“It’s always easy when you know how.” – Kathy Fritts
3.2 What Makes a Good Candidate
Am I a Good Candidate??
“Go to the front of the line ”
To be honest, this process is very much like grading beef: prime, choice, select, standard/commercial. In this post I’ll break down who ends up in which recruiting category of desirability.
But please note that even if you are not a prime candidate, there are always options and very few actual dead ends.
Non-Negotiable Requirements
“Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
”
You must meet the school’s work visa requirements, meaning different things in different countries. Sometimes partners must be married, there may be limits on age, teacher certification may be required, plus clean health and criminal background checks.
The school may also require legitimate and current teacher certification, two year’s successful teaching experience, even a Master’s Degree.
Candidates need to complete the application package correctly, meaning the CV needs to be clean and thorough, any transcripts or other paperwork supplied according to instructions and all deadlines met. One of my work visa forms contained a typo and was sent back, seriously messing up deadlines. Be accurate.
Positive recommendations must be supplied and do not even think about failing to obtain one from your principal; that’s a red flag.
Subjective Desirability Rankings
“There is always room at the top. ”
There is disagreement on this subject, but here are the broad outlines in order of desirability.
Personal Situation
1. Teaching couple/no dependents – Why? Because this configuration saves the school money in housing and transport (two-for-the-price-of-one.) A couple also cuts the recruiting load a bit and recruiters may feel a married couple is more stable.
Next in descending order:
2. Single teacher, no dependents.
3. Teaching couple, one dependent per contract.
4. Teacher with trailing (non-teaching) spouse.
Curriculum Experience
1. IB teaching experience (the gold standard.)
2. Specialty area in high demand – STEM, especially higher math, IT, or physics. Some specialists, like librarians, music teachers, and counselors, can also be hard to find.
3. Certified and able to teach several subjects or grade levels.
4. Experience and willingness to coach or organize extra-curricular activities.
Personal Traits and Intangibles
Recruiters need to believe that you are going to be two things:
1. A good teacher.
2. No trouble, meaning negative or disruptive to the community.
How can they feel confident they got it right, just from an online interaction or a stressful 15-minute interview in a hotel room?
You provided positive recommendations and well-thought out supporting materials, even a portfolio or video of your teaching. They may even ask for a short impromptu lesson on the spot.
Recruiters will then add any up additional factors that lead them to bet you will survive and thrive overseas. For instance, your application and persona demonstrate you are committed to teaching overseas, not just looking for a paid vacation. Maybe you’ve already lived overseas for an extended period or have otherwise proven adaptability. Your hobbies show a positive, social spirit.
All these factors balance the equation in favor of “will not be trouble.”
Serendipity, Gut Feeling, and Dumb Luck
Here is where random factors collect. Does the recruiter think the candidate will fit in? Does this teacher fill a need the principal wasn’t even exactly aware needed filling?
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell illuminates how humans make these decisions in just a few seconds.
I once overheard a recruiter say, “We have too many Americans in that department.” Some factors are out of your control. Do the two of you connect? Does the recruiter even like you?
Reputation and Networking
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its pants on. ”
Everybody Knows Your Business
Meaning that news about you, true or false, can spread almost instantly. Your school may be large but the international school world is small and the spread of gossip has accelerated.
If you did not grow up in a small town, read this and pay particular attention to the section Everyone Really Does Know Everyone.
Reputation and networking – if you play this part of the game by protecting the former and cultivating the latter, you stand a chance of becoming an Alpha Dog when it comes to hiring at the best schools.
Non-quantifiable elements can make or break your overseas teaching career. By that I mean the old-school values like a good name, basic skills like networking, and character traits like adaptability. Why?
It’s Who You Know
Numerous studies and plain old common sense say “It’s who you know.” In the recruiting world this translates to networking and word of mouth. This is especially true once you have your foot on the first rung of the ladder.
I distinctly remember feeling stress at my second recruiting fair, then watching long-time international school teacher friends sail past, greeting old colleagues and possible employers from all over the world. They weren’t going to have trouble getting interviews. Their sterling reputations and numerous contacts broke trail; they were halfway to hired before they ever showed up at the fair.
The converse is also true, unfortunately. If you are a jerk, an incompetent teacher, troublesome staff member, or job-hopper, your reputation will precede you.
If you think recruiters do not talk to each other, you’ve missed a basic driver of human interaction. So use this trait to your advantage. Otherwise you will either not be hired at all or end up at a low-tier school.
Social Media and Gossip
A new twist on an old story (gossip) is the viral speed of information or misinformation. Be extremely leery of social media postings on any platform.
If you haven’t learned by now that Facebook and its ilk can bite you in the pinfeathers, you haven’t been paying attention. Recruiters will be checking, or you should at least assume they will. Be discreet; your doings are not likely to remain invisible.
And lastly, try really hard to be an adaptable, trouble-free, good sport kind of person. If you’re not, at least pretend. If these character traits do not come naturally to you, just fake it till you make it.
That’s all the advice I have about personality. Just remember that recruiters aren’t looking for problems; they’re looking for solutions.
Recruiters’ Perspective
“A Shot In the Dark. ”
Process Also Hard On Recruiters
Imagine the strain:
Hoping you’ve chosen a quality teacher who won’t flame out.
Competing for great teachers in a red-hot job market.
Reading dreadful CVs and sitting through painful interviews, whether virtual or in-person.
Eventually there may be in-person recruiting fairs again, and things will be even more painful:
Flying long distances and eating hotel food for weeks on end.
Being away from your school with all its duties, and your family.
Competing Goals For Recruiters and Candidates
In this recruiting-hiring dance, the goals of each party are sometimes contradictory. For instance, tourist teachers may just be in it for the travel and adventure, then move on every two years.
The recruiter/principal needs staff stability and is looking for teachers to stay 4-5 years. Tourist teachers just mean unsettling turnover and a lot more work for the recruiter.
Go down the list and see if you can work out what each party (recruiter vs. teacher) wants with #4 as an example:
1. Salary
2. Benefits and housing
3. Facilities
4. Workload - A teacher might want the smallest workload with no after school activities, while the principal wants someone who works late and is eager to coach, lead clubs and organize community events.
5. Time off to travel
The Rolling Stones got it right: you can’t always get what you want. But now the tussle starts, and through the back and forth, both recruiter and candidate can get what they need.
Four Years Minimum
Pay attention to this advice from a long-time school head before you start recruiting. Read this interview with care and take it to heart. To quote Dexter from TIEonline again,
4) Do NOT interview or apply to a place that you cannot envision yourself at for FOUR YEARS minimum.
This mindset may or may not be how things play out, but beginning with an honest commitment to a long-term stay seeps into your interview, like a pleasant smell. Otherwise, recruiters might grade you down as a tourist teacher.
Paperwork
“We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
”
Your paperwork is an instant sorter for recruiters: okay candidate, better, best. Make sure it is complete, on-time, and without errors. Your online CV and supporting materials need to look 100% professional. Your social media presence might need a grooming as well.
Recruiters will inevitably make negative judgments if they see any of this:
A job-hopper, meaning a string of 2-3 year stints.
Apparently you did not read the school website and adjust the query to match.
CV boring, too general? Laden with jargon? Doesn’t tell a story?
Recruiters won’t be happy if they discover later that you have not been upfront with any potential problems: legal difficulties? a special needs child? unmarried or gay partner? bad relations with your supervisor? The issue may not always disqualify you, but don’t blindside the recruiter.
Zig-Zag Pathway
“There are many paths but only one journey.”
These were my various routes to five overseas stints. The lesson is plain, meaning that there are many paths. Any longtime international school teacher will probably have a similar tale. This is my story.
1. Government of American Samoa – Word of mouth from brother-in-law already on island. They meant to hire us but forgot until October. We quit our stateside jobs and took off for the South Pacific.
2. AIS (American International School) Vienna – Paged through the ISS school directory (a fat paperback) and directly wrote aerograms to the 40 schools we liked. AIS responded, flew husband over for an interview for principal, and we were hired.
3. AASM (Anglo-American School) Moscow – Attended Search fair in Cambridge. Bingo (they needed a librarian.)
4. DAA Dubai American Academy) Dubai – Attended Search fair again in Cambridge. Bingo (they needed a librarian.)
5. APIS (American Pacific International School) Chiang Mai – Word of mouth again. Friend already working there said, “I know a librarian.” No Skype, just paperwork and networking.
Who’s The Judge?
“There’s a lid for every pot. ”
By now you should have a firm idea of how desirable a candidate you are. However, you are not the one doing the hiring, which means you are not actually the judge of whether you are a good candidate. The recruiter is.
But good luck on the hunt; you will get hired if you persist.
3.3 Recruiting Methods
International School Job Hunting
“Choose your own adventure. ”
There are pretty much three routes for candidates to meet recruiters.The pathway you choose is rather like buying a new car: gas, electric, or hybrid. All three can get you where you’re going, although they all have pros and cons, mainly time and money.
You might…
Use the recruiting agencies’ digital recruiting fairs: the iFair sponsored by ISS and Search Associates’ Virtual Fair. Or when in-person fairs return, attend a fair.
Sign up for a recruiting agency and mine their vacancy database, then just approach schools on your own.
Skip the recruiting agencies altogether and job hunt independently. Follow this link to online DIY recruiting and go to the section titled Job-Listing Sites for details.
Plenty of international school teachers have never attended a fair and done well. Plenty of IS teachers have also paid for and attended a fair and gone away empty-handed. The contrary, of course, is also true.
You just have to pick one method, stay focused and go for it.
International School Recruiting Agencies
“You’ve got a friend.”
What Is a Recruiting Agency?
An aspiring overseas educator can certainly do the DIY thing However, going through a recruiting agency can be a huge help and reassurance, especially that first ride on the carousel.
What exactly is a recruiting agency? They are companies that connect overseas schools and potential teacher candidates. Even though there will be no in-person fairs this year, these agencies share these features:
1. Sponsor large recruiting fairs, virtual during the 2021-22 seasons; otherwise in-person.
2. Cost more than the DIY approach.
3. Some are invitation-only, meaning the agency believes you have a decent chance of getting hired.
4. Make no guarantees of a job offer.
5. Fairs in both formats provide face-to-face interviews and a chance to sign contracts on the spot.
6. Act as gatekeepers to weed out the bulk of the dodgy schools.
7. Placement fees paid by the school, not the candidate.
8. Provide expertise, structure, and a personal touch.
9. Access to school vacancy databases, including savings potential; daily emailed vacancy notifications.
10. Give schools convenient access to your uploaded CV and files.
11. Set up iFairs (online interviewing.)
12. Some offer other services (new school setup; ship school supplies.)
Top Five Fairs
Search Associates
In operation since 1990, Search focuses solely on recruiting. They represent 650 schools and cost $225 for three years’ database access (or until you get hired, whichever comes first) and free admittance to your first fair, $75 after. They brag about personal service from their associates, who only get paid if you get hired. This means they are invitation only after your full application has been evaluated.
ISS (International Schools Services)
Founded in 1955, ISS is a wide-ranging business which helps with school startups, owns 20 schools, and also does a huge business in school supply, shipping over 15,000 orders yearly. They charge $75 for a year’s database access to approximately 500 schools and free fair admission to their three fairs and two iFairs. ISS is not “invitation only.”
UNI (University of Northern Iowa)
UNI may seem like a rather unlikely recruiter, but it is “home to the oldest recruitment event in the world…” and actually created the model for teacher recruiting fairs. It takes place in Cedar Falls, Iowa in late January with a $50 early bird registration fee and seems to be especially favorable for new teachers.
AASSA (Association of American Schools in South America)
If you particularly want to teach in South America.
Queens University
If you are a Canadian.
Other
Carney-Sandoe – In 32 countries, mostly US, but they do not name the international schools, free with fairs January-April in the USA. Carney-Sandoe works with you and displays numerous administrative positions not listed elsewhere. If you return to the States, think about them for private school jobs.
How To Decide Which Agency and Fair
There are pitched battles among teachers over which recruiting agency and fair is best; over which date and location of fair is optimum; over whether a teacher should even spend the money to attend when success rates at fairs range from 30-60%; over skipping fairs altogether and going virtual.
Read this blog post from the wonderful Amanda Isberg on her experience at a virtual fair. Draw your own conclusions.
DIY Recruiting
You can, of course, skip recruiting fair hell and strike out on your own. More work and personal initiative is required because you need to carefully track openings and jump on them, applying separately to each school with a resume, transcripts, contact information, even a separate job application.
Then you must make arrangements for a Skype or FaceTime interview. However, plenty of successful candidates take this route and save themselves a lot of money. But for this approach, you need to first locate the openings.
Job-Listing Sites
“Vacancy listings - the keys to the kingdom. ”
Here I’ve lined up and annotated the top job-listing sites; they provide database access to vacancies. Some of these sites provide other features, which I will note as well.
TIE Online (The International Educator) – for 25+ years TIE has been “the most comprehensive service for securing a job overseas.” TIE lets you search vacancies, post your resume, and get instant notification of jobs; they also host a terrific blog and provide a professional newspaper devoted to IS, all for $39 (online only) with an additional $29 for instant job notification. Best deal around and many international school teachers only use TIE and would never attend a fair.
JoyJobs –funky name and old-school look to the website since 1998. But what JoyJobs does provide is priceless, namely setting up your personal online CV by which you can sell yourself digitally to schools. They also post daily vacancies, provide a deeply knowledgeable Job Guide and sample CVs for inspiration, a list of all the job fairs, and a school review site called “the black list,” all for $39.95. On top of that you get personal help from Pam and Igor, and they’re not kidding.
True Teaching – Completely free. Once registered, candidates upload the usual raft of information: CV, copies of degrees and certification, passport, references contact information, and police check. Then you are approached, interviewed by True Teaching, and matched with likely openings. In addition you have access to the database of job openings.
TeacherHorizons – Founded in 2011, free for teachers to upload documents and search the database and at the moment showing 997 actual openings. The site has a decent amount of good introductory material as well. Candidates just register and fill out a profile page using their CV template if you wish; however, TeacherHorizons only accepts fully certified teachers. Then a Recruitment Advisor recommends you for a position and away you go.
IBSchoolJobs – Advertising site for actual IB or candidate IB schools; free to teachers. Job alerts every week or so, database searching and CV posting. If you have IB experience and training, this might be a way to jump to the head of the line.
British Curriculum
Just so you know, British-curriculum schools are completely different from those with an American curriculum. This means US citizens are unlikely to be considered. COBIS (Council of British International Schools) supports the international network of British-curriculum schools and is a good place to start research, if you are so inclined.
TIC Recruitment (Teachers International Consultancy) - UK focused, since 2005 with no physical recruiting fair, only online. Uploading a CV and searching vacancies is completely free; candidates can then either approach a school directly or have TIC contact you “if we have any vacancies that we think will suit you.” I am not exactly sure what this means, but TIC notes that of their 70 vacancies (the bulk in Europe and Asia), most are accredited and reputable.
TES (formerly the Times Educational Supplement) – Aimed at teachers from the UK, it is free to register and their database contains 2,197 international openings at the moment. Candidates upload their CV and Career Preferences and TES gets in touch with any potential matches. Or once you find a likely opening, you can apply directly to the school.
Compass Teaching International Teacher Recruitment– founded 2011 for British administrators and teachers. Compass can also hire the complete staff for startup schools. From their testimonials, it appears Compass specializes in speedy hires, quick turnarounds, and short-term contracts.
Alternate Recruiting Methods
“There is more than one way to skin a cat. ”
Short-Term Contracts
Note: almost all contracts are for two years. If you start out looking for a one-year contract, you’ll probably get skunked. It is far too disruptive and expensive for a school to bring a teacher over for just one year.
Unless…you get lucky and somebody broke contract or washed out. Just don’t count on it; too many variables need to line up just right.
Exchanges
These are hard to come by but just maybe…
1. Fulbright – very selective and short-term (3-9 months.)
2. Go Overseas – you’ll have to dig a bit into this largely TEFL site.
Substitute Services
Check out these services if you are flexible and adventurous:
1. International Supply Teachers – Created in 1999 to fill emergency vacancies for reputable schools with well-vetted substitute teachers. Just try to imagine the difficulty of getting a qualified teacher in a high-end school in a hurry halfway around the world.
2. Flying Squad – Short term contracts, connected to TrueTeaching Recruitment Service, for teachers willing and able to work contracts from one month to one year, and in a hurry. Full support from the school for salary, flights and accommodation. Three years successful experience and criminal background check required.
Internship
Several of the recruiting fairs and job-listing sites do hire interns. Much less money and support, naturally, but the position can lead to a permanent hire once the school sees how you work out. This is the equivalent of young teachers needing first to substitute until they can move up the ladder.
Local Hire
Supposing you just happened to already be living in X country for another purpose. You might apply directly to the school and see what happens. If you should get hired, it will probably be as a local hire.
This could be your first foot on the ladder. But be aware that local hires are paid a great deal less than overseas hires, often a great deal less and never mind benefits. Why?
Mainly because the school can. Local hires may be paid a lot less, but they typically still earn a fair amount more than citizens of the country doing the same work on the local economy.
Local hires generally fall into two categories: host country nationals and spouses or partners of overseas hires, known as trailing spouses. In the former case host nationals can live on the economy much more cheaply than expats.
In the latter case, the trailing spouse’s partner does the heavy financial lifting in the salary/benefits department. More on this in MONEY.
ESL (English as a Second Language)
This website is aimed at certified teachers and not those wanting to teach English to foreign students. But ESL is certainly another pathway overseas. My post on Language Schools covers the topic in general.
In addition the websites below provide background and job listings, just in case you want to take this path.
Transitions Abroad - “The original guide to travel, work, volunteering, study and living abroad.”
GoOverseas - Online community, vacancy postings, reviews, and articles.
Teaching Nomad - Founded in 2011 to connect teachers to jobs in Asia and the Middle East.
TeachAway – Jobs appear to be in China, the UAE, Saudi, or Qatar; they also list online, college, and vocational teaching jobs.
Dave’s ESL Cafe - Meeting place for ESL teachers with most listed job openings in China and Korea.
Ajarn - Established in 1999, Thailand-only job listings along with background material.
GoAbroad - Specializes as a training and certification directory, including a focus on online.
Military-Sponsored Schools
Sponsored by the military, DoDEA (USA) and MOD (UK) schools are quite different from other international schools. Types of Schools covers these differences in more detail.
But just be aware that their recruiting method is entirely different from what has been discussed here. No fairs, no approaching schools individually, no recruiting agencies. Follow instructions exactly. By all accounts this process is opaque and cumbersome. Kristen is a kindergarten teacher in Korea and her blog World Traveling Teacher lays out the complexities.
Personal Connections
It’s all about relationships, duh. My last job was word of mouth (a friend working in Chiang Mai told her principal, “Yeah, I know a librarian.”) Practically any experienced IS teacher will have a similar story.
Skype/FaceTime interviews or a 15 minute interview in a hotel room are a shot in the dark. But if the administrator already knows Teacher A to be a solid professional and positive presence on staff, and Teacher A vouches for Teacher B, well there you go. The administrator is already halfway to a hiring decision; it’s how the world works.
Administrative Hiring
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Process
International schools need good teachers but they also need good administrators, and the process adds another layer of complexity to the recruitment process. For one thing, the timeline is accelerated; if teachers largely get hired in winter, administrators get hired a full year in advance, certainly by fall.
The process also differs. Principals, head of school, and other administrative jobs typically require going through a search committee of parents and board members from the school.
Requirements
Important administrative jobs (principal, head of school) usually require a site visit to meet the school’s search committee. Bad administrations can make or break a school in a shockingly short amount of time, and the school community needs to get a look at you, and frequently your spouse as well.
An advanced degree is pretty much the minimum, and you would very rarely get hired without international school administrative experience or at a least solid leadership resume. Look over this description for the head of school at the International School of Paris. This is typical.
Getting In The Door
You can go in the front door and apply through one of the recruiting services. ISS and Search both have robust leadership hiring sections; you can work through these agencies. You would be on a parallel hiring track and would not be hired at a fair.
Or you can go in the side door and apply directly. The first time we were hired, my husband wrote a letter, flew to Vienna to interview at their expense, and was hired; at that time we had no overseas experience. However, he had a long experience as principal of schools in a high-end suburb.
Differences Because You’re Not a Teacher
One difference would be a 3-year contract, sometimes with a trial period. You would also need to negotiate salary, as the verbiage typically says “salary will be competitive and commensurate with the chosen candidate’s experience and qualifications.” This article summarizes some important strategies for salary negotiating:
1. Research the data.
2. Start high, even though you have a walk-away number.
3. Use exact numbers not ranges. Go figure.
4. Be prepared to justify your worth with detailed evidence.
5. Be confident.
I would also add that if you feel the number is too low and they won’t give, try for extras to make up the difference (a driver, more trips home, better housing, entertainment allowance, full medical coverage, and so forth).
Remember that the value of your salary depends on cost of living in the country. More on this issue in MONEY.
Administrative Hiring Ramifications For Teachers
Sometimes when you read the job postings, finding such a miracle worker seems fanciful. Truly, who on earth possesses all these leadership skills? Not very many people. The takeaway is that administrators are not perfect.
But for the teacher candidate’s own recruiting journey, keep several unique features of international schools in mind:
1. Watch out if the admin team turns over all at once; something is wrong.
2. Ask your recruiter if they or any of the other team are leaving next year.
3. Once you’ve worked with a good administrator, follow them when they move on.
4. Go easy on administrator’s mistakes; it’s a horribly difficult job.
“When the curtain rises, the only thing that speaks is courage. ”
So gather your courage. You have worked out a strategy for finding vacancies and applying. Next you are ready to meet the recruiter, interview, and sign a contract. You’re halfway to that first teaching job overseas.
