Interview Success Tips

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the meat and potatoes of businesses hoping to make it on the internet, but did you realise that SEO can also be the key to wildly increasing the number of international school recruiters who see your eResume?

Let’s face it, the reality of job-hunting in the 21st Century is that digital is the way to go… We search for jobs online, we submit our resumes online, are interviewed via Skype over the internet and accept contracts that are delivered electronically too.

In this article I want to clue you in to a little known technique that is crucial when you are submitting your resume to a website or an electronic database, use keywords. Simple isn’t it? But very few of your competitors know about this, and that’s to your direct benefit because optimising your resume for the search terms recruiters will be using to find you will put your resume smack in the middle of their desk.

Here’s what to do:

Include specific education related nouns in your resume because keywords are noun-based. Some examples are: classroom management, curriculum design, student motivation, student assessment, student organisation, class project, extra curricular activity.

Include specific subject related nouns in your resume.

Include qualification specific nouns in your resume.

Include experience specific nouns in your resume. Some examples are: GCSE teaching experience, examination board marking, moderating experience. Remember to include terms that would be of interest to a British, American or IB school if that’s where you experience lies or that’s where you want to go.

Look at job descriptions and job advertisements for ideas of keywords. Imagine that you’re the recruiter and make a list of keywords you’d use when searching a database for someone with your qualifications.

Attempt to position these keywords towards the top of your resume.

Here’s what not to do:

Lose sight of the fact that you’re preparing your resume to attract the interest of a human being.

Check that your resume is attractive, well-laid out and reads well.

Over use any single keyword or phrase as this can result in that keyword or phrase being disregarded.

The pros and cons of posting your resume online:

At the end of the day, international recruiters are busy people who don’t spend hours trawling the internet in an attempt to find staff. Therefore, submitting your resume to resume bulletin boards is going to be a waste of time.

So why go to the effort of optimising your resume for online use? There are a number of industry specific websites on the internet where international school vacancies are posted. If you submit your resume to these sites, there’s a reasonable chance that recruiters may run a quick search when they’re posting the job adverts, provided the advertisement is not being posted by a personal assistant. And so, submitting an optimised resume will pay off in this situation.

Also, one of the services the international teaching job fair organisers offer schools’ recruiters is the ability to search a database of candidates’ resumes. To search the databases the recruiters enter subject specific, qualification specific and, experience specific keywords.

At the very least this exercise will result in you identifying areas in your experience and qualifications that will attract recruiters. You can then use these either when you optimise you resume ready to post online, or you can use them when you write your cover letter to catch the eye of recruiters who ‘skim’ the majority of cover letters prior to deleting them.

Good luck on your job-hunt!

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If you have read any of the articles I have written prior to this, or The Complete Guide to Securing a Job at an International School, you will know I’m a proponent of spreading yourself around in order to secure a teaching position in an international school. This is the approach that I have used successfully and I still believe it is an excellent strategy for kicking off your international teaching career. However, I thought I’d better write an article on strategies for educators who are looking for their second or third overseas teaching position. Those international educators with some overseas work experience under their wing may choose to use this longer-term strategy to secure their next teaching position.

Once you’ve been working in the international education sector for a while, you’ll soon come to realise there are international schools and then there are ‘international schools’. Some international schools are international in name only, some schools have student bodies that are populated heavily with the children of privileged, local families, so that you end up teaching in what is essentially an English Speaking School.

Teachers love to talk! In fact, one of the reasons I accepted the position I currently hold is because teachers I met at the international teaching job fair I attended recommended the school to me. I now keep a list of schools that have great reputations, and another list of schools that I know I definitely don’t want to work in. I base my list on what I’ve heard from teachers that I work with or meet at professional development events.

Once you have identified which schools will suit your needs by talking to colleagues, peers and doing some research, you’ll need a strategy for landing a great teaching position with them.

First Contact Plus

I have dubbed this strategy ‘First Contact Plus’ because the first contact you make with a school you want to work for may not result in employment being offered. The key to this strategy is persistence and making yourself known.

This strategy comes into its own when you do not have a fixed time-frame in which you need to see results. It might take years for this strategy to pay off. I know of one colleague who has been using this strategy to woo a particularly desirable school for several years, and only this year have there been any real rewards.

How does the strategy work? Well, it starts by you sending your application pack to the recruiter in question when the recruiting season starts. Do not wait for your desired school to post vacancies. You are not applying for a job, what you are trying to do is become known to the recruiter. You do not include a letter of application with your pack, you write a personalised letter of introduction.

Follow this up with a phone call a week later, asking the recruiter if they received your application pack and making enquiries about the school’s recruitment process. Should be a vacancy that would suit your credentials and experience, press for an interview

If you should attend an international teacher recruitment fair that season, introduce yourself personally to the recruiter attending the fair to represent your favoured school. You must introduce yourself regardless of whether there is a position open that you could fill, or not. When you meet the recruiter, remind them about yourself and offer your regrets that there is not a suitable vacancy this season that you could fill. Clearly let the recruiter know that you find the idea of working at their school desirable and ask if you can stay in touch with the view to seeking employment in the future. When you get their permission to stay in touch you can email them without it being considered SPAM.

This completes the ‘First Contact’ part of the strategy. Next, the ‘Plus’.

Once you have made contact with the recruiter you need to remain in the front of their mind. Be warned, this does not mean stalking the recruiter, but rather building a relationship with them so that you are at the top of the list when a suitable vacancy eventuates. Each season send your application pack to the recruiter, send them Christmas cards if appropriate, let them know of any professional development, positions of responsibility or other additions to your resume. Whenever you are attending a recruitment event, meet and greet the recruiter in person. If you are holidaying near the school when they are in session, then request to visit.

You can see why this is an advanced, long-term strategy for landing the perfect job teaching overseas. It takes some effort and you will need to have access to the job fairs etc. However, the results can be well-worth the effort you put into it. First Contact Plus is a strategy that puts a spin on a marketing strategy called ‘relationship marketing’ where companies attempt to build a sustainable competitive advantage by nurturing a relationship with suppliers and customers alike.

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When looking for the best paid overseas teaching job it is easy to be blinded by the salary being offered but this may prevent you from making the best choice if saving money is your primary concern. Here are two tips to help you find the highest paying teaching job abroad – net.

Teaching jobs abroad come in many shapes and sizes. You can teach English in private language schools, teach at universities set up for local students from the host countries and, you can teach at international schools which are set up for expatriate children.

The most lucrative position is usually teaching at an international school for expatriate children. There are over 4000 international schools worldwide so there is plenty from which to choose.

Salary and Benefits

When considering a teaching position abroad it is important that you consider the overall package rather than simply the salary offered. This is what makes an international school teaching job the best paid teaching position abroad.

Some benefits offered by many international schools that can add to the overall package are:

* flights paid from your home to the school’s location at the beginning and end of your contract. Depending on how far your home is from the school, this benefit alone can save you several thousand dollars.

* housing allowance. Often international schools will pay you a monthly housing allowance, or even provide accommodation for you in an apartment or a housing complex. When you are offered a housing allowance you can usually find yourself adequate housing for the amount you are paid, and sometimes you can even end up with a surplus.

* end-of-contract bonus. International schools want you to remain for the full length of your contract and are willing to give you a financial incentive to do so. You may be able to negotiate an end-of-contract bonus of 10-15%.

Income Tax

Another consideration when considering teaching positions abroad and attempting to evaluate which one will be the most profitable is how much tax you will have to pay. Countries have the differing tax rules, for example in Taiwan you may only pay 10% tax, but in Poland you will have to pay closer to 20%. Therefore it is important to find out how much tax you will have to pay and establish how this will affect your overall take home salary.

Also, some benefits are taxable as well, so it is wise to check whether the dollar amounts you are quoted are gross (before tax) or net (after tax).

Finally on the subject of income tax, you should check with the tax department in your home country to establish what your tax commitment to them will be. Simply not living in your home country does not mean your government will not require you to pay tax there, for example, the government in Holland expects citizens who teach abroad to pay ‘wealth tax’ on any assets they leave behind.

This information is difficult to come by for most international schools in the initial stages of the recruitment process. Some international teacher job fair organisers require member schools to complete some of this information in their vacancy listings, but others do not. In order to ensure you have the required information to make the best decision possible before you sign a contract for a teaching job overseas, make up a set of interview questions that will cover this ground.

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Teaching couples are very popular with international school recruiters for many reasons but the main one is that couples can often work out cheaper to hire in the long run. This article however, is all about teaching jobs overseas from the viewpoint of the teaching couples, rather than the schools.

Whether you are married or not you can look for jobs as a teaching couple, most schools do not discriminate against couples who do not have a marriage certificate. An obvious exception is schools in the Middle East. It is very difficult for non-married couples to land jobs in international schools in the Middle East, where governments’ regulations stipulate that couples seeking working visas produce a marriage certificate.

You may be able to find a way around this problem but it is unlikely that international school recruiters recruiting for schools in the Middle East are going to find non-married teaching couples an attractive employment prospect when compared to married ones. If you are in this situation, your best bet is to concentrate your job hunt on other regions in the world.

When looking for a teaching job abroad as a couple, there are several options open to you:

You can look for suitable teaching vacancies in international schools that will suit both you and your partner’s teaching skills. This will involve finding schools that have vacancies for both of you, a task that is easier at the beginning of the recruiting season because schools have yet to fill their vacancies. Generally speaking December through to March is the best time for teaching couples to look for overseas teaching positions together in the same school. Teaching couples are hot employment prospects at this time because hiring a teaching couple has an impact on the benefits schools have to pay.

Alternatively, you and your partner can look for teaching vacancies in international schools in the same cities. A number of teaching couples are lucky enough to find teaching jobs abroad in different schools in the same city. If you have not taught in the same school as your partner or spouse before, you may find this a better option for you.

The most efficient method to find teaching jobs in different international schools in the same city is to attend an international teaching job fair. At an international teaching job fair you will find many school s from around the globe in the one location, all looking for teachers to fill their vacancies. Often you will find a number of recruiters from the same city at a job fair and it is possible to schedule interviews with each of them individually.

At most job fairs you will also be able to see international school recruiters give presentations about their school and the working in the community. This can help you make an informed decision about whether a school, city or country will be a good fit for you and your family.

In a nutshell, teaching jobs overseas for couples are available and many international school recruiters actively look for teaching couples when they are recruiting. However, one of the first decisions you must make is whether you wish to teach in the same school as your spouse or partner and then hunt for teaching positions that suit your needs.

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