During the 1996-1997 school year, I started looking into finding my first job overseas. I applied to the Council of International Schools (CIS). CIS is one of many recruiting companies that accept teacher applications for various international schools they represent. Teachers who are accepted through the vetting process are invited to a job fair where they can meet and interview with schools from across the globe.

I applied with CIS and Search Associates (SA). I was accepted by both groups and invited to the job fairs. The CIS fair was in London. The basic setup is the same for all of the companies. Prospective teachers arrive and check into the hotel sometime on Friday. Friday evening and/or early Saturday morning, the hotel’s ballrooms are filled with tables for each school present. They are arranged geographically and each school places a sign behind the table listing their openings. Prospective teachers mill about in the ballrooms talking to the representatives from each school to which they would like to apply. If there is an opening in your area of expertise, the school representatives will schedule a time for the teacher to come by their room for an interview. Some schools will make an offer on the spot after the interview in the room and others will wait to see all their candidates before making any offer.

In addition to the table hopping that occurs, schools have access to the teachers that have been invited to the job fair beforehand. If a school reviews your resume and application and is interested in your candidacy, they will schedule a time for you and place a note in your “box” at the fair. In this way, some teachers arrive with their schedule already full. It is customary for the invited teacher to confirm or refuse the interview to allow for the school to make necessary adjustments in their schedule.

At CIS, I went straight to the table for Russia. I wanted to work with the kind of students I had met in Dubna. This was my first taste of the reality of international schools. The schools in Russia would not even interview me. I came to them with no international experience. In retrospect, I get it. Russia would be a difficult place for me to adjust without experience in other countries. I was still disappointed.

In the end, I had two great interviews in London. I interviewed with Dr. Beverly von Zielonka, the middle school principal for the International School of Duesseldorf (ISD). I also interviewed with the middle school principal of The American School in London (ASL). I felt particularly good about both interviews. Dr. von Zielonka knew that I was going to Boston right after the London fair for a SA Job Fair. Bob Ater, the director of ISD, was going to be at the SA fair so she wrote a letter for me to take with me to Boston.

At the job fair in Boston, I interviewed with Bob Ater, and he did offer me a job in Duesseldorf. I asked him for a couple of days to decide. Secretly, I was waiting to hear from ASL. In the end, I called ASL to let them know that I was offered a position with ISD and had accepted. The principal from ASL was disappointed as she was working to decide. In the end, my first international job was to be with the International School of Duesseldorf in Duesseldorf, Germany.