The International Schools Review Forum

I recently decided to give ISS a try instead of Search this time. Their prompt reply to questions and personal attention is excellent, but I do have questions. A friend of mine is signed up with Search and keeps telling me of job postings that I don't see on ISS. I set down with him to look, and sure enough on my top ten list of schools, six of them have jobs posted in my field on Search but not on ISS. Has anyone else had this problem or know why?

I also looked at the number of schools going to the Search Cambridge job fair, over a 120, and the number of schools going to the ISS Atlanta fair, less than 40. Does anyone have any insights into why such a dramatic difference in the number of schools attending?

I have had four schools I applied to through ISS email me and ask me to apply for the job through their school's site if I wanted to be considered. I thought one of the points of ISS and Search was that schools could evaluate your credentials without you having to directly apply to every school. Of course, I don't mind doing this I just don't understand why. I taught abroad in the past but have been home for several years now; it has been nearly eight years since I applied for teaching jobs overseas. Maybe this is the way it works now. Any insights?

Awhile back, ISS was the big dog on the block. Now it's Search. Candidates tend to prefer their database, especially since so many of the schools now require direct applications or applications through Schrole. So they see the job on SA, then apply as prescribed. Since candidates prefer it, so do schools and vice versa. You can still find good stuff on ISS, but you will find more on Search.

Thank you for the feedback.

You cant compare the SA BOS fair with the ISS NY fair. The NY fair is early December well before peak recruiting, its just too early. The BOS fair numbers are misleading, a number of those upper tier ISs will have filled their vacancies by the time of the actual fair. Its not uncommon for the remaining 1 or 2 vacancies at tier 1 ISs to vanish between first night recruiting and sign up. Some of those ISs wont even show up having completed their hiring before the BOS fair.

Its not a problem. ISS reps fewer ISs. SA is the IKEA of IE premium agencies. ISS is the boutique.

Its the way it works now. More and more ISs are moving their recruiting entirely in house. You will find the same on SA, you apply and get an email to apply on their website directly.

Repeating your boutique nonsense doesn't make it true.

Schools who use the big agencies are heavily switching or have switched to SA. There are fewer and fewer at ISS. Those remaining frequently use both agencies. Many schools use neither or just list vacancies, then hire through direct application or through something like Schrole.

@Thames Pirate

No being true makes it true, which is more than because @Thames Pirate says so.

A simple equal comparison is to look at the Bangkok fairs for both agencies. Over the last couple of years, there has been no contest - Search has a greater number of top tier schools attending. That's all I really care about. The fair that has a greater number of schools I would want a job at is the fair that I am going to attend. Now, if you're at a different point in your career and you just want an overseas job and need a foot in the door, maybe ISS has pluses. I haven't bothered to count the total number of schools attending each fair.

Finally, this "boutique" nonsense is hilarious. From the Oxford dictionary:
boutique
NOUN
1.A small shop selling fashionable clothes or accessories.
Example sentencesSynonyms
2.often as modifier A business or establishment that is small and sophisticated or fashionable.
‘California's boutique wineries’

Ummmmm, I've attended 4 ISS fairs over my career. I've always gotten a job and been happy with the experience. But was it a "boutique" experience in any way? Nope. I would think that a boutique experience would be one where the agency and a representative in charge of my case who took even a minimal amount of time to offer suggestions and speak on my behalf. I never got that at ISS, but I know that's at least part of what Search tries to do. Never attended a Search fair, so I can't say how successfully they execute the concept.

Of course, you can twist the meaning of boutique to mean many things. Perhaps you mean a fair where there aren't as many schools so the teachers attending the fair get more attention? Again, this wasn't my experience at past ISS fairs, but perhaps this has changed as more and more of the best schools choose to only attend the Search fairs. I'm saying that last point based off of the Bangkok fair, I'm not sure if this trend holds true for fairs in other locations.

I haven't used either agency but it's my impression from what I read and who I know is on Search (e.g. schools that I left and hated) that they have good, okay, horrendous schools and everything in between.

ISS has less schools but it's a guarantee that you will end up in a good school through ISS? Correct me if I am wrong.

@yoplay

Greater number does not mean greater concentration, which isnt true at all.
Like @Thames Pirate you focus your priority on fairs, and thats fine, thats you. I focus on recruiting experience, thats my priority and to a candidate who doesnt want to do the casting call routine of a fair to begin with than the factor of "fairs" has no meaning and value to a candidate.

My position is just the opposite, SA gives the minimum if any amount of attention and FAR better service and "experience "with ISS, but as I clarified you have to be valuable to them. If they dont perceive you as having value they are very likely to ignore you.

@Lastname_Z

That would have been a lot more true several years ago. Since then ISS has lowered their bar somewhat in who they accept to rep as ISs. Its still better than SA, SA accepts everybody and they rep some truly awful train wreck of ISs.

What ISS does (assuming your valuable to them) is give you a more personalized experience and greater attention (its not altruism, the agencies have different compensation schemes). To give you an example, An SA associate is not likely to advise against any IS that makes you an offer. ISS consultants are more likely to provide useful feedback that actually steers you in the right direction.

ISS is still smaller but they have a higher concentration of better ISs and to address the BKK fair specifically The ISS BKK fair is before the SA fair (they are part of a mega fair).