Asking for advice for Bangkok Fairs

[calciodirigore]

I need some advice in regards to the 2010-recruiting season. I've asked quite a few colleagues and admin people about this but am still looking for the most appropriate answer/solution. I believe that my situation is not unique, but at the same time is certainly not the most common out there.

My partner and I plan on moving on from our current post for the 2010 academic year. We have a daughter (will be almost 2 when we arrive at our new job) and so my partner does not plan on working for our first year. She would begin during my second year of what we would hope would be a 4-5 year stay. We would like our daughter to be old enough to enter a day care/nursery by the time my partner begins work again. My questions are the following:

1. How should we present our candidacy? We are a teaching couple, but then again not really since my partner won't begin teaching when we arrive.

2. How employable are we/am I? Potential teaching couple with dependent...We plan on attending the Bangkok fair and would like to teach in SE Asia. It would be my partner's second stint in the area. (A bit about us: I've been teaching for 13 years and have spent the last 10 overseas at several reputable international schools. I teach IB English, Spanish and TOK and am an examiner. My partner taught early childhood for 8 years before our daughter was born and was a member of the SMT and CIS accreditation teams at her last two schools - both international.)

Thanks so much for the your help.

[fran]

Anything is worth a try but I think the odds are stacked against you. What if a position does not open up for your partner at end of the first year? The school's concern will be, can you make it on one pay check and what will you partner do all day if left at home? Often times the partner left at home decides to leave for back home and the working teacher soon follows - leaving the school in a bind.

It's worth a try but I think your situation puts you at a disadvantage. If you taught physics, chemistry or one of the hard to fill positions you would have a better chance, especially if your partner could fill any elementary position that may open up.

[marlow]

I think Fran makes a good point with regard to your teaching subject: if you teach a hard to fill position, the big schools might take a look, but in my experience schools are looking for two teachers, not one.

A former headmaster explained it to me this way: it takes a school two years to break even on the cost of hiring a single. After two years, the school turns a "profit" on that teacher, hence the need to encourage longevity. A couple becomes "profitable" after just a year and a half. (BTW, I've only worked at non-profit schools. I use the term profit for the sake of ease.) A teaching couple with kids, however, takes longer to become profitable because the school is paying tuition for the child, or children if that be the case. Thus, hiring one teacher with a non-teaching spouse AND a child isn't profitable.

Good luck in your search; there are schools out there who will hire you, but I'd bet on casting a wide net. It might mean working in a second tier school, but anything is possible...some things are just harder than others.

[ichiro]

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[calciodirigore]

Thank you Fran, Marlow and Ichiro.

Just to clear up a bit of the confusion; I am not in a same sex relationship. I used the term partner since my girlfriend and I have yet to actually get married. It's in the works...Ichiro, your advice was much appreciated - I sincerely want to thank you for being so straightforward and helpful.

I will be attending the ISS Bangkok fair - it will be my third ISS experience.

I haven't seen a post on this forum addressing the issue I've raised. My girlfriend is an educator and plans on teaching shortly after we arrive at our new post. She is simply on an extended maternity leave.

In my humble opinion I should appear as an attractive candidate. As I wrote in my original post I teach HL IB in both English and Spanish, have been an examiner for several years and my girlfriend was a lower school administrator for several years at her last two international schools. I'm also coming from several "top tier" schools and in my experience I've never seen a large international school that doesn't have a single lower school/primary/elementary school opening every year.

Thanks again.

[educator]

You'll be offered a position. If your partner is an elementary teacher, then sooner or later they will receive an offer as well. Administrators sometimes keep elementary positions available as they tend to be filled by partners (usually female) of priority ‘hard to find' staff (usually male) in the high school section. Examples may be science/physics/language/music/math where the male fits the subject area and the female slots conveniently into the elementary school. The occasional glorious role reversal or exception of course, yet these are still relatively rare.

The Bangkok fairs are very ‘early’ and hence don’t have the edgy market place urgency of real positions needing to be immediately filled, with the exception of the ‘hard to find’ roles mentioned above. Few administrators refuse the offer of a week or more in Bangkok luxury hotels before settling back into school life after the Christmas holidays, adding to the non committal air.

As for ‘top tier’, ‘second tier’ or many tears schools, think beyond the pay scales and your daily teaching experience. Whilst these are obvious fundamentals they don't address the main question, which is why are you going to stay in this particular city and country for a few years of your life? If you can't think of an intrinsically rewarding, enduring reason beyond the immediate school social/political environment - e.g. a particular activity or area of personal interest - then your precious years with your family may be better spent elsewhere. Many complaints about schools mask a much deeper personal malaise, unrelated to the school itself.

With Skype and cell phones, who really needs these expensive and time consuming recruiting ‘fairs’ anymore? Let’s all guess…

[calciodirigore]

Thanks Educator.

I've heard good things about the ISS Bangkok Fair...looking forward to it.

I plan on attempting Skype interviews as early as possible. Before my last fair I was able to secure 3 jobs before even registering, but they were not my first, second or third choice schools. My last director, who is widely considered to be among the best in the business, told me that she would offer the job over the phone/via Skype but would still have to shake hands in person with new hires. Sounds like an unnecessary step in the process to me, but at the same time something must be said for wanting to actually meet potential employees. I'm sitting on the fence with this issue...

Cheers.