Experienced teacher, Married to non-teaching spouse with dep

[Mjkresko]

I have many years teaching experience, have worked internationally and have a non-teaching spouse and a child. After spending two hard hiring seasons in the game and attending a few of the smaller fairs, I did get some bites but never had a firm offer. I wondered if it were my references or how recruiters perceive me from my profile, so I wrote my SA recruiter and got this response:

"The downsides are you’re a teacher with a non-teaching spouse, and dependent child. For your wife, as a family nurse practitioner, perhaps some schools will look at her in that capacity for potential employment. Generally a school looking at your profile will quickly see that in order to pick you up as a staff member for their school they must also be prepared to cover two additional air fares for your dependents, provide health insurance coverage for them, waive tuition for the child, and find larger accommodations that are large enough for a family of your size. Many schools will simply give you a pass on the paper screening of candidates, to avoid the additional expense in hiring.

I don’t mean to sound so discouraging, but I’m just being honest here. The world of international teaching is highly competitive these days. Because of the world economy as it is, many quality staff have been put out of work on the domestic fronts, and a good many of those people have flooded toward international schools as an option. The result is a saturated field of quality candidates for schools to select from. It’s a recruiter’s market, and they can afford to be picky, and have proven that they will be. In the past three years, about 40% of the schools we work with have passed on candidates with a non-teaching spouse alone. When dependent children are added in to the mix, that percentage will be increased dramatically.

Please understand that this is in no way an indictment of your teaching or the quality of you as a person, but simply the state of play in international recruiting for today’s world. You may well be able to beat the odds, with your Science teaching background, and Peace Corp experience. Plus, a larger school looking to also fill a nurse positions might consider you more seriously, because they know they could pick up a school nurse at the same time. Let nothing deter you from your goals, and give it your best shot. Be flexible in where you’ll consider, and keep trying. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking. I’ll stand ready to support your search, and help in whatever ways I can."

I had pretty much come to this same conclusion on my own. I hope it is helpful to those in the same boat.

[stirdaddy]

Thank you! That is one of the most useful things ever posted to this forum. Anecdotal experience has shown that managing expectations is one of the more difficult aspects of being an expat teacher (or perhaps just being a content person in general).

[millwall_fan]

Very interesting. Thankyou. I am in the same position of having a non teaching wife and a school age child. I scraped in on the last recruitment round and am looking to improve my conditions next time. It is a shame that schools are so opaque in what they want and in what they are offering. Why not state the salary, state whether married status is an obstacle, state whether they will accept older candidates?

[Briz]

I definitely felt this at recruiting fairs this past year when a great interview turns into nothing... At all. I was still able to score a well paying position with my non teaching wife and child. It does not hurt being able to teach IBDP science, in fact that is my saving grace (and being incredibly handsome... That never hurts HAHAHAHA). Your recruiter and mine might be the same, as their notes are equally articulate and honest. I say good luck, keep plugging away!

[shadowjack]

Get your spouse certified! There are summer programs, online programs and yearlong programs. Then, you become a teaching couple.

The good news is that Mrs. Shadowjack starts in August! We are now a teaching couple, instead of a teacher and trailing spouse :-) Woohoo!!!!

[Yantantether]

shadowjack wrote:
> Get your spouse certified! There are summer programs, online programs and
> yearlong programs. Then, you become a teaching couple.
>
> The good news is that Mrs. Shadowjack starts in August! We are now a
> teaching couple, instead of a teacher and trailing spouse :-) Woohoo!!!!




What about us reckless souls who married our tropicana sweethearts SJ? ^_^
Congratulations to you both and especially your better half! Good luck with it all guys.

YTT

[shadowjack]

I know some teachers who did that, and then their spouse ended up taking coursework and getting a certificate. Rare, but if you want to be a teaching couple, I think you have to bite the bullet and go for it. It might not happen right away, but plan, start courses, get the foundation going, and then do it. In the long run, it pays for itself.

[buffalofan]

Although the pool will be smaller, there are schools out there that will accommodate your family situation. Both of the international schools that I've worked at would hire you if you were a good fit for a position. Though I think once you get into the issue of tuition waivers, very few schools are going to go beyond 1 waiver per teacher.

[jessiejames]

Thank you for sharing this information, Mjkresko! It was very interesting to read.

My issue is slightly different - I am not married but my partner and I are both intending on making the move together to wherever I end up. He is not a teacher (and does not want to be), but his career means he could find employment around the world, including flights, visa and mostly importantly accommodation - I would not expect to share school provided accommodation with him. I thought this wouldn't be a problem as it meant I'm not a 'package' and schools wouldn't have to fork out any more money for him, so I recently changed my Search profile to reflect this.
However, it has definitely put schools off - more than once I've come to the final stage and a school has said my relationship makes it 'too complicated', with one school even presuming that if he ever had to return home while I was still teaching, it would be emotionally too difficult for me (?).

I really think my relationship is not a school's business if it doesn't affect my contract so I wanted to remove it from my Search profile, but my associate has told me to keep it on there. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, but since I added those details I have gone from being e-mailed by interested schools nearly every day to struggling to get a response from the ones I contact myself. I'm getting rather worried that this will have a continual negative affect on my employment chances!

[shadowjack]

I get your point, jessiejames, but what will you do if he CANNOT find a job in your locale? That's the unknown that is scaring schools off, usually because they have been through it with others before you, hence their hesitation.

Here is my advice. Have your SO get his job first, then you follow to that location. Makes it easier all around. You might be a local hire, but you would be with your SO. That is what Mrs. Shadowjack and I did until her career change.

[bob]

A colleague of mine got almost exactly the same response. He is married to a non teaching spouse, has 2 children and does not teach a shortage subjetc. Search refused to sign him up... He got a job a couple of weeks later in a good school.
I'm in the same boat (and my spouse is not US or EU) and there was only 1 job I actually wanted this recruiting season and I got it (not through Search). If you're a fit, you're a fit! Keep looking and stay positive. Some schools prefer families as they tend to be more stable.
All the best!

[cjrv12]

We heard the exact same message today from Search Associates although now they are no longer accepting applications from single teaching candidate with dependents (non-teaching spouse, two kids, though spouse can work anywhere). So if SA won't accept an application at all from a science teacher, IB trained, with 15 years experience willing to live anywhere, any reason to think its different with TIE or ISS, or applying directly to schools? Sounds like this dream and desire to teach abroad is coming to a grinding halt.

[Schmedz]

I do not understand the obsession with using Search or any other recruitment agent. I have a non-teaching spouse and 2 dependent children, so according to Search I am virtually unemployable. However, I have been offered 3/4 of the international postings at reputable schools for which I applied. I applied directly to the schools and have never used a recruitment agency. I was also pretty picky about the applications I made, realising that this is the school my children will have to attend for the duration of my contract! I do have a specialist subject so didn't bother applying to schools which didn't appeal or for whom I didn't quite fit their advertised criteria.

It takes a lot of time and research, but there are excellent jobs advertised outside of the agencies and job fairs (I can't comment on how this compares to a job fair as I've never attended one).

My advice to the OP is not to give up, but be prepared to do a lot of online research and fill out a lot of forms in order to achieve your goal of working abroad. The first consideration for me is what would best suit our children, so as a result I am now waiting until next academic year as this fits in best with the kids' current stage of education. Very frustrating to turn down great offers because the timing is not quite right for your family, but that is the sacrifice you need to make!