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.