Early/Pre Fair interviews

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b12r
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:47 pm

Early/Pre Fair interviews

Post by b12r »

Curious what they board thought about early/pre fair interviews. I am not referring to the ones that occur the night before or even the days leading into the fair. More so, I am meaning interviews that occur basically in November.

I have had a few Skype interviews this past week. Felt really good about one and said I would hear something back before Dec 1. School is signed up for 2 fairs I do believe as well.

Just curious what some veterans thoughts are on this. I plan on attending the Cambridge fair in January but if this school offers I am not sure what to do.

I appreciate your thoughts in advance. This place really helps with first timers who are jumping into the IT world!
sid
Posts: 1392
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 am

Re: Early/Pre Fair interviews

Post by sid »

If they offer, you need to ask yourself if it's a job you want. That may be hard to tell since you're new to international teaching, but that's the basic question.
If it's a job you want, take it. Spend the next few months getting excited about where you're going instead of scared about whether you'll get a job.
Lots of schools interview early. They have different reasons for it, but overall it's to lock in the people they want. Schools don't want to spend months wondering who they're hiring, no more than teachers want to spend months stressed out over not having a job yet.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

Early Recruiting is that recruiting that occurs before the winter/mid term break for a given recruiting year (some ISs start 18 months or longer in advance). First Night Recruiting is that window directly before the start of a recruiting event.

Two types of ISs utilize early recruiting heavily. Top elite and 1st tier ISs that have minimal recruiting needs and low tier ISs that arent competitive during the peak recruiting season, and are trying to get out in front.

I strongly disagree with @Sid, the fear mongering is just that, its deciding on the value of opportunity for a given amount or risk. If your the type of IT thats contending with early recruitment, the only reason to not be employed during a recruiting year is if you dont want to be. The real issue is maximizers, that feeling that the longer you wait out the more you MAY get (especially if youre not a master class IT and are focused on the EU), that settling early is just that settling. You want top returns, but you dont know what the hypothetical top for you would be in any given recruiting cycle, and the top is likely to present itself before the end of the recruiting season.
senator
Posts: 384
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:53 am

Re: Early/Pre Fair interviews

Post by senator »

Let me tell you about the ONLY time I decided that I took the bird in the hand rather than take a risk and wait for the real recruiting season to start.

I took an early job in November at a school that was ok, but not one I would ever have considered on my own. I felt pretty good - the pressure was off, I could cancel my job fair hotel, and concentrate on enjoying Christmas break, rather than preparing resumes and covers for the fair.

Yeah, I felt pretty pleased with myself until a rash of jobs in my field - IB Math - began to be posted and I got emails asking if I would be interested in interviewing.

So unless you really want to work at this school that has offered, I agree with Psyguy that you are settling, maybe out of fear, maybe because you have been indoctrinated to go for the sure thing.

No guts, No glory.
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