It was as if the school had literally fallen off the face of the earth. After 2 interviews at the Fair & an ongoing exchange of emails during the next few weeks, the school Director who’d led me to believe I was on the verge of being hired, suddenly & without warning, disappeared from my radar. I never heard from him again. Texts, emails & 3 phone calls were not answered. He had ghosted me!
Call it “ranting” if you choose, but soon thereafter I submitted a School Review outlining my negative recruiting experience with this Director. He can wear my Review as a badge of dishonor for the rest of his career. Thank you ISR for giving teachers a voice & holding Administrators who treat us like commodities, accountable.
As it turns out, ghosting is not uncommon in the International School arena. Although a poor business practice at best, I can almost understand not responding to every single resume/cover letter submitted for consideration. To lead a teacher on, get their hopes up & then disappear is, however, without conscience, manners or morals. Imagine passing up another offer only to be ghosted by your first choice! Do schools realize they are playing with our lives? Our careers? Maybe some just don’t care…
I read an amusing comment by a teacher on the ISR Forum who reports that after a few weeks of being ghosted he sent an effusive email thanking the school for the job offer, telling them he’s excited & looking forward to meeting everyone at the start of the school year! He goes on to say, “It’s funny how this elicited a response! Although not professional, neither is ghosting.”
Have many International Educators experienced ghosting in this unprecedent recruiting season? I reported my experience to the recruiter & could sense the manufactured tone of concern. Has COVID pushed ethics & etiquette out the door to become merely a handy excuse? Beyond posting Reviews of these irresponsible Directors, how can teachers avoid being ghosted, or what can they constructively do about it?
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One gets used to the unacknowledged applications, but to be asked to prepare for (and attend) an online interview or two, then be totally ignored is both bad PR and just rude. It seems to have become more prevalent with the rise of the video interview – I guess schools gave a little more consideration to candidates when they had to pay expenses, book travel etc.
From my experience schools in Spain seem to regard it as fairly normal practice with The Academy International School, Mallorca, British School Barcelona and Sotogrande International all apparently considering it a fair way to treat someone.
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Interviewed with Panyaden International School in Thailand and after three interviews with the head of school and other members of the leadership team and filling out a lengthy questionnaire about the 12 Wie Habits, I was told that I would know something within “a week or two” because the New Year holiday was coming up. It has now been over a month, there have been no responses to emails asking more questions (which the interviewers specifically said, “Email if you have any more questions”), and the posting has been taken down.
It is shocking that at the point the communication had gotten to that a short, “We found another candidate” or other email wasn’t given and the school just ghosted.
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Either this is a Thai-managed school, or the expats in the leadership team have gone native. Clear communication and following up, especially through email, is close to non-existent in Thailand (and this is not limited to schools). I worked there for a few years and this is mostly what made me leave. The classic situation that happened to me and several colleagues is that you end up getting reprimanded for not doing something that you were never given any info about.
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Applied to ICS Addis Ababa in Ethiopia got a response for an interview within 3 days. Had initial interview with head of department who said will pass on details to head of school for follow up, you should hear from them before break for second interview. UMMM I wonder when that will be as break has happened. Ghosted I think so
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I was semi-ghosted (is that a thing?) by Ruamrudee in Bkk. After being asked for interview – then told we don’t have time now as I’ve gotta run to a meeting, then being told they can’t do it as it’s Xmas vacation tmw… I was asked to get in touch at the next ISS fair. “We really are keen to meet you,” and dutifully at the fair I contacted them – to which they ignored me and refused to reply. I’m pretty polite as a person, I also know, after 20yrs in this industry, that not every teacher is for every school. But, a simple – hey there, we have decided you don’t match our needs- best wishes, would have done it for me. I find this stuff ignorant, insulting and unprofessional. Ruamrudee may or may not be a great school, I’d rather work with and for people with integrity.
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I was ghosted by the International School of Havana after 3 extensive interviews. After the third interview, I received no response from either emails or texts from neither the director Randal Neen, nor the secondary principal Anja Merilainen. Most unprofessional. I too think I dodged a bullet.
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I had this experience with David Miller at Yangon Academy. He did me a favor as after talking to past teachers, it is not a good gig anyway and the owner has military ties…ugh!
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I had a similar experience with a school. The principal asked me to fly to Doha at my own expense because he was returning to a school there that was honouring him. I said I would be at the January fair in Bangkok as planned and could not go to Doha. Apparently he hired someone he met at a layover in the airport on the way to Doha! At the Bangkok fair I spoke to the Head of School to say what time will my interview be. The head of school said, “Didn’t principal X tell you he hired someone he met with during his layover on the way to Doha?” I was dumbfounded to say the least. The Head of School was appalled by the principal’s actions and agreed it was wrong. I gracefully said, “Thanks for letting me know” and left. I would name the school and men involved but they all retired about 5 years ago so no purpose in it. I think all schools have a responsibility to respond to applicants. They should, at the least, set up an automated email response to state “Your application has been received and will be reviewed. If you do not hear back from us within X months we are not pursuing your candidacy at this time.” If you have an actual interview then the school should respond to you either by phone or by email to state if they are or are not pursuing your candidacy.
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I was ghosted by the Elementary Principal of Pechersk School International in Kyiv, Ukraine. Quite disappointing to see that a school that seems to have such a great reputation would do that. I had 2 interviews with the Principal and she told me I would be interviewing with the Director/Head next and she would be in touch in a week. I emailed twice, no response. I even contacted them using the Fair platform and they denied my request. Guess I dodged a bullet.
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My husband and I both had two hour long interviews each with the HoP and Principal of BIS Ulaanbataar. The Principal then told us he wanted to interview us both together … no problem … and that he’d get back to us the following week.
Mid way through the week, we emailed to set up a meeting. The PA said she’d pass the message on .. nothing. So the following week, we emailed again … this time no reply what so ever.
So disappointed! 😦
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Depending on the year, that could be when the admin was escorted off campus by police and questions about whether the school would stay open were being asked in the parent and expat community.
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Michelle, you dodged a bullet so be happy not disappointed.
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Sometimes people slip through the cracks. I have always tried to get back to everyone personally that we interview, but there have been years where we have received 200+ applicants per position, interviewed a dozen of them and have genuinely just forgotten the really unmemorable candidates, which I know is awful, but it happens.
Just today an email came through from a name that I didn’t recognise immediately, had to look through the interview folder and realised that it was one of the candidates who we wound the interview up on quickly two weeks ago.
We had forgotten to get back to them a week or so ago. If I’m honest, I wasn’t actually sure if he really had intended to interview.
I made the mistake last year of being polite and sending a generic thank you email to all applicants through TES. Then spent many hours sifting through emails of people who hadn’t got past the first sifting asking for feedback.
What do you say to a candidate that hasn’t made it through the first sift because they haven’t managed to read the basic instructions of who to address their letter of intent to and how many references to provide and one must include your current head of school.
Or the candidate, whose application only says – see attached documents – in their TES application.
Maybe ISR could do a report on how heads of school feel during recruitment season. Rather than the usual pitchfork burning posts that are made about school administration.
ISR ADMIN NOTE: We would welcome an article on this topic and hope you will consider writing it. Please mail your completed work to internationalschoolsreview@gmail.com
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With all due respect, and I can only speak from my own experience, and those I have read in this thread, the common gripe is not about admin replying to cadidates who have simply applied, but those they have taken the time to interview and say they will reply in a few weeks. I understand the taxing situation of having to sift through many applications, even ones who you have interviewed. However, what I don’t understand is why admin would make the empty promise of getting back to them and not. There is literally no excuse for this.
It was your opening paragraph that confuse me a little bit. You said that sometimes people slip through the cracks, and that you always try to get back to everyone that you interview personally, but then switch to say there are years where you receive 200+ applicants per position. It’s confusing because you’re conflating basic applicants with people you interview in the same sentence. I would think that the “dozen or so” people you interview would deserve the respect of having you reply, and it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. What is that, about 30-45 minutes? Are you interviewing 50-100 people a week? Hmm
If the sheer number of applicants makes it difficult to respond after interviewing, don’t make promises, or say you will follow up, especially to the unmemorable ones. This is a matter of professional integrity, not simply saying, “I know It’s awful, but it happens”. To me, that’s like saying ‘I’m sorry, but it is what it is”. Simply put, if you interview someone, be prepared to follow through, and send a follow up email with, ‘not interested’ etc. Is this not part of the interviewing process, you interview people, and then let them know if you’re interested or not? If you’re interviewing 100s of cadidates for a few positions, I think there might be something wrong.
Finally, you made the mistake of being polite? I didn’t know that being polite was a mistake. I think maybe being overly courteous might be though…
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PREZ….It isn’t rocket science to have a system setup that indicates clearly, by automated mail reply, that if the non-shortlisted applicant(s) don’t hear back within a specific period of time, they can safely assume they are no longer under consideration. If you do intewrview, then letting those candidate(s) fall through the cracks is a sign of indifference and bad management. It isn’t a difficult challenge to courteously reply to a shortlisted candidate and indicate that you are not retaining their candidacy. I agree that many applicants don’t do a great job of filling out applications but that doesn’t justify your careless and disjointed attitude either.
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The statement of “made the mistake of being polite” worries me for the people that work for this person. I do say person because we are all people and hopefully being polite is something we can do to all and not view as a mistake.
It does seem like there would be a benefit to investing some time into using the systems that already exist in almost all email platforms to allow efficient “sifting” so that hours to not have to be devoted to tasks Prez does not seem to think are part of the job or are too bothersome to carry out.
The idea of the post is about the people who have done more than the first interview or only sent communication about interest in a position and the mention of these emails appears to be a way to bring up a “poor me, administrators have a rough life that other people can’t understand” attitude. Everyone has their own difficulties and successes in working in education and hopefully we can work together to eliminate some of the needless struggles with these type of conversations. It doesn’t seem that the thread was started to just put down schools and administration or compare who is worse off. That being said, how you choose to interact and use this forum will make it be productive or not. What can we learn from people’s experiences and how can we do better?
To answer the question about what do you say to a candidate, you can tell that candidate what information is needed or to refer back to the posting for instructions on how to properly apply. That would seem like a logical way to handle that situation and then the person has the opportunity to follow the correct procedure or not and the school and administration does not seem like and uncaring entity. Too often it seems to me that schools forget their main function of educating people. This also shows up in the recruiting process when like this person has posted schools don’t take quick and easy steps to make sure the process to apply is clearly communicated or if a person has applied incorrectly just writes them off instead of offering any education on the correct process. Applicants are just supposed to figure it out and if they can’t then they are not worthy of any assistance no matter how small.
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If you decide to invest time and interview a candidate, and they then accept another job, but fail to inform you they are no longer available. I wonder, what would your opinion be then hm?
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Given the proposed situation of being a hiring admin and not hearing back from a candidate that accepted another job. I would point out that professionalism goes both ways. Communicating with the school and/or hiring director/admin that you have accepted another position is professional courtesy. Again, clear communication is key because I am sure that there will be the argument that if there has only been one interview and no offer, then the candidate should assume that the school is moving on and there is no need to inform if you have accepted another offer, but communicating clear expectations of the next steps from both parties can help alleviate this unnecessary stress.
To answer the direct question of what would my opinion be then. I would find it unprofessional as i would have communicated the clear next steps and hope that everyone can make progress toward communicating and building a better interview and response process.
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I interviewed with Lincoln School in Costa Rica. I had one follow-up email, then crickets. My thoughts are that if they didn’t have the professional courtesy to let me know I didn’t get the job, then I didn’t want to work there, anyway. I ended up with a much better job at a school in South Korea…better salary and benefits. Everything happens for a reason in my opinion!!
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My husband was flown to Jeju to interview and do a demo class at North London Collegiate. Upon arrival the room he was given hadn’t been made up. Following the ordeal and return home he heard nothing, ever, ever again. Quite amazing.
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I was ghosted by Kellee, the principal of the International School of Curitiba. I waited almost a month before emailing back, and asking if they had made a decision. Crickets. I feel like if admin takes the time to interview you, it’s personalized and deserves even a quick rejection email. I would have understood, and there wouldn’t have been any hard feelings. I found it quite cowardly and unprofessional. I guess I dodged a bullet there.
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I was ghosted by Verita International School after having 3 interviews.
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Bradley Roberts, former head of SJI International, Singapore and his vice-principal (academic), Amy Lee are classic examples. They royally ignored us after making it to the short list followed by an interview. Even after sending an email enquiring about the application status in the post-interview period, they didn’t have the minimum courtesy to respond. Even the clerical staff is quite rude at this school. The same gentleman is currently leading IS Basel in Switzerland and his ways haven’t changed a bit.
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Yes – all this is very familiar, especially at the moment in the international school recruiting world. Out of many applications submitted so far in 2020/2021, I have only received 3 responses stating that I was not successful. In each of those cases, I have sent a response back thanking them for letting me know because so many schools do not.
It would be great if some directors, SLTs and HR departments could post their responses on this forum explaining their reasons for not responding to applications, interview requests, follow ups to interviews etc. Some responses from recruitment agencies would also be welcome. Everyone understands that schools receive a great number of applications for every job advertised. Everyone also knows that schools are in a state of uncertainty and turmoil because of the Covid pandemic. However, a decision has been taken to post the job vacancy so there must have been some thought and time put in to make that decision.
It is true that it is very easy and simple to construct a generic email and send to all unsuccessful applicants so they at least know where they stand. Perhaps the recruitment agencies could provide an email template to registered schools to make it even easier?
The whole process of registering with recruitment agencies or applying individually for positions takes an enormous amount of effort and time on the part of teachers, so schools and their recruiters should respect this and surely make an effort themselves to at least be polite?
So come on ‘international teaching world’ – lets make this an opportunity to work to do some strategic planning to improve the recruitment process by all stakeholders.
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SMG.
I’m a hiring manager at my school, and I admit to ghosting candidates who seem overly needy. I clearly tell candidates what I can answer, and refer them to HR or Finance for questions beyond my purview. If a candidate insists with me beyond my ken, I drop them.
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Same experience with Affiliated High School of South China Normal University in Guangzhou. Stay away from Damon Six and Daniel Zhu
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I was semi ghosted a few years ago!
Again, I had 2 interviews, the school was very enthusiastic and offered me the position before Christmas Vacation, but by the beginning of February I still had not been sent the contract.
Essentially I assumed that the school was ‘hedging their bets’ and waiting to see if a more “enticing” candidate landed in their lap. I sent an email to the director informing him that as I had not received the contract, I would be signing with another school later that day. The director replied within 15 minutes, in the reply was my contract and some platitudes about how valued I was.
These are signs, of course, of why NOT to try hard to work for such schools- if they’re treating you like this it is because they do see SOME people as disposable and SOME as valuable. Indeed, when I eventually arrived at the school the director summed it up for me: “In this world there are winners and there are losers…”.
We must avoid leadership mindsets like this.
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This has been there for many years. I was a victim some 5 – 6 years ago.
School name: Compass International Schools Doha
Culprit: Chris Share – Head of Secondary
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Perhaps it is part of a country’s culture. I’m not making excuses but I have watched parents sit patiently for 6 or 8 hours with children for a chance for an entrance interview with the local Director which is part of the standard application process. I would think that totally unprofessional and would certainly move on to the next school. Yet I see parents do this year after year because the school has a good reputation and they want only the best for their children.
I think in the international world, we are all expendable in the eyes of the owners. From our perspective, we will move on after one year or a number of years so their investment in our feelings is minimal.
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Had an interview with Creative Learning School in Hong Kong in mid 2019. Very positive and never heard anything back. Its common. Most directors/Headmasters dont last long anyway and many do not really care. Its all part of international teaching one door closes/another opens.
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Do you mean headteachers? Surely not headmasters? This is the second time in a week where I’ve picked up on the same issue. It’s not semantics, so don’t even go there.
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I had a similar experience with Avenor College in Bucharest. I was offered the job over the phone, told that I would be flown to Romania to sign the contract and see about accommodation. It all sounded excellent. I have over 20years international experience across 4 continents so am not easily fooled. The promised ticket never arrived, I initiated all the contact for the next 2 months, then gave up when none of the promises were realised I clearly had a lucky escape and am very happy where I am now. Steer clear of Avenor College!
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I had an experience a few years ago with a school in Colombia. All seemed to be going well. I was asking for a slightly better package especially re. how the money was distrbuted. Everything was very polite. I was on the point of just accepting anyway when suddenly I was ghosted!!! Perhaps it was divine intervention!
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In Armenia/Quindio?
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Been ghosted twice since November 2019. I’m used to schools not responding to applications, even though I feel it is unprofessional. There is no way a school receives too many emails for an autoresponse message to fail. That aside, the first ghosting was in the spring of 2020, with one school who picked one of my interview times, then went on line an hour early. By the time I got the message, the director had left, apparently feeling that it was my fault the school called an hour early. Had a good interview with a deputy, and we discussed some interesting prospects. At the end, I was assured I would have the second interview scheduled the next week. Nada. After 2 weeks, I sent a polite note asking the status of the position and was told my name got sent up the chain but the director vetoed it. Was promised a push for reconsideration, but nothing. From that time forward, I have provided my time and used World Time Server to get the equivalent time in the school’s time zone, as well as the UTC time.
The second ghosting was in December, and it was even more promising, with discussions of a position at the above school level. The end of that interview also held a promise that I would be contacted for the next interview in a few days. Nothing. At the 2 week point, i politely emailed with a request for status. Crickets. Emailed again a week after that. Nothing.
In both cases, I feel I have dodged a bullet, even though the information I could find on both schools leads me to believe they are quality institutions (hence no names provided here); however, I agree that professional courtesy alone should generate notification when one is not in consideration. Far too many schools use the excuse that ‘due to the volume of applications’ they are unable to acknowledge receipt or ‘only short-listed candidates will be contacted’. As I mentioned in my introduction, it is quite simple to construct an auto-response that replies either to a specific email address, words in the message subject, or other more sophisticated filtering. Even though such messages are obviously “canned” they are a simple courtesy that schools should engage.
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Absolutely agree with you. We are on the same boat, also have been ghosted twice from January. Especially the 2nd ghost was after 1st round video interview and the 2nd interview with the panel(4 members) for over a hour, then went silent without anything. But I did not send any emails to ask as I know both schools they are not worthy.
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This happened to me with a new “prestigious” school in China – Fettes College! They literally disappeared. I personally think the COVID situation is absolutely no excuse for being downright rude.
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I feel like 20 years ago schools were pretty responsive. Maybe there weren’t as many alplicants/not as much doing things over computer. I really liked my director Dr. F. Thompson. He cared. Came to the airport to pick us up in Egypt. Still communicate with him from time to time.
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The same happened to me with Fettes. It is too isolated I feel so I feel it was a good miss for me! They were all over the place when setting up and covid hit and I felt they could not make up their mind and were more concerned about their partner than te incoming hires.
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Most of the schools don’t care before OR during one’s employment. A few pretend they do. Very few really do.
Recruiting companies threaten teachers for backing out, I’m yet to see any consequences imposed on equally unethical schools. Admin are vetted based on official records, not on what really goes on in their schools (personally know of two complete shit shows (one of which should have had legal consequences), but it was swept under a rug and these people went off to torture someone else with wonderful references.
I post about these things here, but it seems that neither school boards or admin are overly concerned with any sort of reality. We are expendable, and the system is set up against the teacher in every sense possible. It’s sickening.
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Sinarmas World Academy ghosted me..
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Had the same experience with Sinarmas.
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They haven’t cleaned up their act then. I’ve been ghosted by them, Singapore International School (SIS) and Sampoerna Academy in the past. Sadly, it’s an all too common practice.
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Thank your lucky stars! Sinarmas is a horrible school to work for. And the ghosting is absolutely an indicator of poor admin.
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Advice: all should be agreed within 24 hours or at the latest 48 hours.
It can also still all fall through.
Some schools move quickly. Let you know of their decision on the day with arrangements of flight and accommodation discuss in interview. If the school is serious then you could be at the school in 2 to 3 days.
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This has happened to me more than once. If a school wants you, they will make you an offer. If they are not responding you have to move on. They are either trying to keep you on hold whilst they look for someone they like better, or they are simply not interested.
I once had a school interview me and it went well. A couple of days later they said to me they would like to employ me but they prefer to hire teaching couples. If they were unable to find a suitable couple they would get back to me with an offer then. No problems if they are being honest and open.
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Very common lately, many directors just show their true colors. If they have not enough respect to drop a line saying you are not in their hiring plan,,,,,well God bless them. Imagine what would be working with those individual/company.
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Honestly I do the same thing to international schools. No matter how shitty the school, I always tell them how much I want the job and how much I want to work there and then I sign whatever contract I want. It’s fair play. Nothing matters until there is a contract signed by both parties, unless is a shit-hole country like Cambodia and then even a contract doesn’t matter.
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Dr.Steve, your attitude and clearly ugly ” Gringo” exceptionalism is HONESTLY why you’d get ghosted regardless. Shit-hole people like you give professional educators a bad name because they lie through their teeth, fake enthusiasm and then cut and run. Schools do this as well but does that justify your lack of integrity and chauvinism?
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A Shame to hear a teacher refer to a Cambodia in that way …..guess it says more about him than the nation and its people .
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I agree with the first part of your comment but then you ruined it by saying that about Cambodia. What you are saying is that if someone is poor you have the right to treat them badly. Let me guess, you also believe that Mexico will pay for the wall.
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This happened to me twice.
At GEMS-Etoy, I had several interviews with different people and follow-ups, with emails literally saying don’t accept anything until you hear from us. When I didn’t hear anything and followed up I got nothing. Eventually they did get back to me (a month later) saying that they got someone else.
Another one was Osaka YMCA, the school just stopped responding and I never heard from them again, not even to tell me that I didn’t get the job.
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I was going to name schools, but I’ll just say this is sadly common in the international realm. I was ghosted by two very well known, “tier 1” schools during my time abroad. In both instances, I had already been made an offer.
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Something does not smell right about the Necessity School in London, UK. I have been around the block with them a couple of times with email after email. All I asked for was a video conference to speak to someone in authority. They present an amazing package to you but do not follow through at all. I could not even get them to tell me what classes I would be teaching. All they called me was an “English Teacher” which is weird because I am a science teacher of 42 years. Go figure.
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This happened to me this year when applying for a prestigious new school in Singapore. During interview I was lead to believe that I was seriously being considered for the position and was told that I would hear back from them by the beginning of the next week. I heard nothing and so contacted the office at the end of the week, only to receive no reply… A while later they re advertised the same job but this time with the words ‘suitable for NQTs’. With 20 years of teaching experience, I am definitely not a cheap hire option but surely the school should have checked this before interviews. I will not bother to apply to this school or it’s sister schools in the future.
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It happened to me recently in the USA! I had three positive interviews , the third being hired over the phone. The director of the school told me that I would be receiving a letter with salary conditions, etc. a week passes, no word. Another week passes, no word. Then an automated message thanking me but the no thanks we chose another candidate. I did not bother to research as I assumed that US schools would not behave this unprofessionally. Not only does the school have bad reviews on Indeed and Glassdoor but the Washington Post has an entire article on the scandalous founder.
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Definitely learned my lesson about due diligence, working for the now-defunct (and still under investigation) International School of Warsaw. Yes, check ISR, every time! But don’t stop there. Research the school on other sites – other posters mentioned GlassDoor, for example.
Google the director. Find their LinkedIn profile (no LI profile is a red flag, btw) and research the schools they previously directed. It’s easy to assume that in this age of digital footprints, background checks, and child safety protocols, a person has been sufficiently vetted by stakeholders such as the board or owner, but you’d be surprised! Often they do less research than you, and sometimes they’re willing to overlook major red flags if it means they can get a director to manage their ramshackle operation.
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I was ghosted by a school in El Salvador. It was many years ago and I can’t remember their name. The director told my wife and I we were his top pick and to call in two weeks; this following the conference interview that went well. We called and he asked us to call in a week. We called and he said he needed a few more days. After that he never answered his phone again or our emails. No doubt his real first choice accepted his offer. Just as well, we found a great school and learned a lesson. This “word is your bond” nonsense spouted by some recruiters is a one way street. One thing you learn early when it comes to international teacher recruiting is that you need to look out for yourself.
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I had this with three US schools advertising on international websites. I got as far as negotiating salary.
I think they suddenly realised I wasn’t American, hadn’t read my CV, had no idea how to navigate the visa process, but didn’t quite know how to tell me…
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I am so sure that American schools throw my CV out as soon as they see that my education was completed in the UK…
I keep track of my applications, and get 100% response rate from international schools, but never hear back from American schools, despite my years of experience. Interestingly even when curriculum they follow has nothing to do with AP or US common core. They really can’t stand brits huh
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Legally schools in the USA can’t hire a foreigner unless they can prove they can’t find an American to do the job. So best to look for school districts that have programs set up to bring foreigners over. These jobs are in government schools and the working conditions can be very difficult. Obviously the pay is not sufficient which is why American teachers won’t accept those jobs.There is NO path to citizenship unfortunately. My Australian friend worked for a school in North Carolina under such a program and another friend from India worked in an inner city school in Baltimore, Maryland under a similar program. Living expenses are so high in the USA for health care, rent, etc. that unless you know people you and live with might be very, very difficult to save up any money.
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This has happened to me, twice. Both times I doggedly followed up and eventually arrived to find a school in total disarray – the second time it was an actual criminal enterprise (see blog).
If they can’t maintain a line of communication early on, they do not have their act together. It’s still early. Trust you’ll find something better.
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If you expect excellence and integrity from some schools, overseas teaching can be a barren wasteland in many cases. I have been ghosted but it ended up being a blessing in disguise.
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As I mentioned in my post, it happens in the USA. I trusted a school as some members of the administration are graduates from the top schools and worked at some of the most elite schools in the country. Yes, you are correct that many international schools are lack morals, but I am starting to see that newly minted private schools and charter schools are not that ethical either. The international school cancer has spread to the USA.
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To Wizzy: “The international school cancer has spread to the USA.”
Feels like a chicken-or-egg quesiton. I’ve experienced ghosting in the US as well. It’s not a great feeling, to walk out of an interview, feeling like you aced it, reinforced by admins who assure you that you’re the one for the job, you’ll get that phone call any time now.
Then nothing.
It’s impolite, it’s unprofessional. At least send a form email. “Thanks for applying, but we’ve moved forward in our hiring process.” It’s the right thing to do.
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I have had a similar, very recent experience with Galaxy International School in Entebe, Uganda. Shameful, really.
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You dodged a bullet there; international education is full of charlatans and grifters. Always read ISR before applying.
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