Contract time at an IB school: An Emotional Rollercoaster

And they’re off….. It’s Vienna International on the inside with American School of Paris moving up from behind, while Lincoln, Buenos Aires is making a play for the lead….

Since about September at the school where I currently work people whose contracts are up (there are revolving end-dates, much like the U.S. Senate, but not at all like it in any other way) have been asking each other about their plans for the next academic year, whether they are registered with a certain agency that aides international teachers and international schools in matching needs and wants, and what job fairs they are going to attend.  It’s all a bit of a drama, actually.

Teachers are required to notify their schools of their intents on very early dates between the beginning of December (our school) to about the end of January.   This requirement doesn’t line up too well on the calendar with the dates for the job fairs, which are mostly in end of Jan-end of March.  The result is most people have to resign before they have another job if they want to leave, and the result of that is a stressful environment for many of the staff.  There is a range of risk-takers, with my resignation being a very low-level risk, since we don’t have a family to support, and the high end being a friend of ours who have five kids to feed and clothe. However, he’s quite calm about the whole thing, so he doesn’t count. [When you think about it, if you had 5 kids to shake up things every night, perhaps your next job doesn’t get on the plate too often.] It’s part of being an international teacher, and many are used to the uncertainty, but it makes for some odd situations. One friend of mine is trying to move from PE into counseling, and she has her eye on another mutual friend’s counseling job, but they didn’t talk about it, since they were both applying for the same jobs outside the school.  Now that he’s resigned things are a little more normal.

At first I thought I’d just register with TIE Online, which is relatively cheap (70 USD) but then I got into the whirl of what everyone else was doing and registered with SEARCH Associates, just to see what jobs were available that people probably wouldn’t want me for since I am over 60.  One principal from Kiev was interested in me, but I quickly explained the cold climate aversion and told her farewell, as well as the principal from a new school opening “…about 25 minutes by train from Shanghai.”  I live exactly 25 minutes from Shanghai now so didn’t see any advantage there. 

I’ve been deleting most of the ESL openings that SEARCH sends from places like Kazakhstan (not even sure that’s how you spell that country) but I did apply to one in Vienna who wanted an ESL coordinator (I told myself no more management, but alas it’s probably what would make people want to hire me) and a part-time teacher, but they haven’t exactly given me the hard sell yet, like they haven’t written me anything back in response to my filling out yet another online form that took about 3 hours to complete.

S and I vacillate between thinking perhaps he should get a job for a couple of years and we would move back to the states somewhere, to thinking we aren’t ready to stop traveling yet, and working in Europe or Latin America would allow us to see more of the world in those areas.  In the latter frame of mind I have applied to attend the SEARCH London job fair at the end of January, but now someone has to evaluate whether or not to give me an invitation.  Not sure what they base that on, since I paid them lots of money to belong to SEARCH, but let’s see.  I’m still not certain I’ll go, because it would be a long ways to travel in a very short time and also expensive, but I know most employers want to meet their candidates in person and schools fill a lot of openings at job fairs.  Also it would probably be to my advantage to be at a job fair because if employers saw me and talked to me they could see I’m not carrying portable oxygen tanks or looking to retire/teach at the same time.

In all reality, if I were to score a job I wanted, it would probably be in June or July, like I landed this job, when someone broke contract or fell ill or something extraordinary, and the candidate pool was smaller and my skills and experience might make them swallow the bitter pill of “aging teacher”.  We’re enjoying changing our minds right now, and after we return from vacation, we’re going to race to see who gets a job first.  I give it even odds.

(4 weeks later) So…my how we do change our minds.  I’m in a car to the Shanghai airport on my way to the London Job Fair.  So far I only have 2 schools who have asked me to set up an interview, but I tell myself that like a good husband and place to live, one is all anyone needs. International School of Amsterdam is my current favorite (as of 5 minutes ago) and there are 2 other EAL openings in Europe that hold promise, Vienna and Munich.  Then this morning an American school in Lugano, Switzerland wrote me to ask to set up an interview because they are “hoping” to have an elementary EAL opening. Is that how vacancies are created on the international school scene, hope???  I had just enough time to visit their web page and see a gorgeous campus designed by an award-winning architect.  Said campus overlooks a beautiful lake with the Swiss alps in the background.  They also offer free furnished apartments to “dorm parents”.  If that means living in the same place as a bunch of adolescents, count me out, I’ve done that gig and I’m too old for a repeat performance.  Still, the location of Switzerland for travel is sweet.  Amsterdam has the best possibility of S snagging a job as well, as there are many American businesses’ European office there, like Staples, and a few others that have slipped my mind. 
Let’s see what develops in the next few days.  The format of this fair sounds a lot like pledging a sorority and I’m drawing the line at standing in a circle singing songs about Greek letters. From what I can gather, every candidate gets a “mail box”, a real one, because apparently the people who set up the conference weren’t told about computers or the internet or smart phones.  Anyway, if someone wants to interview, they can put a note in your box, which you retrieve and get to advance to the head of the extensive school ques on the day call “Interview Sign-up Time”.  It’s a bit like Valentine’s Day in an elementary school also!

We were asked to bring a 2-page only condensed resume with a picture and wait our turn in line to deliver a 2-3 minute elevator pitch about why we’re such wonderful teachers and why they should grant us an interview. It’s either thumbs up or thumbs down from there, and then candidates move to the next school they are interested in that there is an opening in their area for and repeat the performance. I was working on a rap, but then I thought I should get hired before showing any tendencies toward mocking.  I also considered dressing in orange soccer garb (painted face) for the Amsterdam school, but daughter #1 told me I stand out plenty without any signage. True. So I bought a new black jacket, and will wear black slacks and possibly a black shell under the jacket.  That way I have the makings for either a poet or a priest in case there is a job fair for that in the future.

It’s rare that people are offered a job at the end of the interview, but are usually called back.  I need to remember to put my shoe-shopping needs out there for them so we can expedite this little dance.  There is also a cheese shop I need to get to, and, undoubtedly best part of the job fair experience, I will be visiting at least one and very possibly 2 of Ottolenghi’s restuarants.  This guy is an incredible Israeli chef whose cookbooks rock my world. His reinvention of the salad is genius, and I intend to partake at the table of salad goodness.  I also read that the one nearest my hotel delivers if the total is over 50 British Pounds.  No problem. 

Stay turned for more job fair fun.  The packages are interesting to look at, because they vary from an excellent package with great perks - Amsterdam gives teachers a laptop, gym membership, and a FREE MUSEUM PASS to the furnished apartments of Lugano’s American School, to most of the schools in Italy and Paris, which frankly pay terribly but you are supposed to just be happy you are in such a beautiful place, I guess.  I wish bidding wars were part of this procedure but in fact it is not.  Perhaps I could stir something up, but I believe I’m a bit delusional to think 2 schools are going to be that enamored of hiring a teacher in her 60s… A gal can dream, right?