The International Schools Review Forum

There are a few schools that I would like to apply to directly who have a reputation for being selective and applications are competitive - Aramco in Saudi Arabia, International School of Bucharest, a couple schools in Singapore - does anyone know how often applying direct, early in the year is successful? Are skype interviews common with these schools or do the schools with strong reputations choose to be dependant upon the fairs for their recruitment? All thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

It worked for me.

Although it is starting to get a little late (believe it or not!).

My advice is to start applying in early to mid October.

I find the competitive schools (SAS, TAS, JIS etc) do a large % of their recruiting before the fairs. They would rather not wait until the fairs - I know people who got jobs at all 3 of those schools using Skype or the phone by mid November.

It does help to have some connection with the school - for instance, having someone within the school who knows you who can recommend to the admin that it is worth looking at your CV. This is mainly because the competitive schools get a lot of unsolicited applications.

Anyway, it can not hurt to start sending applications directly to schools. Most the Asian schools are handing out their contracts right now, so will have a good idea what their needs are for next year within the next week or so.

All the best with your job hunting:)

My last 2 positions (both in Italy, and now in Denmark) i got on my own, applying directly. The big schools like to hire as quickly as they can. The fairs can be so exhausting and everyone wants an interview with them, so the fewer vacancies they have to fill the better. the only downside for me at least is filling out those online applications. its so repetitive.

Honestly though I dont think it matters. The cost of emailing your materials is zero.

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Great advice, Ichiro. I'm not looking this year but next year I might be and will definitely try the hard copy route. It seems like a good way to stand out from the crowd.

Good post Ichiro. I never thought of fedexing, but what a great idea. I'd be very impressed if someone fedexed me their application. At least it shows that you're so interested in THAT specific school that you are willing to spend 30 or 40 dollars to send your documents from another country. There's no way anyone would do that for a lot of jobs, but for 1 or 2 specfically I think it would get attention. I suppose you also know it will get opened and not just sent to a file or deleted.

Who would you send it to though? Would it be the head or hr? I'd hate for it to be opened by the wrong person and then put to the side.

Cheers,


Inman

Thank you, Ichiro, for your excellent suggestion. I will be following that advice. It really makes sense for the admin/office folks who will receive and stand out in a postive light. Thanks!

I'd send it to the Head... HR, doesnt hire people, and id hate all that effort and expense not to get into the bosses hands.

Cant say I'd ever do it, but cant say i wouldn't see it being effective either. I guess its brilliant if it works, and if it didnt and i kept it to only a couple of schools i wouldn't feel like Id be out a LOT of money or anything. We got a couple hand delivered application, and although they didnt come fedex/dhl, i remember thinking "great now I have to type the email address into the computer by hand" though I will say their applications did "stand out" a little more in a stack of cheap white paper print outs. None of them got into the final interview pile though (style doesnt compensate for a lack of experience). I do remember the VP for Learning Support asking about where they might have gotten the paper (it was printed on a milky vellum).

Great advice, Ichiro.