So here's how the whole deal went down: I signed up for a job search service to be placed overseas teaching. Paid my money, set up my profile, got the requisite credentials sent in and colleagues/administrators at my last job filled in their recommendations. I made it through the agency's screening process: I was a good candidate. I attended their job fair last February and I ended up being 2nd place for a couple of jobs that I was REALLY interested in. No offers. I kept hearing the same old story: "You have great credentials but have no international experience so we've offered the job to someone else." Or I heard "We offered the job to someone who has basically the same credentials as you but they have 1 year of international experience in there and so we're waiting for an answer back from them. If they turn it down, it's yours." What a double-edged sword. They want someone young with enough experience to be relatively good in their discipline and not too expensive to boot but the catch is that they prefer at least some international experience. So those without it, despite solid credentials, are second-class candidates who keep hearing the same thing: "You're great but you don't have any international experience." Isn't that why I'm here???I'm ready to commit!
So the job fair came and went. I had left my previous teaching job in the hopes of landing a position here so I'm now really depressed at not having a job. I was told by my case manger from the placement service that I was a "strong" candidate and would most likely get a job offer. I'd just have to keep my options open, which they were. I had selected for my "availability" Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe...basically anywhere. I STILL ended up skunked.
Fast-foward to May 2011. I get an email through the search service that a school in Dakar, Senegal is looking for a history teacher and they saw my credentials and were wondering if I was still available. Short email response: "YES!" An interview via Skype is scheduled. A strong interview, I hit it off with the principal and was assured that I was a strong candidate for the position and that "we'll be in touch in the next few days" and "you'll know soon." 4 agonizing days pass. At this point I know I didn't get the job. They needed someone immediately and nothing about that lack of contact for 4 days says "immediate" so I figure I'm out of the running. Then I get a ray of hope. An email to schedule a Skype interview with the principal again! It turns out to be a gut-punch. He just wanted to say that it was down to me and 1 other candidate-- the other guy had the same amount of experience as me but he HAD A YEAR OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE! So while I'm hearing this, on the outisde I've got my poker face on but inside a nuclear device was just detonated. There aren't enough curse words to describe my frustration. They'd offered him the job first and after he hemmed and hawed for a few days he eventually accepted the position, hence the 4 day delay. So at this point I wash my hands of a "search" for a job, and the agency which basically did nothing for me but take my money, and committed to going back to school to get a Criminal Justice degree at a local technical school. A new start, and a new career since teaching apparently doesn't like me anymore. Lots of emotional turmoil about "what am I doing and where am I going to end up." I still put hope in the random, romantic possibility that some day, before my membership to the search service expires, that I MIGHT be contacted by a school looking for someone with my specific credentials. Until that statistically unlikely day comes it's late enrollment, student loans, book lists, notebooks and syllabi-- The whole nine yards. June, July, August, September pass with me not actively looking for a teaching job-focusing on being a student again myself- and no institutions contacting me. I figure at this point if they want me, they'll contact me. I had contacted about 25 schools in the past 9 months trying to solicit a job interview to no avail. Evidence to me that if they're interested, they'll find you.
October arrives. A bolt out of the blue! I had just finished finals myself and was about to start a new quarter when I got an email through the search service that a school in Kuwait needed an 8th grade World History teacher immediately. The same process again: time-zone delayed email responses, an optimistically scheduled Skype interview. Another smashing interview. High hopes now are tempered by cynicism. I log on to my email the night after the interview at 2 a.m. (with the time zone difference, this is when they'd be emailing me and I just had a feeling I should check) Lo and behold I find a job offer from the superintendent of the school, followed by a congratulatory email from the principal. The offer is post-scripted with "please respond within 48 hours." I can't sleep now, no way! I manage a few hours of sleep and get up the next morning and over coffee I tell my Mom that I'd received the job offer. This opens the whole "Holy-shit-you're-moving-overseas-now-what?" logistical conversation. I'd already decided that I'd take the job no matter the school's situation and circumstances surrounding the vacancy. I'd inherited bad situations before and knew how to reign in discipline or whatever might be the case. My last job had "challenging" administration so I'm used to having a challenge from in front of the desk or behind the desk--it didn't matter to me. So I typed up my acceptance email which was brief, I only had a few questions like: how soon do you want me? what kind of living situation will I be in? any tips on what to bring? etc. etc. I get my response: "Can you be here next week? Contact our travel agent and give him your passport info. and we'll get your flight booked. Yikes! NEXT WEEK?!?!? So basically I accepted the job via email on a Sunday and I was going to have 1 last week in the states and the following week I was flying out for a new job! Goodbye USA, hello Kuwait! In the meantime I had to drop my enrollment with tech. school, cancel my student loans, and see about my car. Luckily I knew about my job before the new quarter started, so I dropped the day classes were to start up again. So long as I didn't show up to class the loan money that had been sent would be refunded and I was in the clear.( I swung by just to say goodbye to my cool teachers and classmates). I then had to go through about 4 bureaucratic steps to be free and clear of both a. the college, and b. the financial institutions issuing the loans. But that was my goal that last week. I saw about renewing one of my 2 expired teaching licenses, while making copies of my still valid license. I cancelled my car insurance, got it ready to sell, and left it for relatives to deal with. If they didn't sell it, my plan is to keep it and use it as a trade in when I return. It has 160,000 miles on it so it was a "clunker." After I quit my part-time job working retail, I stocked up on new work and warm weather clothes. Then to tackle packing! I eventually packed up everything I was to bring into 1 backpack, 1 suitcase, and 1 duffel bag. Everything I'll need for a year-ready to be there for next week!
So the job fair came and went. I had left my previous teaching job in the hopes of landing a position here so I'm now really depressed at not having a job. I was told by my case manger from the placement service that I was a "strong" candidate and would most likely get a job offer. I'd just have to keep my options open, which they were. I had selected for my "availability" Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe...basically anywhere. I STILL ended up skunked.
Fast-foward to May 2011. I get an email through the search service that a school in Dakar, Senegal is looking for a history teacher and they saw my credentials and were wondering if I was still available. Short email response: "YES!" An interview via Skype is scheduled. A strong interview, I hit it off with the principal and was assured that I was a strong candidate for the position and that "we'll be in touch in the next few days" and "you'll know soon." 4 agonizing days pass. At this point I know I didn't get the job. They needed someone immediately and nothing about that lack of contact for 4 days says "immediate" so I figure I'm out of the running. Then I get a ray of hope. An email to schedule a Skype interview with the principal again! It turns out to be a gut-punch. He just wanted to say that it was down to me and 1 other candidate-- the other guy had the same amount of experience as me but he HAD A YEAR OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE! So while I'm hearing this, on the outisde I've got my poker face on but inside a nuclear device was just detonated. There aren't enough curse words to describe my frustration. They'd offered him the job first and after he hemmed and hawed for a few days he eventually accepted the position, hence the 4 day delay. So at this point I wash my hands of a "search" for a job, and the agency which basically did nothing for me but take my money, and committed to going back to school to get a Criminal Justice degree at a local technical school. A new start, and a new career since teaching apparently doesn't like me anymore. Lots of emotional turmoil about "what am I doing and where am I going to end up." I still put hope in the random, romantic possibility that some day, before my membership to the search service expires, that I MIGHT be contacted by a school looking for someone with my specific credentials. Until that statistically unlikely day comes it's late enrollment, student loans, book lists, notebooks and syllabi-- The whole nine yards. June, July, August, September pass with me not actively looking for a teaching job-focusing on being a student again myself- and no institutions contacting me. I figure at this point if they want me, they'll contact me. I had contacted about 25 schools in the past 9 months trying to solicit a job interview to no avail. Evidence to me that if they're interested, they'll find you.
October arrives. A bolt out of the blue! I had just finished finals myself and was about to start a new quarter when I got an email through the search service that a school in Kuwait needed an 8th grade World History teacher immediately. The same process again: time-zone delayed email responses, an optimistically scheduled Skype interview. Another smashing interview. High hopes now are tempered by cynicism. I log on to my email the night after the interview at 2 a.m. (with the time zone difference, this is when they'd be emailing me and I just had a feeling I should check) Lo and behold I find a job offer from the superintendent of the school, followed by a congratulatory email from the principal. The offer is post-scripted with "please respond within 48 hours." I can't sleep now, no way! I manage a few hours of sleep and get up the next morning and over coffee I tell my Mom that I'd received the job offer. This opens the whole "Holy-shit-you're-moving-overseas-now-what?" logistical conversation. I'd already decided that I'd take the job no matter the school's situation and circumstances surrounding the vacancy. I'd inherited bad situations before and knew how to reign in discipline or whatever might be the case. My last job had "challenging" administration so I'm used to having a challenge from in front of the desk or behind the desk--it didn't matter to me. So I typed up my acceptance email which was brief, I only had a few questions like: how soon do you want me? what kind of living situation will I be in? any tips on what to bring? etc. etc. I get my response: "Can you be here next week? Contact our travel agent and give him your passport info. and we'll get your flight booked. Yikes! NEXT WEEK?!?!? So basically I accepted the job via email on a Sunday and I was going to have 1 last week in the states and the following week I was flying out for a new job! Goodbye USA, hello Kuwait! In the meantime I had to drop my enrollment with tech. school, cancel my student loans, and see about my car. Luckily I knew about my job before the new quarter started, so I dropped the day classes were to start up again. So long as I didn't show up to class the loan money that had been sent would be refunded and I was in the clear.( I swung by just to say goodbye to my cool teachers and classmates). I then had to go through about 4 bureaucratic steps to be free and clear of both a. the college, and b. the financial institutions issuing the loans. But that was my goal that last week. I saw about renewing one of my 2 expired teaching licenses, while making copies of my still valid license. I cancelled my car insurance, got it ready to sell, and left it for relatives to deal with. If they didn't sell it, my plan is to keep it and use it as a trade in when I return. It has 160,000 miles on it so it was a "clunker." After I quit my part-time job working retail, I stocked up on new work and warm weather clothes. Then to tackle packing! I eventually packed up everything I was to bring into 1 backpack, 1 suitcase, and 1 duffel bag. Everything I'll need for a year-ready to be there for next week!
