Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad and working at an international school?
Our 44th blog that we would like to highlight is called “The Roaming Filipina” Check out the blog entries of this international school educator who works at Shekou International School in Shenzhen, China.
A few entries that we would like to highlight:
“I attended my first Search fair in Cambridge, MA and came away with interview experience, but no job. ISM even left me a “thanks, but no thanks” note. Frustrated, but undeterred. Through that experience I learned that it wasn’t really about moving to the Philippines anymore, but about fulfilling my desire to explore the world.
About 2 weeks after the Cambridge fair, one listing caught my eye. A listing for a whole school counselor at a school in Uzbekistan. YES UZBEKISTAN. I waited a day or two to think about whether or not I really wanted to apply to this school. Afterall, it is in a country that I knew so little about. My boyfriend gave me a weird look, but said that I should do it if it’s what I really want. I also sent resumes to more schools in the East Asia/SE Asia region and even considered teaching English somewhere. But after perusing the school’s site thoroughly and reading every article I could possibly find on Google, I started to imagine myself living in Central Asia. It didn’t seem so bad.
I interviewed with the two principals and Head of School on Skype. After a few days, they asked if I wanted to meet face to face in California. I was offered the position and I immediately accepted. I spent three GREAT years in Uzbekistan…”
Getting your first job overseas is always exciting and typically makes for a great story to tell your international school teacher friends.
Want to read more about what “newbies” to international school teaching should know about? Check out our blog series called “For the Newbies.“
Surviving the International School Job Fairs
“Day Two and Three – Saturday & Sunday
This is THE HEART of the fair. It is the day you sign-up for interviews and will likely do all your initial interviews during this time. Do:
• WEAR YOUR POWER SUIT – DRESS TO IMPRESS
• organize your resumes, laptop, etc. I preferred to keep my laptop/iPad with me so I can work on stuff outside of my room – saved a lot of time vs. going back to my room between interviews.
• agree to interviews with schools that you’re not sure you’re interested in. Good for practice and you never know – it might be a GREAT fit for you.
• find a quiet corner besides your room to chill between interviews – you just never know who is walking around. Visibility is important.
• breathmints – use them
• prioritize which school tables you want to hit first during sign-ups. Some schools are REALLY popular so you might want to go to the ones that have shorter lines first and get interviews lined up.
• if you get a “fast pass” – direct invitation from the school to bypass the line to schedule an interview, HIT THOSE SCHOOLS FIRST
• try to get to the interview 10 minutes before – don’t schedule your interviews so close together that you’d be late. Also – keep in mind that hotel elevators will be really busy, especially if there are 200+ candidates rushing to interviews...”
Great advice from an experience international school teacher. Going to the recruitments fairs with a plan of attack is always a good choice. Knowing ahead of time what to expect can better help you manage your emotions throughout the fair experience.
For more advice check out our blog series called “Nine Lessons Learned Regarding International School Hiring Fairs.” As a sneak peek, lesson number one is “Bad interviews are good things.“
************************************
Want to work for an international school in China like this blogger? Currently, we have 160 international schools listed in this country. 109 have had comments submitted on them. Here are just a few:
Wellington College International Tianjin (Tianjin, China) – 47 Comments
EtonHouse International Schools, Wuxi (Wuxi, China) – 49 Comments
Suzhou Singapore International School (Suzhou, China) – 47 Comments
Western International School of Shanghai (Shanghai, China) – 202 Comments
British International School Shanghai – Puxi (Shanghai, China) – 35 Comments
Concordia International School (Shanghai) (Shanghai, China) – 77 Comments
Access International Academy (Ningbo) (Ningbo, China) – 48 Comments
Hong Kong International School (Hong Kong, China) – 92 Comments
Creative Secondary School (Hong Kong, China) – 39 Comments
Canadian International School (Hong Kong) (Hong Kong, China) – 55 Comments
QSI International School of Dongguan (Dongguan, China) – 64 Comments
Guangdong Country Garden School (Foshan, China) – 48 Comments
Tsinghua International School (Beijing) (Beijing, China) – 93 Comments
Western Academy Beijing (Beijing, China) – 43 Comments
Additionally, there are 264 International School Community members who currently live in China. Check out which ones and where they work here. Feel free to go ahead and contact them with any questions that you might have as well; nice to get first hand information about what it is like to live and work there!
* If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community contact us here.
