The International Schools Review Forum

So my wife and I interviewed at a tier 2 school in China. After the interview she was asked if she had applied to any other schools. (For whatever reason I was not asked) Any advice on how to hand that one? No one has ever asked us that before after an interview.

It's not that uncommon, especially at job fairs. I would always answer yes, since it makes you seem like you have more options, makes you seem more desirable as a candidate and somewhat less likely that the school would take you and your potential acceptance of any offer for granted.

While employers often do have special snowflake syndrome (hence all the 'why do you want to work for this school' questions when 99% of the time the answer is either money or location) there's not a recruiter out there who is stupid enough to think you've only applied to his school and will be waiting to see the outcome of that before applying to any others.

Absolutely say you've applied to other schools. Kind of a no-brainer....

Really not tricky. My recruiting teams have usually asked this and variant questions, especially at fairs. It gives us some perspective, hopefully, on where we fit in the candidate's search process. I recommend being diplomatically honest - you want to keep the door open by suggesting that the school asking the question is important to you, while also gently sharing that you are considering other options. Don't talk about interviewing with your "dream school", unless of course that dream school is the one in the room.

Thanks Sid, my wife handled it diplomatically. Your right. It's not tricky I just was not familiar with this question and tend to be cautious.

Concur with the previous contributors. The answer is always yes, and if pressed for details simply respond that you are uncomfortable discussing specifics of another IS.

The answer is always: YES and I had great interviews and wouldn't be surprised to find out that I already have a few job offers waiting for me in my email.