The International Schools Review Forum

Just to give some hope to all newbies: I am a newbie, and I have been hired by a 1st tier school (according to people on this site). So Yes, a newbie getting a job in an international school that can happen. I might be lucky or be the exception, but I believe you just have to keep looking, and persevere.

Finding a job in an international school was a full time job for me and I spent an entire month in front of the computer (luckily, I was in between jobs and it was christmas). This website has been invaluable to me as a source of information. And I couldn’t thank enough Pippafrit, shadowjack, psyguy, and all the others for their posts which helped me a lot.

The advices I would give is to keep looking even when you don’t have a single answer. Do register with Search Associates (it made a massive difference. I had no answer until I registered. Then I was able to know exactly which schools were considering hiring newbies, and finally got some feedbacks). I was ready to go anywhere, in any kind of school in order to get a first experience. That counts. You can’t expect the best for a first job (I was just extremely lucky). Many people left the fair without a job, but hadn’t applied everywhere because they had set their mind on a specific location or type of school.
In my case, attending a fair was worth the cost as I got my job there. But then not everyone leaves with one…The atmosphere at the fair was good. Everyone (recruiters, staff, and teachers) was friendly, supportive and full of advices. I made good friends. Just a great experience.
If you decide to attend one in the future, read Pippafrit’s post, everything you need to know is there, it’s just brilliant:

http://internationalschoolsreview.com/v ... light=fair

Best of luck to everyone who’s still on the market.

LOL Pippa - you beat me to it!

Thank you for your feedback on my posts bibounde, and a big CONGRATULATIONS on your new job!

Thank you guys! And please keep us updated. Many of us don't take the time to write but follow your adventures :). I attended the SF fair in February and i am starting the job in September. Do you have any further advice to give me? Anything i shouldn't forget or should prepare before going there?

Big Congrats!! So, tell us, at what school will you be teaching?? :)

Start asking about things you take for granted...for example, if you have favourite food items, are they widely available or not? Ask multiple people or join a FB group (as I have) and you will start to get a sense of what is going on at your destination and what it has to offer.

I even had a skype tour of the classroom I will be in and got to talk to some of the students about their projects they were working on. It was very cool and collegial of the outgoing teacher to invite me in and share!

Come on, say thank you to all the posters by telling us the name of the school.

I didn't think there were any 1st tier schools in Vietnam.

Bibounde,

my advice would be to not name your school, despite what others are encouraging you to do!

- autumnrain, senator, durianfan: I will be teaching in a school ... somewhere! :D

- shadowjack: thank you for the wise advice, but don't worry i had no intention of giving names anyway...

The skype tour sounds very cool indeed, i never thought it was possible to do so. Did you ask for it or the teacher invited you first?

We needed to talk about some other things to do with the program, but he invited me at that time and shared. I really appreciated it as I now have a much more solid idea of the layout, materials, procedures and students. I am sure not all teachers would want to do this, though.

@bibounde

Never post where your going. A significant number of admins monitor this site and have a lot of animosity about this site. Teachers have lost positions when admins have been able to identify a user of this site. The feeling is that by participating if you are "unhappy" you will write a horrible review about the school and damage their reputation. Ive heard many admins/recruiters comment that they wish they could make this site go away.

@durianfan

The UN IS in Hanoi is a 1st tier (elite tier) school for the region.