Telling your current school that you're going to the fair

[Fstop]

I would like to go to the Bangkok Search fair in January. Unfortunately, it means missing a week of school. My current school is probably considered 3rd tier and does not give any time off for going to job fairs. In order to go to this job fair, I need to sign up quite early - October at the latest, so I need to ask my school if this is even possible quite soon.

So my question is this - what do I tell my current school?

[Whatnow]

Ask for an invitation now and then decide later; you can, I think, rescind closer to the job fair date. Good luck!

[buffalofan]

What was Search thinking when they scheduled this fair for Tuesday - Friday? Many teachers are going to end up taking at least a couple of unpaid days off to attend this fair. Please Search, go with a Thursday - Sunday schedule next time.

[Fstop]

I haven't paid the registration fee yet; I was going to wait and see what my school says. If they forbid me from going (which is likely), then I won't bother paying the fee obviously.

[PsyGuy]

I agree register for the fair now, and you can cancel later if you have to. This assumes you decide to join in the first place.

Well what Search was thinking is that any earlier and they would be having the Search fair at the same time as the ISS fair. Typically the BK fair is the first one coming back from winter holiday. ISS's is that weekend the 4th-7th and then that runs into the Search fair.There isnt anywhere else to move it except after another Search fair which would then make whatever that fair was more important then the BK fair. And more importantly these fairs run together which is a huge convenience for recruiters.
The recruiting calendar is pretty full, BKK starts recruiting and BOS ends it, all over the span of a month. You have to cram HK, UK, Canada Search fairs, and the COIS UK fair (the other super fair is the Search/COIS London fair), and the UNI fair and there just isnt anymore time.

Jan 4-7 ISS - BKK
Jan 8-10 Search - BKK
Jan 17-19 ISS -Dubai
Jan 17-20 COIS - London
Jan 18-20 Search - HK
Jan 24-28 Search - London
Jan 25-27 Search - Toronto
Feb 1-3 UNI
Feb 7-10 Search - BOS

Thats a pretty full calendar, and the "real" (priority) recruiting fairs/events look like this:

Jan 4-7 ISS - BKK
Jan 8-10 Search - BKK
Jan 17-20 COIS - London
Jan 24-28 Search - London
Feb 1-3 UNI
Feb 7-10 Search - BOS

[liketotravel]

It's easy to say as I'm not in your shoes, but if a school "forbid" me to attend a fair that desides my future in a enormous manner I would have to put my foot down. Regardless if the fair starts on a Tuesday or Thursday you'll be missing work and need to confont the ridiculous policy of your current school. You won't get paid for a week, but at least you'll give your future and dreams the best shot, plus you may pave the way for co-workers in the future to have the basic right of attending a fair. If they won't give you a reference tell the story to recruiters and they will most likely get a chuckle from it.

So IMHO tell your current school, "I need this week off without pay, because I'm going to a recruiting fair, thanks for your understanding".

I just hope they are not completely insane and fire you, but who wants to live their life in that world anyway.

[Fstop]

I'm not sure what they're reaction will be. I highly doubt they would fire me. Plus, this school as a very big turnover rate each year (about 12 of us are planning to leave after our contracts are up after this academic year) so it will be no surprise to them that I don't plan on staying after my contract is up. But I don't want to lose the reference - otherwise these last 2 years will have been somewhat of a waste. I think I will register and tell them later. But when should I tell them? School has just started - probably not a good idea to tell them in the first month.

[PsyGuy]

Depends what you think they will do. If you really think they willies the nuclear option, and they would be justified in dong so, wait until the last moment. Tell them the 2nd of the month, or after you get paid, because ethere is a chance that they will fire you. If you just think they will withhold your reference, or give you a negative, or anything less then firing you then tell them before the break.

While I respect liketotravel's opinion, and agree with it in principal, your just as likely to get interviews and an offer from a better second tier school via Skype, then you are to really score at the BKK fair, no offense but 2 years at a third tier school isn't going to wow anyone at Bangkok, and honestly, your probably not going to be competitive. If this was the Boston fair, I'd say it's worth it. Your going to feel really bad though if you get sacked for attending a fair, that you didn't get an offer from. I'm guessing you want to go to the BKK fair because it's easier and cheaper travel wise?

[Fstop]

Yes, I'll be in BKK anyway visiting my wife's parents, so it's convenient to go to this fair.

I am at a 3rd tier school however I am teaching IB. 2 years ago I went to this fair and received 3 interviews (no offers) without IB experience, so I was hoping to fare better this time around.

[PsyGuy]

I understand your thinking, but to be honest no amount of interviews equals any number of offers. We like to think that interviews are sme measure of our success, but they aren't. Interviews don't pay anything, only offers matter.

If you had nothing to loose and you got an invite I'd support you 100% but you do have something to loose, and most of the candidates at the BKK fair are 2nd tier or 1st tier trying to go to t1st tier or elite schools. You could get lucky, and your IB is desirable, but the rule is you generally on
go up 1 step, and a solid 2nd tier school is your most likely next position. You far more likely to do better and be successful at BOS then BKK. I'd hate for you to come back from the BKK fair with nothing and a "your services at Acme school are no longer required" letter.

[Fstop]

Bumping this because I asked my DP coordinator and she said that I would absolutely be allowed to go to the fair; just to give plenty of notice.

In truth I would like to go to the BKK fair as well as the Cambridge fair, but unfortunately my associate is out of invites for the Cambridge fair because he's not the organizer and there's a long waiting list. I contacted one of the organizers for the Cambridge fair to see if it's possible to switch associates in order to attend the fair, but she said that doing so is highly uncustomary and she highly advised me to attend the fair in BKK.

So it looks like I'm out of options here - go the BKK fair in January, hope I get lucky, or just forget about Search entirely and try and get a job without them.

[PsyGuy]

You should feel accomplished, getting an invite to BKK isnt just handed out to everyone. If your associate got you an invite, they must feel you have a fair chance at success. You should own that, and of course go.

[Fstop]

^I didn't think it was that hard to get an invite. This will be the third time I go to the BKK fair. The first time I went I had been teaching EFL for 5 years and was handed an invite....didn't get a single interview, and I wasn't the only one. I met teachers there with dependents and no IB experience, even some teachers who weren't qualified yet. They all seemed to get invites somehow.

The next year I had finished my M.A. in English Lit. and had been teaching subject matter English for a year.....I received 2 interviews but no offers.


If I had a choice I'd go to the Cambridge fair and not the Bangkok one, but from talking to the associates it doesn't seem like that's possible. So let's just hope I have better luck this time around now that I have some IB experience under my belt.