FAQs for Schools

How long does it take to have an application approved?

Generally, a few weeks, but this could be longer depending on how long it takes to get the information we need. Once your application is received, the School Coordinator will follow up by asking your school to complete a set of screening questions and to provide the contact information for references. Our School Coordinator will contact all referees and add this information to your school's summary report. Once we have received all of the required information, the report will be sent to our Executive Management Committee for a review process. The review process may lead us to ask for more information (for example, aspects of the school's operation, salary/benefits packages, etc.). Once we have the information needed, we do our best to determine whether your school would be eligible for membership with Search Associates as quickly as we can. If you are hoping to recruit at a particular job fair, you should submit the application well in advance. Please note that our busiest job fairs are often full by October. If we can expedite a school's application, we will certainly do our best, but only after we have received all of the requested information and we have accepted the school for membership.

What are the criteria for determining if a school is approved?

Generally we look for the following criteria when reviewing a school application:

Appropriate salaries and benefits compared to other reputable international schools around the world (for example, allowing staff to live comfortably, travel during the holiday periods, and still generate financial savings)
Housing or housing allowance (unless housing costs are adequately covered by the salary)
Round-trip flights/travel allowance
Health insurance (preferably worldwide)
Annual (or biennial) home leave
Free tuition at the school for teachers' children
Supportive professional work environment
Accreditation and/or Membership with International Education Accreditation Organizations
Extensive experience with onboarding of faculty from overseas

Who do we contact with questions or when we need assistance?

Please contact our School Coordinator, Mei-Lyn Freeman, if you have any questions or need assistance of any kind and she would be happy to help. You can easily connect with her from your school dashboard by clicking on the email icon at the top right of the main page.

Our school is not registered with Search Associates but would like to attend a job fair. How can I register for a fair?

All of our job fairs are by invitation only, and invitations are only issued to those schools who are fully registered with us. If you wish to attend a job fair, you would first need to submit an online application found on "Get Started" for schools. Once your application is received, it may take a few weeks to complete the review process, so we encourage you to begin the process early in order ot have a better chance of securing an invitation to a job fair.

Our school is registered with Search Associates. How can we attend a job fair?

Invitations are only given to schools that are fully registered and active in our database. You can easily request an invitation to any of our job fairs by completing the request form found on your school dashboard page after logging into our web site. You can also contact the fair organizer directly. If there is space available and the fair organizer feels that your school would benefit from attending the fair, they will send your school an official invitation. Please visit our "Job Fairs" page for more information about each of our fairs.

Should my school always attend the early fairs?

While early fairs generally attract the most experienced candidates, they also attract the most attractive and well-known schools, which often offer relatively generous packages. Start-up schools, smaller schools, schools in more challenging locations, and schools with limited packages tend to do much better at one or more of our later fairs. You should always contact the fair organizer well in advance to ask if a particular fair might be a good match for your school.

Is there a fee for posting positions once we are a member school?

No, we do not charge a fee when you post a positions on your school’s profile with Search Associates. These positions can be added, edited and deleted as often as you would like and can be seen by all active candidates of Search Associates. If you are interested in posting a position on our "Leadership Vacancies" page, please note that there is an additional fee for this service. We receive up to 60,000 visitors to this page on a monthly basis and the advertisements on this page are open to the public. For more information, please contact Melinda Williams.

What are the costs of attending a job fair and to whom are the fees paid?

Each job fair organizer sets attendance fees. Fees will differ because the cost of running a fair varies greatly depending on the location. Fees are charged for each recruiter attending from any particular school. Recruiters are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. Please visit the "Job Fairs" page for further information or to contact the fair organizer directly.

What happens if our school hires candidates at different fairs?

Each fair organizer sends the school a separate invoice, each one payable to the designated fair organizer's office.

When I fill vacancies as a result of meeting teachers at a job fair, can I pay the total placement fee with one payment to Search Associates? If not, what is the process?

The fair organizer will invoice you for any candidates you have hired at a particular job fair. For example, if you attend the Bangkok Fair and hire four teachers, the Bangkok fair organizer will send you an invoice for all the appointments that resulted from interviews/connections made at that fair.

If you hire a candidate outside a fair (through use of our database), the Associate representing that candidate will send you an invoice. To find the Associate sponsoring the candidate you hired, simply pull up the candidate’s online application.

Search Associates requires schools to inform either the fair organizer (if they hired through a fair) or the sponsoring Associate (if they hired through our database) as soon as they have formally appointed a Search Associates candidate.

How do I pay the recruitment fee for a teacher I have appointed solely through the Search database?

Each candidate is registered with an individual Search Associate. Non-fair placement fees are always payable to the candidate’s sponsoring Associate. Please contact the Associate sponsoring your new hire to notify them of the offer, so they can send your school an invoice. You can find the name of the sponsoring Associate and their contact information on the candidate's Search Associates profile.

We are having a difficult time filling a position or position(s). Can Search Associates assist?

If you are finding it difficult to find a suitable candidate, please contact our School Coordinator with the position details. She will send out an announcement to all Senior Associates to see if any of them know of a candidate who might fit your needs. These could be newly registered candidates you may not have yet seen or candidates coming through our system but who are not yet active on our database.