How Did I Get Here?

Many of you have asked me how did I ever get this job in Athens, Greece? Good question. I was ready for a change last spring but I was too late in the international job world to get a job that was right for me. I had taught preschool at St. Francis for 4 years and elementary grades at Stone Ridge for 9 years. I put my love of travel together with my vocational calling, I looked into teaching abroad.

A family Toronto friend Struan who lives in Bangkok, Thailand with his wife and three children suggested I do a lot of research in order to find a school which fits me - looking at the size of the school, curriculum, location of the school, safety of the city it is located, etc.

So last summer in Maine I researched, made notes, "favorited" school sites, etc. In the fall, I sent in my credentials and my friends and colleagues sent in my recommendations to a company called International School Services www.iss.edu . ISS develops and manages schools around the world. Once I was in the database, schools around the world were able to access my files and I was able to see what schools had what job vacancies.

February 2008 I went to New York City to the International Job Fair. It was the most intense, exciting, stressful 48 hours I have ever had. My emotions were on a roller coaster. Within in the first day and a half I had 15 interviews from 15 different countries! Some of the countries were Egypt, Philippines, China, Singapore, Qatar, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and of course Greece.

I had my interviews in the recruiters hotel rooms because there were so many people. I felt sorry for the people who were also staying at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central and were not a part of this job fair. We tied a lot of the elevators up!

It was a domino game for both the candidates and the recruiters. Once the recruiter offered a teaching position, they could not ask someone else until they had a verbal response from the initial candidate. But the candidates were wondering and waiting to see what other offers they were going to have and therefore didn't want to answer too quickly before knowing what was on the "menu."

LONG story short, I accepted a teaching position in Athens, Greece for 2 years! I have to say, I think ACS (American Community Schools of Athens) was at an advantage because I had had a phone interview with the head of the lower school 2 weeks prior to the job fair. So I was able to take my time and ask questions specifically tailored to the lower school position. The head of the lower school then gave her top 4 candidates to the head of the school as he was the only one that would be at the job fair. Great strategy for them - and it helped me make my decision.

ACS had both a third and fourth grade position open. I will be teaching the fourth grade. ACS is a co-ed school from JK-12 grades. It has about 750 students from all over the world. We teach in English. Similar themes and skills of those children in North America. So children of parents who work for multinational companies, World Bank, diplomats, mostly ex-pats kids but there will be some Greek children in the classes too. Check out the school at www.acs.gr .