirmation for the Search fair. Frequently the fair will fill up with candidates by October or November.

ISS Atlanta is a small fair and given the December timing, schools will be looking at IB teachers or couples. It would rare that you would get an offer a school with only two years experience so early in the fair. I also doubt there will be many schools from Asia in attendance. It is generally South American schools.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

You dont really get to choose your fair. You get to request an invitation and hope you get one. If you want a specific fair than sign up with the associate who hosts that fair.

The HK fair is a swap meet for HK ITs and ISs. getting into HK is the hardest part, but once your inside moving around isnt difficult.

The Atlanta fair is a dump fair. Its at the time that ISs are ending their winter term before the holiday and leadership/recruiters are very busy, last year it was towards the end of the recruiting cycle. It is very unlikely any of the upper tier ISs will offer contracts before the BKK fair.

The BOS fair is one of the mega fairs (well historically, ISS and SA use to have end to end fairs, but ISS is now focusing on SF, with back to back fairs with SA, which will add another mega fair to the recruiting calendar), the other mega fairs being LON and BKK. BKK is the the most competitive of the 4.
The BOS fair is also the intern fair and focuses on entry class ITs, it has a very sizable appearance of ISs, and is late enough in the recruiting cycle that contracts will be more readily offered.

The rule is you go to the most competitive fair you can get an invitation too. The fairs in order of competitiveness are BKK, LON, BOS, SFO. BKK is the top of the group, this is where the tier 1 and elite ISs do the bulk of their in person recruiting, with many tier 2 ISs picking up the pieces.
LON is the EUR fair and is back to back with the CIS fair, its a lot of Independent EU ISs and BSs.
BOS is the entry class IT fair mostly targeting the US market. The intern class fair is run as part of the BOS fair. Historically it was run back to back with ISS, it attracts a lot of second and third tier (floater) ISs and ASs.
SF is traditionally the clean up fair, it marks the end of the peak recruiting season, and serves as the start of the third tier IS recruiting that will grind through the rest of the year.

SA is like a general apparel store. Everyone gets about the same amount of attention and treatment. Some associates are better than others, but everyone is generally treated the same (it has to do with how the SA fees are generated). ISS is more a boutique, either your a high value client and you get a lot of attention, or you arent and you get ignored.

You arent a master class IT, ISS is likely to give you minimal attention, and your not competitive for the BKK fair. You will have far more opportunities at the BOS fair compared to Atlanta, it would be worth the cost and the time.

As far at OPTIONS:

THE GOOD

Add a primary/elementary credential. Your experience is both minimal and focused, and takes place in an elementary/primary school environment. This means that your marketability is in primary education and you arent credentialed in primary, even if all you would teach is ESOL. You will vastly increase your marketability if you can apply for primary HRT vacancies.

I would also start exploring the IB and specifically the PYP, as an ESOL DT you have a lot more flexibility in how you deliver services and while PYP would be exhausting, you could adapt IB in a resource or inclusion environment.

THE BAD

I would strongly consider adding a SPED/SEN/LD/LS credential as well. You really arent competitive for anything more than a tier 3 IS, and these ISs are typically small and dont have SPED departments, you will likely be doing resource (as small ISs dont have budgets for an inclusion ESOL IT for every HR class), there will inevitably be some ESOL students who are SPED. Essentially you will have SPED students with learning/cognitive conditions who are misidentified as needing linguistic remediation. Primary is all about reading and literacy, and a student not on grade level is reflexively going to be considered to have a language deficiency when in actuality they have a SPED condition. Without a SPED department that makes their condition the ESOL ITs problem.

You are not an ELA IT, you have no experience and the field is pretty saturated. I wouldnt focus much energy on secondary ELA unless you were interested in adding social studies and focusing on lower secondary (middle school), 6th grade students in a middle school are really just bigger 5th grade students from primary/elementary. A lot of those positions are combination positions (ELA/SS and Sci/Mat).

THE UGLY

ESOL has the added challenge that anything thats touched EE is considered poison, your fully credentialed and taught in a DE, but there will be recruiters and leadership who are going to see you as an ET.

Were you considering a Rogue strategy, I would consider teaming up with another DT who wanted to move into IE, and presenting yourselves as a teaching couple. You could call yourselves whatever you wanted, but preferably they would be an entry class IT in a high needs area such as maths/science, you may then get an invitation to BKK and possibly an offer out of it.
helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by helloiswill »

Thank you for the specific and actionable responses. I started my application for SA and will target an invite to the Cambridge fair. One school I am interested in does not use SA, but rather ISS. I will just contact that school directly. I'll also try to add a primary/elementary credential to up my marketability. I really see myself teaching ELA at a high school level in the future but I guess it might be easier to get into a good school as an elementary teacher and then after a couple years convince admin to let me move to a new position (ELA) within the school.

Will
Thames Pirate
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by Thames Pirate »

You should contact all schools on your wish list directly, even if they are with SA and at fairs. Always, always, always. Schools have enough applications from interested people that they don't go through the database to hunt down all eligible candidates. You might also be able to arrange a pre-interview at the fair.

Psy is technically right in that you don't get to "choose" your fair, but need an invite. However, you can essentially talk your way into any fair if you just go after your associate a bit. When we did the SA London fair a few years back, we didn't have any IB experience, which was allegedly a prerequisite for this fair. We talked them into giving us an invite anyway, and they said we could go, but we wouldn't get any interviews or offers. We got a number of interviews and left with jobs. We were also prepared for (and got) a fair number of rejections, but we just focused our search more meticulously. So push for the fair you want.

Psy is also mostly right in his - of the fairs and Boston in particular, and it sounds like you will be best off with that option. I also VERY much agree with Psy on adding credentials. If you can get a science endorsement, even just for the middle level, it will help tremendously (even more for the high school!) and DEFINITELY add the regular elementary endorsement. If you can get any other experience, go for it--not so much on extracurriculars, but in leadership, etc. Also, don't discount ELA; obviously the demand is there. It is just competitive. So apply for all of the above. If your goal is high school, see about getting some experience if possible, but at least a credential, in secondary science. That might be your best ticket in.

You can probably land something moderately interesting at BOS or through aggressive independent application (especially early in the process and if you are smart about it). Remember also that if you cannot get an invite to the fair you want, fair crashing can and does happen. Just be cautious. Your best bet is to talk your way into the invite you want.

Glad you are getting started. Let us know how we can help, and don't be afraid to reach out to schools aggressively. Just read up on schools, contact strategies, etc. and follow advice and instructions carefully! Good luck!
heyteach
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Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by heyteach »

It's not the fair that's so important, but whether the schools you're interested in have openings you're qualified for. Seek out a number of schools, note which ones have a job for you, and then figure out which fair the majority of them will be at. Don't get sucked in by all the supercilious rhetoric about "tiers." What's "top tier" for you may be totally different for someone else.

Also, don't be put off by this "dump fair" business. It is a contrivance by one member that distracts one from some good fairs. Schools do hire before the holidays (AASAS, which is mostly schools in South America), usually has its fair in December, and they do hire). And don't overlook the well-run Iowa fair (UNI) in late January/early February. There are good reputable schools there, and they do hire.
Thames Pirate
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Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by Thames Pirate »

While yes, you go to the fair with the most JOBS you would take, sometimes the advance planning required makes that impossible, and you must go with the most SCHOOLS or COUNTRIES you would consider and hope that most of them have jobs that would suit you when the fair rolls around. So in theory, heyteach is right, but in practice, that often just means choosing the biggest fair. If prestige matters to you, then go to the most prestigious fair. If you just want a good job at a school you would enjoy, then choose the most pragmatic fair, which for you is probably Cambridge (currently there are 15 schools or so listed for Atlanta and 50 or so for Boston, and half the Atlanta fair schools will also be in Boston). Psyguy's characterization of fairs as "dump fairs" is not accurate because there are quality schools hiring good teachers at any fair, including UNI (don't discount it just because it isn't ISS or SA), but he is right in the sense that they are not part of peak recruiting, particularly in timing. This means schools with harder to fill jobs are more likely to be available and the contract rates are higher, but not that they are bad schools (the school in Dhaka is supposed to be pretty good, and the pay is great, but their jobs are hard to fill because of the location right now, for example) or bad jobs or bad teachers. Finding the right fair is about balancing your needs in terms of travel to fairs, your marketability, schools you would consider, jobs available, timing, etc. It sounds like Cambridge is a great fit for you.

You will find something amazing, I am sure.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@helloiswill

If your goal is upper secondary ELA, you need to adjust your strategy. Its possible but a long route to work your way up through primary, until you can leap to lower secondary (and not having cross course subjects such as ELA and humanities) and then from their work your way up through lower secondary too upper secondary and finally to school leaving level. If thats your goal Id consider adding a humanities/social studies credential, and then adjusting your resume to be a little bit more vague about your ESL/Language Support. Id spin it as an all grades language and learning support DT that was regularity assigned to a primary environment, perhaps as part of an intensive/accelerated language arts and reading program. Spin it right and you can market yourself as an Irregular/Flex Language Arts DT and move into a lower tier IS in ELA.

I agree with @Thames Pirate that you always follow the instructions in the vacancy post, and you need to be proactive and not wait for ISs and recruiters to approach you, which is uncommon outside of a fair and for ITs that are not superstar ITs.
First night recruiting is an advance interview held the night before signup its typically the meet and greet for an ISs preferred candidate.

There is nothing technical about invites, while you can push for an invite to a specific fair, and there are manipulations to increase your success rate in getting the invite you want, there are just as many candidates that arent successful. Not everyone can go to the mega fairs, and if dump fairs dont have candidates then its not a fair its an extemporaneous leadership conference. Absolutely push for the fair you want, sometimes the squeaky oil gets the oil, and sometimes your the nail that gets hammered down. Some strategies include:
1) Sign up with the associate thats hosting that particular fair, even if they arent in your designated regional area. Hosts have as many invites as they want to their own fairs.
2) You can be bold and upfront and state in whatever language that you want that your registration is contingent on an invite to X fair. Tell them your open to any regional location, that way they see you as a "sure thing".
3) Claim you have advance interviews already arranged for X fair that you want to attend.


I disagree with @Thames Pirate of the value of adding a science credential. You have no background in science, no preparation, and no experience. Any IS that would consider you for a science vacancy is so desperate you wont want to be at their IS. Credentials make you legal, not competent, and it wont take long for even the desperate ISs to realize your faking it.

Fair crashing or or going rogue is a strategy whereby in absence of an invite you go anyway. Fairs arent like Uni fairs held in arenas. Its for the most part adults meeting with other adults in private hotel rooms. There is a signup period at the start of the fair, and a social at the end but for the most part your just moving between hotel rooms, hallways, and elevators. There is nothing wrong about flying to X city and booking a hotel room at the fair event property, the strategy is likely to be more successful the more advance interviews you can schedule.

Strongly disagree with @heyteach, its an old rule that just doesnt work.
1) As @Thames Pirate alleviated to, fairs especially for mega fairs fill up fast, often requiring invites and commitments months before the actual fairs and well before a comprehensive workup of the ISs attending and their vacancies. You wont know in October (often the commitment time frame) what the pool of vacancies will be for the mega fairs.
2) No one really knows what the vacancies will be until morning of signup. Early recruiting and first night recruiting will fill and close a number of vacancies before signup even starts. Its less of an impact for a primary IT willing to go anywhere but can quickly be frustrating and disappointing the more restricted you are.
3) ISs and recruiters with multiple and varied vacancies will often reserve primary and other low demand vacancies for IT couples where a high demand IT needs an appointment for a spouse as part of a package deal.
4) Not all vacancies represent actual appointments at a particular time. An IS and recruiter may have a posted vacancy but will wait until the end of peak recruiting to make an appointment. An IS and recruited may fill a vacancy but continue to collect resumes and applications and even interview candidates without an actual vacancy available. There are a number of scenarios that skew the number and type of actual vacancies.
5) Most importantly, as recruiting season progresses vacancies are filled meaning they arent available anymore. If an IS fills its ESOL vacancy at BKK, then no matter what you bring or might bring in value the vacancy is gone by the time you get to BOS. Knowing how recruiting will effect vacancies is like predicting the stock market no one really knows how the status quo will change. This is why the rule is you go to the earliest mega fair you can.

Its just admin and leadership bunk to deny the existence of tiers. Its an illusion that ISs and leadership try to advance and maintain by claiming all ISs are special, and can only be judged against themselves. Not every student is a special snowflake and neither are ISs, tiers is a convention for grouping that information into easily communicated and understood categories.

There is nothing contrived about dump fairs. There are more associates than there are mega fairs, and based on revenue structure there are advantages to fairs, the dump fairs are fairs that candidates are dumped into so that those associates actually have a fair. None of the dump fairs are good fairs, there are some such as the HK fair that have a specific purpose, but if you dont meet those definitions its a dump fair. Good ISs dont go to dump fairs. Look at the tier 1 ISs and they are going to one of the mega fairs. The dump fairs are either after peak recruiting or they are attended by mostly the third tier ISs that have a lot of recruiting to do. Of course leadership says their are good ISs at these fairs, because from their POV all ISs are good ISs, everyone is "1st tier".

AASA has one fair, as well as UNI, Trinity, etc, these are regionally specific fairs that focus on a much more limited group of ISs and candidates. Even with that understanding compared to the mega fairs they are still dump fairs, just not as dumpy as others.
helloiswill
Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by helloiswill »

Ok, so I took various pieces of advice from multiple posters and I've joined, jumped through all the hoops, and been accepted to Search Associates. I also added English (9-12) and Language (6-8) to compliment to my current ESL (K-12) certification. My current experience is Coteaching/Planning ELA classes in a school with a high (30%) ESL population. My actual duties are not really very different than the other ELA block upper elementary teachers I co-teach with. Because of this, I think it will be possible for me to spin my experience in a way that would make me competitive as a middle school language arts IT at a tier 3 IS with a high number of ELL students. From there, I could slowly move up to high school ELA over time.

I'm targeting the Cambridge fair and hoping that my experience abroad and going to the same graduate school as my associate buys me points.

Here are the bare basics of my now updated CV

BA English
MA MS.ED (Currently completing at Johns Hopkins)

2 Years Experience as an upper elementary ESL Coteacher in ELA classrooms (not sure how to word this best, yet)

FWIW
US Soccer Federation Coaching Cert. (New)
Google Educator Level 1 Cert (New)
2 years at ESL Cram School in Taiwan


Hope I get invited to Cambridge. I am also going to try to add a Social Studies endorsement, I know this is a common combination with ELA. Any other thoughts on additional ways to improve my resume than can reasonably be achieved in the next few months?

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

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Post by PsyGuy »

@helloiswill

You will likely get an invite to BOS, you should get an invite within a week or two, and if not press your associate.

Given the time frame you have, my suggestions would be:

1) Google Educator level 2; the number of actual Google trainers and innovators is pretty low, the thinking for many ISs is that if youre a level two educator you can train staff to level one.

2) Add the humanities/social studies credential; many lower secondary programs in small ISs pair complimentary subjects, its a way of easing primary students into secondary.

3) Consider taking the ETS SLLA exam, and adding your administration credential. You have the two years experience, if you take the exam now, when you have the Masters you can apply for the credential. The goal would be to market yourself as a potential HOD or ESOL coordinator. While this will be too late to add much utility by peak recruiting season, if you take the exam (and pass) you can reasonably include it on your resume along with your Masters that is in progress. At the very least you may be able to negotiate a better title even if your tasking role is as an IT.

4) Readers Writers Workshop; I dont know what training funds or PD opportunities your DS provides but a workshop on RWW would give your resume more credibility as a literature/ELA DT. You need to shape your resume so that it sounds more like I) Your a full TOR of an ELA classroom, II) That you teach and can teach literature. Even if you cant get formally trained, being able to talk intelligently about the meds/peds would allow you to talk the talk during an interview.

5) IBO; Again, getting your DS to pay for training would be nice (its pricy) but even if you cant do that getting copies of the literature list and the course guides for MYP and DIP would allow you to talk intelligently about the curriculum in an interview. While you are at it you might want to study the IMYC curriculum as well.

6) Portfolio; Start working on a digital portfolio. You may never be asked for it, but you can offer it as evidence that your really a TOR. One of the problems you have is that ESOL Co-Teacher in a primary classroom, can often translate in a recruiters mind as a TA, the picture they get is that someone else is the HRT and your just there for language acquisition learning support. Its the HRTs lessons, their assessment, their classroom management, and you just roll in at certain times and provide some one on one support.
Your going to want a couple things in your portfolio in addition to the resume and application packet information. A teaching demonstration, a virtual interview, and a report of how you use data to guide instruction. If you take the previous suggestions you can show how you incorporate IB/RWW in your instruction. Put it online and generate a QR code for either your Ichiro or to place on your resume.

7) Ichiro; an Ichiro is named after a long time member of the forum. Its essentially an alternative marketing resume. Something as simple as a flyer with your contact info, some photos and bullet points. You can search for it on the forum, as there have been extensive discussion on it already. There have been many variations that have been successful over the years.

8) Primary; This was discussed briefly before in a previous post, and you didnt comment on it so i dont know what your position is, but adding an actual elementary or primary grade level credential would be highly advised if you want to increase your marketability and utility. You transition over to primary more easily than you do into secondary. Its just a shorter leap from primary ESOL support to primary than it is primary ESOL support to secondary literature (even lower secondary literature).

9) SPED; likewise its easier to transition your inclusion language support into SPED/SEN/LS/LD than it is into secondary literature and language arts. This would add more utility, especially in small ISs that dont have a SPED program where LD in young students is misdiagnosed as a language acquisition issue.

10) ESOL expansion; you work in primary but it would be to your benefit if you could arrange some scheduled time in a secondary classroom in your current DS, even f it was only one support class or an ASP program. Being able to claim youve worked with secondary students even in a limited capacity will expand your resumes utility. In many ISs especially small ones, the expectation is that you can provide all level/all grade support.

11) If youre going to work the football (soccer) angle you need to start doing some coaching, and some competitions. Further I dont know what ASP opportunities you have available but running something that is literary like a school magazine/journal/paper, speech/debate/forensics/MUN, something that is going to focus a recruiter on ELA as opposed to ESOL.

You have two primary challenges ahead of you one is spinning yourself into an ELA IT and away from ET and the second is spinning your "co-teacher" status away from being a TA.
MartElla
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Location: A long way from home

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by MartElla »

Hi, if I was able to attend either Search BKK or Search LON but not both, and my focus is Europe principally, which one would you go to?

I know it seems to be BKK>LON>BOS>The rest, but does that change if Europe is where you ideally wish to be, and that is your favored destination?

Thanks
Thames Pirate
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:06 am

Re: Choosing the right fair..

Post by Thames Pirate »

Absolutely. Go to London.
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

I strongly disagree with @Thames Pirate, if you got an invite to BKK, go to BKK, the rule is you always go to the most competitive fair you can get into. If you got an invite to BKK than youre to some degree competitive, and the upper tier EU ISS do their recruiting at BKK, they will mostly be done and finished by the LON fair.

Beyond that it depends on your marketability. The LON fair is the EU fair, there are a lot of mid and lower tier ISs that attend, but a lot of them also have restrictions, do you have an EU passport, etc. Do you have IB experience? What are your family and logistical factors? These factors are the biggest. How important is the WE for you, and will you take anything as long as its in the EU/WE?

If you have strong NC experience, especially in a private or independent IS, but no EU passport, the BKK fair is better, those ISS will arrange a visa.

If you have strong IB experience and no EU passport go to BKK if you have a performance record in DIP. If you dont go to LON.

If you have an EU passport and you are an average performing IT go to LON, if you go anywhere at all. You can just as easily stay home and grab on of the EU vacancies that pops up in May.

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.
If you can stand the long game and are willing to spend a couple years (a contract) elsewhere to get inside the 1st tier network of ISs, go to BKK.

If youre an average performing IT, and no EU passport and children go to BKK, but be highly prepared to leave with nothing.
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