International schools have only been around since the latter half of the 19th century. In the last 20 years, however, there has been massive growth in the industry. A variety of international school recruitment agencies now support thousands of international schools around the world.

Why do international schools use recruitment agencies?

Staffing these schools has been a challenge in the past. It takes a special type of educator to leave home to teach in a totally new environment.

Traditionally the head of school is also the recruiter. Along with running schools and managing their cohort of students, staff, the local government, and support workers, they need to take time out of busy schedules to think about staffing for the following year. Nowadays many schools have whole HR departments devoted to the hiring, relocation, and induction of new employees, however, they still need access to a pool of enthusiastic, well-vetted candidates.

How Search Associates evolved

Founding Director John Magagna was Headmaster at The American School of Tangier in Morocco, the Community School in Teheran, and Jakarta International School. He saw a way to help schools with their recruiting needs. Over time, he assembled an elite team of Associates, knowledgeable in every aspect of living abroad and working in international schools.

When John was asked how the company began, he remarked,

What I liked most about my job (Headmaster in Indonesia) was the opportunity to go out in the world with nothing but my bare hands and come back with a cadre of really good teachers. So I asked myself, “Why not just let somebody else run this school and make a profession of going out and finding good teachers?” So that’s what I did.

We have lots of schools applying to join Search Associates, but we screen them very carefully, putting them through a lot of paces. We could easily bring in 200 new schools very quickly; I don’t want to do that. What we want are quality schools that treat their teachers well. Consequently, we end up declining many of the schools who inquire.

Since 1990, Search Associates has helped over 35,000 primary and secondary administrators, teachers, and interns find exciting positions in international schools around the world. They are the most successful international school recruitment organization. They believe their success stems from the decentralized nature of the organization. Each of their associates started out teaching internationally and went on to work as heads of schools and to recruit staff themselves. They know the business inside and out.

Recruitment agencies multiplied

With the use of the internet becoming part of our everyday lives an ever-increasing number of teachers now search for opportunities to teach internationally alongside the ability to travel and experience new cultures. New companies have emerged to help schools fulfill their staffing needs. They often specialize in either the location of schools or teachers and have a variety of methods of addressing schools’ needs.

What makes Search Associates different?

Search Associates have enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s leading international school recruitment agencies. Their database of school and candidate information is the best in the business. Each year schools update information about their schools and the packages they offer. Beyond connecting schools and candidates to the mainstream international circuit, Search Associates gives significant financial support to United World Schools, a UK registered charity that aims to ‘teach the unreached’ by building and developing community schools for out-of-school children in South East Asia.  Search Associates also partner with Teach-Now to help emerging teachers gain teacher certification with a $1000 discount on the price of certification.

Search Associates is unique in the international teacher recruitment world as they thoroughly screen both candidates and member schools. Their confidential references are the gold standard in the industry and recruiters rely on the integrity of these forms.

Their model ensures that teachers deal with a person whom you can email or meet online to answer your questions.