The International Schools Review Forum

Congrats, @beanie! It sounds like you've had more success than most. I know you said it's your first go at international teaching, but do you have a great deal of experience in your home country that you feel made you marketable or was it just good fortune that you were able to land at school you felt was out of your league? I'm not recruiting this year, but I also plan to be quite picky so seeing people who say they've applied to 50 schools and have not gotten anything is concerning. I've studied a lot of schools and I would be hard pressed to find that many that I would even be willing to work at, let alone for ones that would actually have a position for me.

Things have really picked up this week! Four additional schools reached out via SA for interviews, including one in WE that is creme de la creme, and I had a final interview with one of my top choices. I'd really love to avoid attending a fair if at all possible...

I have between 5-10 years local teaching experience. I think that because I was picky and only applied to a handful of schools I could really tailor each application for each school. I think I did good job of marketing myself and showing my strengths, which caught their attention. I also only applied to schools with curricula that I prefer.

Y'all, I got a call from West Africa and China! Two offers.

Congrats Shawanda! I knew you were way too experienced not to get an offer. I accepted my first IT offer last night at an upper tier school in China.

You are where we were a few years ago, beanie. And there is no such thing as a school that is out of your league, especially if they give you an offer.

Congrats on those who have received offers! I hope you all find what you want!

Nice, Shawanda! I was hoping to get a school in West Africa but....didn't happen. Like helloiswill, I accepted a position in China. Congrats everyone!

I'm always curious if I will end up working with someone on this forum...

How would you figure it out?

Then again, if anyone I work with is on this forum (I don't... think so) I think I'm distinctive enough that they could figure me out. Shoot!

I am curious to know, those who declined offers,what were your reasons?

One application, zero interviews, and one offer.

I worked for them before and left on good terms to explore some options in US several years ago. I kept in touch with some of the people in admin so when I said I was returning to IS teaching we were happy to take each other back.

I declined my first offer for a myriad of reasons, but the biggest two were location (geographically isolated) and didn't get a good vibe from the school director (i.e., not someone I wanted to work with). It's a fantastic school, but it just wasn't going to be the right fit.

93 applications; 3 interviews (2 pending), 1 rejection post-interview.

Technically 95 application, 5 interview requests, but I withdrew from two openings I shouldn't have applied to

10 applications or letters of interest (in schools whose vacancies weren't advertised), one rejection, and one had already been filled. Offered an interview by a school I didn't apply to, declined due to region.

This is my first go at IT. I'm a soon-to-be-minted school counselor (I'll get my MA and my certification in May, but I have no non-internship experience). I know I will probably only have a chance in Asia or the ME (and lucky if I did at that, with no experience), but my husband's job (non-teaching related) will have us in Europe for the next couple years, so I'm trying to get something in W or E Europe (his work is flexible enough that he could live with me anywhere there, though he'd be making frequent trips). Living on one salary will be tough, and I don't want my degree to just collect dust for the next two years, so I'm really hoping for some luck.

I'm going to UNI in February. I live very close by, so it wasn't expensive to attend. There are only a few European schools there, but I figure I might as well try, and at very least meet some people/network and see what a fair is like. One school that will be there responded to my letter of interest, saying that while they don't have any counseling positions for next year, he'd be happy to interview with me in case of future openings.

From what I've read going through this forum (I've been lurking for months), if I do get something, it will most likely be a lucky job in the spring or summer (when, from what I've learned, schools are more desperate/willing to take someone inexperienced). This would either be because I've sent them my resume in this first go around, or they post it to their website and I'm quick on the trigger (I have all my bookmarks ready to go and I check everyday). I think.

Anyway, this forum has been so helpful. I'm so excited about the prospect of counseling internationally, even if I have to wait a couple years to get going. If anyone has any advice or insight into my situation, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

@teppany2 not sure how relevant this is but I heard through my network that Bonn International School < http://www.bonn-is.de/about-bis/work-bis > has a tentative opening for MYP Learning Support position. The rules being what they are I can't offer any insight into the school itself. Good luck in your search.