Many people have asked how I got a job teaching internationally...this post will address that.
First and foremost, had you asked me last July where I'd be now/three/five/ten years from now, I would have easily said, "No problem--I'll be teaching Spanish and Leadership and serving as the Activities Director at Springwater Trail." I absolutely loved that job and that school and, as this is my 5th year teaching, I didn't really feel like I was at risk of getting "RIF"ed. (Reduction in Force; Reduced, basically). Well, last August 10, my principal called me with the bad news. Long story short: I chose to leave the Gresham Barlow School District when I was offered a position teaching 5th grade (just regular ole' 5th grade: reading, writing, math, social studies...) at a wonderful neighborhood elementary in Portland Public. In November/December, I started hearing rumblings about more budget cuts within PPS and, as it turns out, I made the right decision to leave to teach internationally because I would definitely be reduced again at the end of this year. (As an aside: PPS is in the range of $45-$90 million short for the school budget over the course of the next two years).
Anyway, I have a few friends teaching internationally and I contacted them. In fact, Erin's dad is the Headmaster of the International School of Tallinn (Estonia), and he provided me with quite a lot of information. I know lots of people go abroad to teach English, but I wanted something more concrete. Also, the more I learned the "super-desirable" places (like Western Europe) don't generally provide as good of a "package" because, basically, everyone wants to work there.
Don (Erin's dad), and some friends who've returned from teaching internationally, provided me with recommendations of companies to register with. Basically, these companies act as middle men/headhunters. I sent all of my paperwork to them (transcripts, recommendations, resume, copies of licensure, etc.) and they scanned it all for their database. The search process could be done by both myself (I could search for available positions) and by the schools, looking for qualified candidates.
I registered with Search Associates and International School Services (two headhunter companies), The Council of International Schools, and Carney Sandoe (but, after registering, I realized that Carney Sandoe mostly specializes in private domestic schools). I also paid $35 to access The International Educator's online database, which is basically a pretty comprehensive listing of international schools and what positions they have available.
After making the decision and doing a ton of research, I spent most of Christmas break at my folks contacting schools that I'd found that a.) sounded interesting and b.) had openings for which I was qualified (I can teach all levels of Spanish and I hold a mid-level Generalist certificate, so I can teach any subject in grades 5-9). Anyway, I easily spent over 100 hours researching and contacting potential employers; each with a personalized cover letter, etc. Also, this was the exact right time to start exploring a teaching internationally. Most schools require two year contracts with the option of re-upping (usually there's a bonus involved if you renew your contract). However, if you are choosing to leave your post, many schools request that you notify them prior to the December holidays so they can get everything listed online and prepare for/register for the job fairs. It's my understanding that the "fair season" kicks off in January in Bangkok and London and then goes on from there.
My undergraduate college, Whitman, also has an amazing service that their career center offers: for educators, they send your "education credential file" to any school, so the poor ladies at the career center (thank you so much Margaret and Susan) scanned and emailed my credential file to countless schools (I think there were about 50 schools that I requested my cred. file get sent to).
Unfortunately, it turns out that all those hours spent on the computer didn't do jack. I did find some schools that I was highly interested in and, if the next two years in Zambia go well, I will definitely contact them to see if they have any positions available, but all in all, all of that front-loading and being really proactive didn't really help with my job search at all. If anything, in retrospect, most of the schools probably found it annoying to get inundated with a ton of paperwork. Oh well.....
Turns out, most (I would say ~90%) of jobs are filled at the international teaching job fairs. I was hoping to avoid going to the fairs because a.) I'd have to miss a week+ of work and b.) It was going to be really expensive. However, because of the lack of feedback/response I got from all my Christmastime emailing, I decided to register for both the Search Associates and International School Services job fairs in February in San Francisco. And, needless to say, going to the fairs paid off and I ended the time there with four offers and one acceptance!
See the next post about the fairs themselves.
Here are links to the companies that I found very useful:
Search Associates
International School Services
Council of International Schools
The International Educator
Carney, Sandoe, and Associates (though this agency proved to have more domestic listings)
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