You’ve decided you want to move abroad to teach, but now it’s time to check out a job fair. What are they, and what can you expect from international school job fairs? This post is designed to help you understand what to expect, what you’ll need to have, and what our experiences have been like at past fairs. You can find more information from our latest podcast (Season 4, Episode 2), where we discuss our experiences at a fair, or Season 2, Episode 5, where we go into detail about what you’ll need at a job fair and what to expect.
International School Job Fairs – What Are They?
International school job fairs are like any other job fair you might have attended. At international school job fairs, you’ll meet with school leaders and recruiters, you can attend school presentations, and most importantly, you’ll schedule interviews and hopefully get a job!
Most, if not all, international school fairs are held at large conference hotels with ballrooms and conference rooms by several of the different recruiting agencies (GRC, Search Associates, International School Services, and Schrole). You can meet with your recruitment agency or representative to help guide you, give you advice or feedback, or support you if you’re struggling. These job fairs are also a great chance for you to increase your network whether it’s with other teachers or admin from other schools, even if you don’t interview with them.
Job fairs can be intense or as calm as you want them to be. Focusing on only a few schools or countries can lead to a job but can also lead to disappointment. We’ve seen people jump for joy at job fairs and have seen more than our fair share of tears being shed. You set the agenda of how stressed or relaxed you’d like to be.
International School Job Fairs – What Do I Need?
First and foremost, you need to be prepared. That means, ideally, coming into the international school job fair with the right mindset and the right materials. Let’s discuss first, what materials and things you might need because the mindset is not as tangible.
Materials for an International School Job Fair
You don’t need much as far as getting ready for a job fair, but there are some essentials you’ll want to have with you. Let’s take a look at the basics.
- Resume Copies – While everything is digital these days, as you hit the tables for job interviews neither you nor the school representatives want to be trying to pull up copies of your resume on a phone or laptop. Have plenty of copies of these ready to distribute to prospective schools.
- Thank You Cards – It may not seem like much, but thank you cards go a long way in making an impression on people for future positions. If a school interviews you, but isn’t interested after, then leave them a thank you. If you’re offered a position, but turn it down for another one, then leave them a thank you.
- Professional Attire – As teachers, we aren’t always dressed like the folks you see on Wall Street. For an international school job fair though, you want to be professionally dressed. For men, that usually means suits and ties. For women, that might mean a professional dress, suit, skirt and blouse, or something similar. First impressions matter.
- Laptop – This is necessary to be able to keep up-to-date with jobs being posted at or away from the fair, as well as research schools when you are looking to interview or about to interview.
Now that you’ve got your physical items ready for the fair, how about the mindset you need?
Mindsets for an International School Job Fair
Going into a job fair with only a set destination or school in mind can result in disappointment. We’ve seen our fair share of tears at job fairs but seen far more happy, smiling faces. The best thing you can do is head into an international school job fair with an open mind, but what do we mean by that?
When mean an open mind at these fairs, we mean thinking about schools and locations you might not have even considered before. Sure, package plays a big role and you want to meet your financial needs (more on that in a moment), but ultimately some of the places you’d least expect can lead to the best experiences. As a teacher, much of our life is spent at school which means that ultimately much (certainly not all) of our happiness depends on our administration, our colleagues, our student body, and our parent community. Any school in the world can have great admin or terrible admin and great colleagues or terrible colleagues. Don’t exclude places simply because “you don’t want to go there” (again there are certain factors like package, health, etc.)
As an example, we never thought we’d end up in the places we have been. China was definitely not on our list, but we found a school that seemed good and it turned out to be an amazing experience! Korea also wasn’t high on our list, but again it worked out. Now, we’re in Saudi Arabia, a place we hadn’t ever considered, and it’s a great school. Never discount the places you’d least expect. It doesn’t mean they’ll all be great but by limiting yourself you’re missing out on so much!
That all said, there are some mitigating factors like pay or health. You probably have certain financial goals and, ideally, you’d like to find a school that helps you meet those. Some places don’t have the ability to save. Others might just be too expensive. Some maybe don’t offer housing. However, if it comes down to it: having a job is going to help you meet your goals faster than not having a job!
Ultimately, head into a job fair prepared and with an open mind and your experience will be so much richer!
What About Our Experiences?
We have been to a grand total of 5 international school job fairs: three in-person and two virtually. Our experiences have been overwhelmingly positive for the in-person fairs but less so for the virtual ones. Let’s start with the bad.
*Also note we are not affiliated in any way with Search Associates, but that is where our job fair experience lies so that is what we will discuss. We recommend researching different recruitment agencies (see our International Education Free Downloads page) and deciding which is best for you.
Virtual Job Fairs
We attended two Search Associates virtual fairs (during COVID) and while the stress level there was lessened compared to in-person ones, we didn’t enjoy them.
At the virtual fairs, the sign-up sessions are easier because you simply email, via a special program, the schools you are interested in that have open positions. Ultimately, this felt no different than just a regular email. Of all the schools we contacted during those two fairs about getting an interview, we probably heard back (yes or no) from about 10%. Not a high rate. That was incredibly frustrating for us. It made us question why we had chosen to attend the fairs, to begin with.
We did like the aspect of not having to pay for travel, standing in line, or dressing up for each moment of the fair. We sat on our couch in Hawaii and completed the whole sign-up process while watching TV. That wasn’t so bad because it made things simple. We got to keep on with the normal routine of our lives without any added stress of traveling AND looking for a job.
The lack of time crunch was also less stressful. We didn’t have to take time off of work, we knew we could still easily contact schools after the fair, and we didn’t need to get all dressed up every day. However, these benefits absolutely did not outweigh the struggle we had with hearing back. Those trade-offs were not worth it in the end for us and, for the only time whilst attending a fair, we left frustrated.
In-Person Fairs
We’ve been to several in-person international school fairs around the world: Cambridge, Melbourne, and Bangkok. All were overwhelmingly positive and we enjoyed our time. Our experience with in-person fairs has been much more positive than the virtual ones for a number of different reasons, but most importantly, is feedback.
Feedback
Feedback at online fairs or even cold emailing schools can be frustrating. Very frustrating. It’s likely you won’t hear back from many schools. However, at an in-person fair, when you try to schedule an interview, you’re given a definite yes or no. You have your short elevator pitch time and the recruiters are either interested or they aren’t. And they’ll let you know. We love this about in-person fairs.
At one fair, we spoke with a school. I gave them an honest answer and they very cordially said I wasn’t what they were looking for. It was a perfect match of two people finding what fits them best, in this case, a candidate who didn’t fit their profile and a school that, as soon as this happened I realized, didn’t fit what I was looking for. But it wasn’t just this instance. Immediate feedback is the norm at fairs and it’s been our case as well. At all the fairs we’ve been to, when we arrive at an interview booth, we immediately know whether the school is even marginally interested or not because we’ll either secure an interview or we won’t. That immediate feedback is our favorite part of the in-person fairs.
Travel
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the travel part of in-person fairs. Yes, virtual fairs mean no money spent, but they also mean no traveling. Our experience in traveling to fairs has been great. Cambridge (Boston) was our first-ever fair and we got snowed in! We got a slight bit of time to explore Boston and went up to Harvard Yard before the storm hit. The hotel ran movies with popcorn (super fun!) and found ways to keep people entertained aside from the fair. To us, it also felt that schools were more relaxed. No one was going anywhere so more interviews were carried out outside of the traditional hotel room model. We interviewed in the lobby as well as in the hotel bar and that made us feel a bit more at ease.
In Melbourne, our first time in Australia, the fair fit in with our winter break. We got there for New Year’s Eve, celebrated, met up with a friend, and got to see the amazing Melbourne Cricket Grounds for a Big Bash League match. During the fair, which was right downtown, we were perfectly placed to explore the heart of Melbourne in summer, but before the heat truly set in. While that was probably my least favorite of the in-person fairs, the experience overall was the best.
For our Bangkok fair, we stayed just down the street from the hotel where the fair was held. Like Melbourne, we had time to go out and enjoy the city (a place we had been before). We got to go back to the Palace, do some shopping, and of course, eat! Bangkok is an amazing city and the chance to job search and explore was wonderful.
Stress & Face Time
Now any job fair can be super stressful. As we said, we’ve seen plenty of tears at fairs. But for us, in-person fairs have never felt overly stressful. We are pretty great at going in with an open mind about schools and countries but still have a solid understanding of what fits best for us. That’s not to say we don’t stress. Melbourne was a small fair and we came away with only one offer, which we took. Bangkok wasn’t too dissimilar from that. It was a bit disheartening, but not enough to keep us down.
At in-person fairs, we also love the fact you get face-to-face time to sell yourself. I (Cam) am so much better at selling myself in person than I am via email. I feel I present who I am in person versus just a facade which can be what you get via words on a screen.
Final Thoughts on International School Job Fairs
Overall, we really like fairs, at least in-person ones. Sure the costs are high, and the stress can be high too, but we like the opportunities they present. We hope that the next time we are looking we don’t need a fair (always nice to just get a job!), but if we have to go, we certainly won’t mind!
If you have any questions about international school job fairs, please contact us and let us know if you have any questions or you can schedule a Zoom call with us. We look forward to hearing from you!