The International Schools Review Forum

Figured it would be a convenient place to throw out thoughts done here regarding the fair.

I have been doing some finalized fair prep this week. I fly out early Thursday and should arrive in BOS around noon. Hopefulyl see a few of you all there!

Good luck!

My current advise so far for this year at BOS is start early and hit the ground running. If your milling around with the sheeple your behind the race. You want hard interview invitations and time slots before sign up. This year there are going to be interviews the morning of and during signup. Theres going to be a first night morning closure of vacancies and a post lunch closure of vacancies. You want to be making moves the night before and morning of.

Thanks guys! Trying my best to snag a few interviews prior to or early Friday when slots open up. First timer as far as fairs go so I am looking forward to it, even though most say it is a "bad experience".

I am really going in without any expectations and if something happens great. if not, I will continue my email barrage to schools! haha

@b12r

Its not bad, its just not for the meek and ill prepared. If you dont interview well, if you arent comfortable selling yourself, if you arent assertive, if you arent really really likeable, you generally have a frustrating experience.

Any updates from others here?

I have received a few offers so far to interview all at some great schools. Busy day of interviewing ahead.

I plan on typing up a "fair diary" and post once I get home Sunday evening.

Good luck in the interviews!

Thanks Thames!

I look forward to reading it. Almost feel like I'm missing out on the fair even though I accepted a good offer last month!

You're not 'missing out' on anything lol.

I agree with Joe.

One of the main reasons I got out of IE was that as I got older, I just started to despise having to "play the game" with administrators. many of whom had years less experience than I had.

I once had to listen to this cute, empty-headed little muffin who was a first year assistant principal at a school in the ME and who had NEVER worked out of the U.S before as she questioned me on how I would handle the stresses of working overseas!

At my last fair I finally said Screw this, and just ignored my mailbox, put my suit in the closet. and spent the 3 days seeing friends.

Job fairs are archaic and unnecessary now and are held solely to make money for Search, Iss, etc. and to give school heads and admin a paid vacation and, when in Bangkok, a yearly chance to get their bells rung.

senator wrote:

> One of the main reasons I got out of IE was that as I got older, I just started to
> despise having to "play the game" with administrators.

How do you find this compares to schools at home? Is it not the same?

> Job fairs are archaic and unnecessary now and are held solely to make money for Search,
> Iss, etc. and to give school heads and admin a paid vacation and, when in Bangkok,
> a yearly chance to get their bells rung.

Personally I think that recruiting face to face is a good thing. I'm not sure how much of a real feel you get for a person on Skype.

I can see your point, especially being a veteran. You feel like your resume/CV speaks for itself.

I can say that my in person interviews have went leaps and bounds better than the Skype interviews prior to the fair. Nothing better than an in person connection.

senator wrote:
> I agree with Joe.
>
> One of the main reasons I got out of IE was that as I got older, I just
> started to despise having to "play the game" with administrators.
> many of whom had years less experience than I had.
>
> I once had to listen to this cute, empty-headed little muffin who was a
> first year assistant principal at a school in the ME and who had NEVER
> worked out of the U.S before as she questioned me on how I would handle the
> stresses of working overseas!
>
> At my last fair I finally said Screw this, and just ignored my mailbox, put
> my suit in the closet. and spent the 3 days seeing friends.
>
> Job fairs are archaic and unnecessary now and are held solely to make money
> for Search, Iss, etc. and to give school heads and admin a paid vacation
> and, when in Bangkok, a yearly chance to get their bells rung.

I agree with Senator's points that fairs are a money-making thing for the recruiting agencies and the most administrators love the perk of these trips (a little too much in my opinion). On the other hand, I do prefer face-to-face interviews in general and seem to do better with them compared to Skype. For whatever reason, I present better in person.

I do better and prefer F2F interviews, it also benefits me more in getting to read the recruiter.
Fairs have always been a revenue stream, thats why SA has so many of them. My issue is that there are two different groups of recruiters that attend fairs. On one side are the recruiters and HOSs that dont need to attend they are upper tier ISs they have one or two vacancies and plenty of qualified applicants. For them the fair is a conference and a trip they get to take on the ISs coin, an opportunity for a mini holiday with their rat pack, away from the spouses prying eye. The other group or recruiters capitalize on the stresses and anxieties of entry level IT candidates who wouldnt have the attention they would get outside of the confinements of the fair.