A New Kind of Recruitment Fair for International Schools in Asia

The internet and Skype may have transformed the recruitment process in recent years, but technology has yet to come up with a satisfactory replacement for a face-to-face meeting. Recruitment fairs therefore remain key events on the calendar and with tens of thousands of international educators across the Asia region looking for new positions each year, fairs held in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi are convenient locations for a wide variety of schools and candidates.

Job-Fair-Woman-Interview-Career-NetworkThis is the third year that CRS Education has run their recruitment fair events and they have received extremely positive feedback from both recruiting schools and job seekers. This year they are running their fair in Shanghai from January 16th to the 18th and the Abu Dhabi event from the 22nd to the 24th, and will host over 50 individual international schools and school groups from throughout East, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

A key differentiator to other recruitment events is that PD workshops are scheduled into the event framework. Delivered by recruiting schools in 1 ½ hour sessions, they allow candidates attending to spend time with school leaders outside of an interview, gain an understanding of the educational thinking in a prospective school, network with other attendees and, of course, learn something new! CRS firmly advocates that consideration of professional and personal growth opportunities are key factors for candidates to take into account through their job search process.

The international school community across the Asia region has grown enormously over the past decade, although it remains a community and any connections made can bear fruit in both the short and long term. The fairs regional emphasis will allow interested candidates to focus their job searches, and with the huge number of international schools and educators now based Asia, an event that allows greater movement between East / SE Asia and the Middle East will provide welcome support for some of the thousands of teachers in Asia looking to relocate in 2015.

CPSCRS Education is based in Shanghai and will run their events at the Hongqiao Hilton on January 16th – 18th, and the Yas Island Rotana in Abu Dhabi on the 22nd to the 24th. For more information please contact info@crs-edu.com.

Written by: Vanessa Cumbers
Submitted by: CRS Education

New Survey: What type of housing do you currently live in?

A new survey has arrived!

Topic:  What type of housing do you currently live in?

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The home should be the treasure chest of living.

– Le Corbusier

What a great quote!  Indeed your home is super important, especially when living abroad.

IMG_6934Your house is some many things. It is a place where you can relax and recollect yourself each day. It is also a place where you can hang up your favorite pictures and memories. Additionally, it is a place where you can spend time with your loved ones and friends. And the list goes on…

Because you most likely spend half your day in your own home, it is important to find the right place that fits your needs and requirements. But it isn’t all that cut and dry as an international school teacher of course…

Working at international schools around the globe, your housing can indeed be quite varied. Sometimes the type of home you end up living in is almost completely out of your control.  For example, some schools mandate that you live in staff housing (e.g. a compound, school apartments, etc.). Maybe even because of the political situation or government rules for foreigners, you need to live in specific housing areas.

Other schools provide a housing allowance which allows you to find an apartment or a house to rent somewhere in the city. Hopefully, your housing allowance provides you enough money to rent a place that meets your needs and requirements.

There are though many international school teachers that own the place that they call home (a place in their host country). These teachers most likely have lived there awhile or plan on living there awhile.

All international schools handle their housing benefits differently, so let’s share about the international schools we know about. It is interesting seeing how other international school teachers are living and what they call home in their host country.

Go to the homepage of International School Community and submit your vote today on What type of housing do you currently live in?  

You can check out the latest voting results here.

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We actually have a comment topic related this to this issue. It is called: Details about the staff housing or the housing allowance.  If there is no housing allowance, how much are rent costs and utilities? 

Right now there are over 748 individual comments (about 100s of different international schools) in this comment topic on our website.  Here are a few of them:

“Some people have nicer housing than others. If you’ve been there awhile you can get a nice place. Teachers live in school apartments. Things don’t work every once and awhile. There are three housing blocks, most of the apartment are very spacious. There are bigger ones for families, but there are only 4 of those. They are definitely adequate.” – Kampala International School (Kampala, Uganda) – 27 Comments

“Some places in the Twiga apartments are very nice. 2-3 bedroom apartments, very spacious. With the right decoration, living there is quite cozy. The furnishings and appliances are of a nice standard. You need to get a water cooler here as you can drink the tap water.” – International School of Tanganyika  (Dar es salaam, Tanzania) – 60 Comments

“Housing is provided in an apartment complex. Utilities within reason included. Apartments have basic furnishings and wifi. There is a cable TV package or something similar, but few channels in English.” – American School of Marrakesh (Marrakesh, Morocco) – 29 Comments