Boston Job Fair 2009

Leaving Kelowna

I Flew out on a Wednesday evening. I took the red eye from Kelowna to Seattle to DC to Boston and got to the hotel at 11 am. You really need to get to the fair early to get the lay of the land. The hotel, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, was nice it's adjacent to MIT, but really too far from the airport, 40$ cab ride. An airport Hilton would have been a better location. The fair is so intense I didn't leave the hotel all weekend.
You register right away get your little name tag and start schmoozing immediately. There is a small boardroom for candidates where schools can leave you messages. Every candidate gets a file folder which one needs to routinely check over the weekend. The recruiters have their own file folder that I made use of to prod them for interviews , gently.
The fair starts on the thursday evening with the orientation talk, where you get a better sense of the process. Afterwards there is a chance to say hello to recruiters who are all wearing name tags along with school names. The real fun starts Friday morning.
I was very fortuante. I had established a running dialogue with the American School of Doha in Qatar and they invited to breakfast the Friday morning where I received my choice of interview times. The interviews start at 8am sharp in the ballrooms. All the schools have tables along the walls with available jobs posted on chart paper behind the tables. YOu queue up and cross your fingers that you can talk yourself into an interview.

If you are shooting for any school in Europe the lines for those schools were the longest. Next was the south american schools. If you are ok with asia you you can get to several tables within the 2 hour period. I sequred 5 interviews: Doha, Dubai, Bangkok, Kaoshiang and Chennai.
The Chennai meeting was funny. When I got to the table I asked the rep from the school if he had looked at my resume and if I was a suitable candidate. He said something like... Oh you're the Canadian, you don't want to come to Chennai! Why not? I replied, being Canadian has always seemed to be a good thing in the past so his remark kind of struck me funny. Well, he continued, India and Canada have reciprocal taxation policy if you work for us you'll have to pay 33% income tax. I said " Really" I was thinking "Holy S--t" . Now if you were American I would offer you an interview right now. I smiled and informed him that I have dual citizenship, my Mom being American. His head jerked back, he smiled flipped over his pencil and erased Canadian. He looked at me and said... From this point on you're an American.
The Interviews vary from school to school. Some reps pepper you with all kinds of questions regarding the position you are applying for, your classroom management philosophy... When I got the chance I always tried to emphasize those things that made me stand out from all the other candidates. This was important because I have a wife an two kids which the reps minds is a liability. Some recruiters did all the talking and seem to be satisfied with simply using my resume as the dip stick to measure me by. The interviews are short you have 30 minutes to make an impression. I was mentally whiped out by 5pm. Friday was a long day.
The interview I enjoyed the most was with Tom Farrell from Kiaoshang in Taiwan. He was incredibly friendly and up beat. He is from the state of Maine and I spent all my summers in Maine so we ahd a lot of common groumd to share. His son is the assistant basketball coach at Colby College in Waterville a hop, skip and a jump from Snow pond where we summered.
Friday night is the buffet meal where all the candidates and the recruiters mingle. Their is some intermingling but mainly recruiters talk to recruiters... I noticed that recruiters pursued some of their top picks during the evening. I felt it was s great opportuinity to meet toteachers from all over North America, as well as, many interantional teachers who had lots of experiences to share.

The Pre Fair Scramble

Getting ready for the job fair season was tough. It was hard to know which fair s to go to. I had secured invitations to Search Fairs in Toronto and Boston. I was trying to figure out how to make both fairs and in the end I decided to go with Boston. It had many more schools of interest to me and oddly enough, was no more expensive than going to Toronto. I booked my flight and room a month ahead and it all worked out fine. I even booked a room with a teacher from Michigan.
I prepped ahead by reading up on the schools I was shooting for, with Doha being number one. I found it helpful to get a feel for their programming, philosophy, discipline policies.... I did this for three schools and found that most were pretty much the same.
I made 25 copies of my resume and decided to use those as "business cards" for communication. I bought some new ties and shirts. I wear golf shirts at school so my wardrobe needed some major "tweaking."
I didn't feel to nervous about the whole fair thing. I love the job I have, but it was time for something new. However, if overseas didn't pan out, teaching in the Okanagan is very hard to beat. So I went to Boston with a nothing to lose attitude. I think it made all the difference.

Teacher Contracts Overseas and Pre Job fair

This Journey starts a year ago at a professional development conference in Kelowna BC. A good friend had just landed a job in Dubai. The opportunity sounded fascinating, teaching in an exotic location, in a new culture, opportunities to travel abroad, too good to be true?
I joined Search Associates for a couple hundred bucks to explore this landscape a little further. The listings of schools features the contract for each school and a profile detailing staff and student body composition. The scope the packages is complete but some of the details can vary from the reality. Salaries posted may not be what you will start at. Regardless the profiles were very useful in getting a flavor for the school. Most schools have a website that provide additional information.

I sent out dozens of emails regularly to promote myself directly to the schools. Many schools responded, some totally ignored me. However, the job I landed was with a school that I communicated with multiple times before the job fair. The emails were very much a feeling out process on both sides. There were many times that I was sure I was going to get a job and then things changed and the opportunity "appeared to have vanished. The pre job fair "courting" is exciting and a little nerve racking. I had 3, 1-2 hour interviews with a school over the phone before the job fairs and never got an offer. My motto during this time was "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." It got me noticed.

I also learn that having dependents, who don't teach, make it difficult to secure employment. But there are schools out there who truly will hire the best teacher available even if you are bringing multiple dependents. If you are single or have a spouse who also teaches, that's the best situation.

Easter Weekend 2009

We are well into our roller coaster ride to our new lives in Doha Qatar. We have decided to put the house up for sale and sell everything. Only our dearest keepsakes, do we intend to keep. By severing all ties we intend to establish our intent to stay abroad. Who knows what the future will bring. We have a 2 year contract but we might stay until we retire.
We are finding this whole experience a nervous act of cleansing. When it comes down to it all our stuff is just that ... stuff. It's been really easy to get rid of boxes of books that have been collecting dust on shelves for months or years.
The house looks good and we hope it sells soon. Every time we stop and look the house over we spend another 40 - 50 $ to "spruce it up " . We are finding it hard to walk away from a home, a neighborhood and a community that we have been a part of for ten years.

Mix of the old and the new

The new family pet..
Its house trained... but it spits on guests, at least it doesn't bark!

Beauty!

Doha stadium, home to the Asian games

Outdoor Ed.

Local Shopping called Souqs

Its not all Gray!