The International Schools Review Forum

How come there is no buzz about job fairs at this time of the year? Are majority of teachers staying put or working quietly behind the scenes? There is incredible silence this year on this forum.

I don't claim to know the answer, but I can tell you that my school hired almost everyone this year by posting jobs on its website and interviewing via skype. Maybe other schools have done the same and the fairs will be a bit slower as a result. Or it could just be early, Search BKK hasn't even finished yet. Or possibly it is just a more quiet recruiting season with fewer people moving on.

It would be great to hear some reports about Search BKK.

My school is doing the same. They are trying to save money so they have opted out of the fairs this year and instead are hiring from their school website inquiries.

My school went to one of the BKK fairs but apparently had a hard time finding good candidates. So far this year, all of our positions have been filled by people applying directly through the website.

Thank you all. Hope Skype interviews become the norm and the job fairs are relegated into the second slot. That would truly put technology into perspective.

This is the turning year where virtual recruiting exceeded F2F recruiting. Many schools like a more structured approach where they control the work flow, and the fair never really did that. Schools had high stress environments where they were competing for talent, and much like an auction, can get carried away and do things they regretted. Virtual recruiting lets them not only control the interaction, and negotiation but also the pacing. As a result, more candidates didnt see attending the fair as good value.

Fairs will not go away anytime soon, they are as much an opportunity for admins and recruiters to network and socialize, as they are recruiting. I know recruiters that go just for the shopping and others that go for the adult social and recreation opportunities.

I will be going to the London Search Fair next week so depending how it goes I will post my experiences as it will be my first fair.