Cambridge Fair Updates

[newbieabroad]

Long time lurker who decided to type up my experience at the fair!

Thursday-Pre Fair/Travel

Woke up extra early to get to the airport to board my plane. I had a super early flight to arrive in Boston by noon. Everything was normal and no problems which was great and I luckily landed on time in Boston. Weather is great!

I arrived at the fair and already had my Ichiro’s/notes to place in recruiters mail boxes ( Thanks ISR for the tip!). I checked into my room, got settled, and then headed back down to network/socialize. I first checked my mailbox and found that a school I contacted 2 months prior and did not receive any contact back from them wanted to set a meeting up! The school is considered a Tier 1 school on this board. I tried contacting them and did not get up with them until later that evening. They said they wanted to interview Thursday but we could not connect... Anyhow they told me to swing by their table to set up an interview. We had Interview tips/orientation/Q&A (450+) candidates were in the room. All pre fair things were great to get into the mindset.

I ran down the road to snag some snacks and to clear my mind a bit prior to entering fair mode. I came back to the hotel and began game planning my Friday morning sign ups. This year, the fair organizer took pics of vacancies for sign up session 1 and 2. This was HELPFUL! They went up on the portal late but I woke up in my bed and browsed vacancies. A few surprises... both good and bad.

Friday- Signups/Interviews

Sign up sessions were a breeze. It took me about an hour to sign up for my desired schools of interest. I had 9 schools on my radar for sign ups and got 7 interviews. Nearly each recruiter commented on my Ichiro I placed in their box the night before.
conversation. I had read the horror stories of the signups but my signup process was truthfully not that bad. They split up the sign ups into two 2 hours slots which helped with the rush. I would imagine that if it was all in one room with all school in 2 hours that if would be challenging to stop by and chat with all interested schools.

I grabbed a quick bite of lunch and proceeded to research some schools prior to interviews. I have completed my research but wanted to brush up on my knowledge of schools. I have 5 interviews crammed in from 1pm-6pm before the reception. I liked this because I was in interview mode the entire time. I also felt like this was a good sign for early interview slots. I then had a Skype interview that evening with a school whose principal I would work for was not attending the fair. Battling the time difference can be tricky but this is an international job fair... I feel like I would have interviewed at 2am if it meant a job lol.

Interviews went well. I feel like the first interviews are more so a “hey lets go over your CV and confirm some questions” style interview. Some basic teaching interview questions. *Tip, come prepared to ask recruiters questions. Every recruiter sets aside the final few minutes for this. Luckily I did and it transition into a nice convo!* I got 3 “second” interviews or another interview with the appropriate admin that was not present. All school were “Tier 1” school which was fantastic. Seeing as how I do not have IE experience I was a little nervous about placement but all is well at this point. My goal going into the fair is not to simply snag a job but to move up in the education level. I teach state side and I have a decent job. I did not want to move to a hardship location just to snag a job in IE. It was my choice... one that might go against some advice on this board and even fair advice. Also interviewing in hotel rooms, although different, is not that bad.

Saturday- More interviews...

I had a few recruiters/principals tell me that they would contact me late evening Friday or early Saturday for interviews. I ended up falling asleep directly after my Skype interview and woke up to 3 interviews. One occurred on Skype again with an admin that was not at the fair. It also came as a surprise. The school in particular was a tough interview. Not so much the questions but I arrived early as instructed for my interview. I basically listened to the recruiter all but offer the same job I applied for to the prior candidate. So I entered the room and was a little down at first but soon bounced back. It hit me that these recruiters are looking for a “fit” and I could be the fit. The recruiter offered the other candidate more info and words than mine so I left the interview I little down but I still had a few other schools with positive vibes. So basically the fact the school who I did not think I was going to receive an offer from wanted a second interview was nice! In theory, maybe I was a back up candidate but regardless this school is top notch. I had another Skype interview scheduled for late Saturday evening and another in person meeting scheduled for mid day as well as a skype interview with the admin of the in person meeting. This day is more of a low key day for me in that I plan on attending presentations and interviews as they pop up.

Saturday-When the fun began

I attended my mid day interview which was a followup from Friday. I rolled in and the admins asked how my search was going and if I had any other offers. I told them I had some interest elsewhere but open. They asked if the other interested schools were serious to which I replied two seemed very interested. At that point they offered me. I was blown away... This school is considered a tier 1 school (always mentioned on here when talking tier 1 schools) and the package was incredible. We run through a 5 min spill for a bit and I took the 24 hour time frame to ponder/research a bit more. I still had the other two school on my radar as well. I immediately left and contacted both recruiters who told me to contact them had I received an offer. After both convos, they ended up asking me what school it was (both said I did not have to answer but I knew this school was great so I was happy to tell them). Once I mentioned the school both said let me made some calls and emails. We will contact you asap.

I was very fortunate to have 2 offers and another if this person does not accept the job is yours offer at the fair. All three were tier 1 schools (I use this term loosely knowing there is not a true tiering system but more so a comparative formulation among ITs. However all three schools are often discussed in the Tier 1 topics and all packages are top notch). I ended up accepting an offer form a school I wanted to work at since September. I truly was flattered with the interest I received from schools.

Sunday-Easy day

I had planned to have morning follow up meetings and such but luckily I slept in, had a great lunch, and proceeded to the airport. No need for anything fair related since I signed the night before!

Fair Thoughts

Going into the fair, I was a tad apprehensive due to the “horror” stories from some members here. I knew the sign ups would be fast paced as would interviews and offers. It is tough to comprehend unless you’ve been and understand how interview times and such work.

I took advantage of tips form this forum. I made an “Ichiro” to place in boxes of recruiters on Thursday which I felt was a great way to open up lines of communication at sign ups. Every recruiter had my Ichiro at sign up tables and I showed them my CV as well to look over. Approaching recruiters was not as “scary” as I thought. They are human and know the process we are going through.

Any other questions I can confirm let me know!

[flipfuntasia]

Hello @newbieabroad (love the handle, btw)!

I just wanted to clarify: did you just put the "ichiro" in the recruiters' folders without the resume? When do you hand out the resumes? Newbie with the fair as well.

Congratulations on the job placement! Thanks for the insight. It is truly helpful.

[newbieabroad]

Thanks!

I did not place my CV in the boxes of recruiters. Kind of a trial by fire kind of dealing with it. You cannot go wrong with placing the CVs in the boxes... I just wanted to be different and high light the best parts of my CV honestly.

[PsyGuy]

@flipfuntasia

You place the ichiro in the box by itself. The whole point of using an ichiro is to generate interest, hoping they bite and establish contact. You want the ichiro to lead into a conversation of what your value is.

[b12r]

Sigh... sadly everything thing I wanted to say vanished from my comp...

But I got offered by a great school and accepted! I am anxious to get things going with my IT career.

My school scope was a rather narrow scope, meaning I only applied/inquired to schools I wanted to go. Sure this narrowed down my job search quite a bit but I felt great to be talking/interviewing with schools I could definitely see myself at. Overall, I had several interviews that went well and gained some encouragement from recruiters in my experience. I felt like I would be behind the 8 ball in terms of the rest of the field since I had no IT experience and a handful of years teaching in the US. This was not the case. I got interviews for schools that people said I basically had no shot at talking to. Sure interviews and offers are very different but interviews mean there was some type of consideration... recruiters did not waste their time talking to me.

Overall, I enjoyed my fair experience... I mean I did get a few offers and accepted a position after all lol! To clarify, accepted a position in a dream location for myself... a place I wanted to live at for a few years! Fairs are what you make of it. I did my research fair wise and school wise. I knew where I wanted to try and land and worked hard at it. I was fortunate to receive the interest/offers I did.