With 43 overseas teaching vacancies already filled and an anticipated 50-60 in the final tally, Executive Vice President and Fair Host David Cope reflected with satisfaction on the Search Associates London Spring Fair. On April 15-17, 2016, 51 schools arrived in London from the customary wide variety of countries – mostly from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, but including also this year four schools from Africa. Just short of 200 candidates attended, taking the opportunity to explore 250 international teaching vacancies. Several teachers had traveled a great distance – one from as far-flung a country as South Africa! David said, “For both schools and candidates, the London Spring Fair always has a global reach.”
Original founder of Search London, Senior Associate Harry Deelman, along with his wife and assistant Margaret, came to help out at the fair, as they have done for many years. Their son, Mike Deelman, who regularly comes to assist on the technical side, was also on hand. David’s office team, Rebecca Steadman and Emma Rayner, were a tower of strength in the fair’s preparation and organization – for Emma, who had only joined the U.K. team two weeks previously, it was her first ever experience of a Search Associates fair.
Historically, Search London Spring has been the largest of the late-season fairs, so for candidates still looking in the spring for good opportunities – and schools still looking for good teachers – it’s an attractive proposition. Two excellent sponsors spent the entire weekend mixing with recruiters and candidates: Nigel Nonkovic from Trinity Holdings offering financial advice, and Nick Chilver from Renaissance Medical Benefits providing group health insurance plans for schools. Jack Clark, first-time guest at Search London Spring, spoke eloquently to recruiters about the wonderful work done by the charity United World Schools, an organization that builds schools and creates educational opportunity for many thousands of children living in some of the poorest regions of Cambodia, Myanmar, and Nepal.
The charming Hilton London Paddington, with its faded art deco grandeur and understanding of the needs of Search London Spring, proved once again to be the perfect venue. Its highly convenient location, right on Paddington Station, enables fair participants to be checking in to the Hilton within about 20 minutes of leaving Heathrow airport.
Candidates and recruiters alike gave their overall experience at the fair high ratings. Typical was one candidate, who wrote afterwards to say,
"Well done and thank you for organizing such a great event. What a fantastic opportunity it was to meet recruiters from such good schools from all over the world. I found the whole experience so professionally enriching. Also it was very well organized and all of your team were absolutely helpful throughout."
Search Associates’ 11 job fairs not only offer overseas job opportunities, but they also provide a global network of colleagues, mentors, friends, and, of course, one-on-one support from our team of expert Associates. We hope to see you there!
