🦁 Your prowess as a hunter has been rewarded with several job offers – lucky you! Now comes the dilemma of having to choose between them. If only it was as easy as asking a Magic Eight Ball to make this decision for you. Rather than leaving your decision up to chance, considering the reviews of your peers (other educators with experience at a particular school) is an important next step before accepting an offer. I would recommend paying a subscription to the website International Schools Review (ISR) for $29/year, which acts like the Yelp of International Schools. Because educators speak the language of report card fluently, the website turns the table on the schools and their administration by allowing educators to give them report card grades and provide unfiltered, detailed comments.

⚠️ I would caution you against disregarding any of the reviews you find on there. You might discover, like I did, that the reviews were spot on. I once ignored the scathing accuracy of some reviews because they seemed too far-fetched to be true, only to find myself confronted with their blatant truth personally. I won’t make that mistake twice.

😡 Of course, there is the belief that it is only disgruntled employees who take the time to fill out these types of reviews. However, not all people start off with an ax to grind; oftentimes circumstances have driven them to it.

😇 In the case of the reviews found on ISR, I would like to also suggest that teachers are already overworked and overcommitted time-wise. Therefore, if they choose to take time out of their already overly busy schedule to write a review, than they most likely are doing it for altruistic purposes to help others avoid pitfalls they themselves have fallen into.

🧐 That being said, one must also beware of the reviews that scream inauthentic. It has recently come to my attention that some administration will resort to review bolstering by having allies write fake reviews and give glowing recommendations. These are pretty easy to spot especially when they are bookended with atrocious reviews written with specific examples of mismanagement, disrespect, or bullying.

🧙 As useful as I find ISR to be, I can honestly say that I have never written a review there myself, though I have been tempted a few times. My hesitation to do so is due in part from experiences colleagues have had when administration has conducted witch-hunts to locate the personnel responsible for less than favorable reviews; I don’t know about you, but I don’t have room in my life for any more bad juju. I may be a coward, but I do recognize and appreciate the efforts of all those teachers that bravely try to alert the rest of us to both the good and the bad alike.

⁉️ Receiving the perspectives of past employees at the schools I interview with helps me feel better prepared to make more educated decisions. In addition, I use this information to formulate questions I want to ask, usually in my second interview, which also gives the schools a chance to address some of the concerns that I might now have. Choosing a new position in a country abroad is a weighty decision to make that shouldn’t be left to the flippant nature of a Magic Eight Ball anyway.