Three years ago I started with website based portfolio (put it on CD ROM for administrators at the fair) and headed to ISS Bangkok and got a job in Beijing. I was one of the first hires for the upcoming school year (that fair was an early one in the “season”).

This year, I sent an electronic portfolio via email to school principals, got positive responses from all that cared to reply, three Skype interviews and was hired by ISB in the 2nd week of December. I got a couple of late emails from directors recently wondering what fair I was going to. Clearly the boat has sailed.

I share your views on the changing face of recruitment. I think I am still an early hire this year but my experience will be more the norm in the not so distant future.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

David

Great to read the discussion here about recruiting! I’m at my third international school and have been through two international recruiting fair experiences. For my latest post, I was able to get the offer before the fairs started, but this did not come about through dumb luck, it took a lot of determined pursuit on my part. Knowing the right people is the trick to scoring a dream teaching position. I found out about my current position before it was even posted online because I knew a couple of teachers at this school. I was able to contact the principal and arrange a skype interview by convincing him that I was the right guy for the job. Of course, it certainly seems to be in the school’s and the teacher’s best interest if hiring can be done before the fairs, saves everyone the stress of the recruiting environment, not to mention lots of money!

In the end, I still had to fly around the world for a f2f interview with our “old school” director… but it was all worth it! By the way, the myth that “Everyone wants to live in Europe, but it’s expensive and you can’t save as much there as in other areas of the world” is not ALWAYS the case. Here in Switzerland, a teaching couple could easily save more than they would in most of the top schools in Asia, given they do not try to live the same “luxurious” existence of private drivers, daily massages and manicures and five star beach bungalows that you would get to enjoy in Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines. Life in Europe is SO different than in Asia, for sure, but in a good way. I am more connected to the community around me, more connected to the environment (which is far cleaner than in big asian cities) and I don’t feel the need to board a plane every time I have a week off to jet off to a resort or guided trip somewhere.

In fact, I will certainly lose my “gold card” status on the airlines this year, but I don’t even care because I will probably only fly once a year while living in europe since everything is so accessible by train or car! While living in Asia, my wife and I estimate we spent around $15,000 a year in airfare. Here, our air travel budget will be around $3,000 a year.

Anyway, great discussion. When I start reading conversations like these, I get the “bug” myself and start thinking about lal the great places I still want to live and teach! Good luck to everyone out there recruiting right now!

I write this as I am traveling to Boston for yet another job fair. Based on my experience this year, I would take exception to your comment that the “pickings slim” at the job fairs. The first two fairs in Bangkok actually had an increased number of candidates over previous year and there were plenty of high quality teachers.

You are correct many schools are taking advantage of Skype and other means to hire before the fairs. I wonder how that will work out for them in the long run.

I still like to interview in person and make a connection with the teacher which is much harder to do on the phone or even with Skype.

We are in the people business and the teacher’s personality matters. The stakes are too high, our student’s education, to make a bad hire.

My other comment for teachers who are thinking about breaking into the international education market, take your time and do your research. There are numerous stories of great teachers who took the first job offer that came along and wound up in a less than desirable school/country. There is a teacher shortage overseas, particularly in the hard to fill fields of math and science. You will have options.

Alan

I am a Colombian with a year and a half experience in a PYP school (teaching in the preprimary section) and studying a master in France at the moment finishing in sept. 2009. I was wondering if you had any ideas of the possibilities for non-native speakers of English to be hired in these fairs or if for example, Spanish teachers are also searched (languages is my field) and if not so experienced teachers have a chance.

I loved my PYP experience in this school and I’d like to keep on this great path. And being away makes me want to stay abroad for a while and explore the world!

Anyway, I hope you have some time to give me an answer or advice.

I enjoy your blog and I see many people do, please do not give up on this! We need you! jejejeje (English hehehe).

Good luck in your continued pursuit and keep us posted on where you end up!

I just finished listening to the January 2009 session of the SOS Podcast on recruiting and hiring which featured a chat with American International School of Vienna HS Principal Greg Moncada. It was another insightful piece of what are some great resources being put together by Jeff and co. for all of us in the international education community. Oceans of kudos to you for this!

Since I’m currently in the throes of a a job hunt and just did a tour at the SA BKK job fair (my first fair in 8 years and 2nd in my life) I’d like to share an impression about the face to face interview experience. If and when we interview and don’t wind up getting an offer it’s easy to second guess ourselves and go soul searching over what we could have said, done, or offered differently to the recruiting party. The fact is that interviews, especially f2f, are alchemic.

That is to say, that there’s really no science or set formula to these encounters that will guarantee their outcome with any certainty. We can collect our references, assemble portfolios, create a stand-out online presence and read and rehearse interview questions but at the end of the day there are countless variables including the ethereal and nebulous “making the personal connection” that determine the result. I point this out, not to discourage the aforementioned preparations but to encourage people not to lose heart if f2f interviews don’t prove fruitful… And to reinforce another important point; that technology is rapidly transforming the old school methods of hiring. The all important f2f interview and mindset of “I need to see em’ before I hire em’” is giving way to logistical and economic considerations and the realty of viable 21st century technologies changing the way people now communicate, connect, and network to do business. The alchemy has become digitalized…

So for those on the job hunt considering attending a fair or commiserating because they’ve emerged from one without a contract, remember it may not have anything to do with what you did or didn’t say or do it may have just been the alchemy of it all… And know that thanks to digital technologies there are now more than ever, an ever expanding universe of ways to research, find and connect with your next opportunity at a school. So, keep the faith, embrace the technologies, stay online and open to the digital alchemy of it all…