I agree with your assessment that Saigon would be a great place to live. You are seeing some red flags though. You are right in not ignoring them. My sense is that this school is showing that it wants to have financial leverage on it's employees. This is a relational issue that will probably continue to put you in an uncomfortable place for at least a year. Also the summer break thing really sucks. I doubt that they are paying competitively enough to legitimately ask their employees to do that. To me, the whole thing feels like it is exploitative.

I don't know what situation you are in. Personally, before international teaching things were going very well for me in the States, but I knew in my heart that I needed to work in an international setting. I would have taken almost any reasonable opportunity to be overseas. Hey, some of us thrive in adversity, to the extent that we play victim roles and can be exploited by narcissists, but I won't get into that. Two years goes by quickly. Make the choice that will be best for you.

An international teacher I know has a nice blog. It's more focused on travel and photography than moving overseas. Patricklovephotography.com/blog

You should also check out Surabaya International School. I've heard lots of good things about it.

psyguy alluded to it, but I think that going with Search over ISS would be a good advantage in this situation. For a well-qualified first time candidate without intl experience, an associate can give great advice and possibly get his info in front of the right people.

[quote="PsyGuy"]If not, perhaps in a another life when we are both cats![/quote]

Ha ha, just watched vanilla sky last night for the first time! I really liked it.

Thank you for the write up. It's great to get an admin's perspective. Did you go to Bangkok for the hiring fairs? That would be the one I would love to hear more about. I heard that the Search fair had about 4-5 times more candidates than the ISS fair this year. Any thoughts?

That's it! I was on M's wrap team with you! We would often meet at the YMCA downtown with Johnny and rachael. Ha, small world!

Generally speaking, Iss is a good organization to go with. However, they're #1 interest seems to be serving schools, not teachers. You can be successful with them. Uni and search seem to accommodate 1st time candidates better through personalized service and by working with a broader range of schools- i.e. Lower quality or less established.

All that said, one strategy might be to visit the iss sf fair in hopes that schools will take a chance on you closer to the end of their recruitment cycle.

Again, the mh piece is nice, but really focus on selling your school counselor specific experience and skills.

Hi crystal,
Most applicants have already been sending out letters of interest, and have signed up for job fairs. I think that you are a bit behind. I'd recommend search Cambridge or UNI.
I know of several counseling applicants in your shoes last year, and they found jobs at decent schools. Focus on describing everything you did in your internship.
This probably sounds weird, but I'm fairly certain I've met you before. Mhgs or Smh? Regardless, somewhere in seattle I'd like to protect my anonymity, but put an email address on here if you would like other job app details that might be helpful. Sorry to be vague.

Try to build mutual excitement. You are interviewing a school just as much as they are interviewing you.

-Use it as a chance to show that you have done research on the school or the specific department, and that you are truly interested. "It seems that your school has a great reputation for ____, if that's so can you tell me more about _____ (name a specific thing you are interested in)."

-Ask about coaching or assistant coaching opportunities.

-What area of institutional change or growth is he/she most excited about?

Hi PsyGuy,

Ok, I'll try to explain. For me, Martin Buber's idea of mutuality in relationships really comes to mind. I believe that mutuality is the basis of all genuine meeting, self knowledge and knowledge of others. Without mutuality, true conversations cannot really happen. I think it was very indicative when compared yourself to Rush Limbaugh. I find it unfortunate and sad that you would compare yourself to such a personality. I grew up listening to Rush with my father, so I will speak on this. There exists no mutuality in a Rush Limbaugh conversation. In polarizing and simplifying political ideas and events, Rush can position himself as an expert and objectify others. I would caution that in this relationship no true conversation or learning can happen. You try to get your legitimate needs for relationship met, but they never are. The true self never exists in this part of a person's functioning.

Consider transference and counter-transference. I'm guessing that for some unspoken reasons, you find it very compelling to speak as a Rush Limbaugh character in this forum. You come looking for connection, but believe that the Rush persona will give you the interactions that you want. I'm sure that it's easy for you to see how this is connected to the story of your young developing self. I suppose that the people who respond to you the loudest are those who are sensitive of how others want to hold power over them. Your agenda is to get strong reactions and build an audience (among more admirable things). That really gets under the skin of people with a history of others who also have done that. They immediately smell it and reject it. It's also uncomfortable for people who just want to have adult interaction, but its much less likely that type of person will really feel the need to speak up.

I think you deal with this problem here, at work, and in your personal life. Perhaps you feel this, perhaps you don't. I think that it would be an upgrade in each of those areas for you to start bringing your genuine self and truly interacting with others.

Best of luck to you.

[quote="PsyGuy"]I too am a mental health professional (LPC) and School Psychological Specialist. My edits were only out of courtesy. If you read my following post you will see that the parent waived confidentiality when filing their complaint, as commission hearing are legally public record, and hearing are open to the public, so its a moot point and any possible or perceived transgression is academic.[/quote]

Good point psyguy. I want to chime in and say that I do enjoy reading most of what you write, though I can see how some of it is offensive to others.

Your professional status does make me curious about something. Psychodynamically speaking, why do you think that some readers have such a strong reaction to you? I look forward to your response.

Hi,

I believe that I have an informed opinion on this issue. I am an experienced licensed mental health counselor and a school counselor.

Please note that psyguy has edited his comment twice since it was first posted. At first, there were other details given including medical info. It would still be quite easy for professionals to get access to the original post. It is not really gone.

Anyone with access to medical information should consider the possible ethical, legal and professional ramifications of Psyguy's comments. First off, the student, a family member, a school employee, an employee of the next school that this student will try to go to, or anyone who knows the identity of Psyguy could be in the position to infer that they know who the student is. Psyguy gave pretty specific info early on that would definitely lead to one student, so three could be some very serious consequences in certain situations.
Let me give just one example- What if a registrar at another school knows psyguy's identity and reads about what his school did? Later that day, a female student who was just expelled from his school comes to the new school and tries to enroll. It would be easy for the registrar to make an excuse such as, enrollment is at capacity because they don't want to take on a difficult student. The registrar could also show the family the information that is online and warn them that it could be used to by others to discriminate against their daughter.
Of course, the family would be furious. They could get an attorney, file a lawsuit, all this would be made public and school board would end up firing psyguy.

Very unlikely, but possible.

I agree with wrldtrvlr. 99% of the time, couples interview together and only come as a package. When my wife and I would send letters of interest to schools, we would send a joint cover letter, her cv, her letters of rec, my cv, my letters of rec.

I guess that it depends what you mean by low stress.
I'm in SE Asia. Most days I work from 7:15 - 6:00. I hardly ever feel "stressed." I can fit my exercise into that time and almost never take work home with me. I don't have to do any chores around the house. My commute is less than 10 mins. Vacations are always amazing.
I know that there are teachers at almost every school who only work the minimum, but why would you do that if you enjoy your job and are motivated to be great? I also know that lots of schools demand that teachers have a lifestyle that would not be considered balanced and healthy by most. Keep searching for balance.

Hi Manila,
I am not at all offended. I'm not even in the Philippines, just have some connections, and felt I could offer a slightly-informed opinion.
I'm glad to hear that things are going so well at ISM. Thank you for sharing.