Our Recruiting Events feature both in-person and virtual components. For specific event details, please refer to our Recruitment Events page.

All AMISA Member schools are listed on the AMISA website. Schools must be accredited by a recognized US or international accrediting agency, as well as have Child Protection policies in place and adhere to all AMISA requirements, thus assuring their quality and standard.

AMISA offers a year-round service, but most hiring is done at our Recruiting Fair in December with placements continuing until April or May.

The sooner, the better… but aim for a November 1 completion. Once your application is complete (including obtaining confidential references in the Documents section of the application) and accepted, recruiters will have access to your online files.

Access to our recruiting database is now free of charge. You no longer need to make any payments. Once your online application is complete and accepted, your file will be available to schools' recruiters, granting you access to job openings and school information. Prior to completing your application, your file will not be visible to recruiters. If you have any questions or need assistance with the application process, please contact us at recruiting[at]amisa.us.

Candidates are required to hold at least a Bachelor’s Degree in the area they will be teaching.

Certification is the “license” granted by each State in the US attesting to the fact that a candidate has the necessary coursework in educational pedagogy to teach a given subject. Almost all of our schools aim to hire certified teachers and some are mandated to do so by their Boards of Directors and by the agencies which accredit the schools. The body which accredits most of our schools requires 15 hours of educational coursework. If a school agrees to hire you as an uncertified teacher, they may require you to take one course per semester so as to meet the agency’s requirement for teachers to have 15 hours of educational coursework.

Most agencies have dropped their long-standing rule that candidates must have a minimum of two years of full-time teaching experience to be accepted as a candidate. However, some schools will not hire teachers directly out of university…others will. Recruiters will be able to inform candidates directly regarding school and/or country specific requirements.

AMISA member schools are Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 (Pk-12) American International schools in the Americas, which use an American curriculum. They are not language schools. Therefore our schools look for certification in the curriculum subject area that you will be teaching. Schools would expect ESOL/ML teachers to hold a Bachelor’s Degree.

Schools will post available positions on in our database as soon as they become aware of them. The vast majority of positions, however, do not get posted until the weeks leading up to the fair…and many are announced at the fair itself. You can also expect that some jobs that are posted prior to the fair may be filled before the fair. Review vacancies in the database and contact recruiters regarding vacancies and to schedule interviews.

Yes! You are encouraged to email recruiters prior to the fair in order to establish interest in your candidacy. That said, you will find that many of the schools will not respond. This is not because they are not interested but rather because they see the recruiting events as the dedicated timeframe in which to meet candidates and hire them. The other reality is that schools receive many applications of candidates throughout the year and there is no way they can keep up with the volume of email traffic. That said, it cannot hurt to email a recruiter of a school in which you are interested with the aim of establishing contact.

Schools want to engage with candidates and meet with candidates to discuss positions and conduct interviews. Email can be used to schedule interviews.

Yes, you can still be a candidate. We encourage you to attend as many recruiting events as possible. The database is used year-round to post vacancies and search for candidates. Candidates should keep AMISA status as Active while currently looking for a position, and INACTIVE when no longer searching for a position.

Most of our schools hire all nationalities. A few schools do have government-imposed restrictions on certain nationalities due to work visa requirements.

Because of the laws of certain countries, the hiring practice restrictions placed by certain Boards, or the demands placed on Boards by members of the parent communities, citizens of a host school country may find that they may not be considered as overseas hire candidates.

The ratio of candidates hired to the total number of applicants varies greatly from year to year depending upon the qualifications of the pool of candidates and the staffing needs of schools.

Some candidates approach the fair with the notion that there is only one school or one city for them. We strongly suggest against this approach since that particular place may not even have an opening.

Approach the fair with an open mind and let unexpected opportunities take you to places you may never have envisioned. Some of the great gems of this world are unexpected places.

AMISA embraces the protection of children as an essential principle guiding its work in recruiting staff to work in its member schools. As such, we require confidential references of candidates from current and past supervisors and advise schools to personally speak with each referee. We require that candidate’s applications leave no gaps in work experience and that candidates self-declare any past criminal history. Failure to fully disclose may result in termination by a school for misrepresentation.

In addition, candidates should know that by opening an application, both AMISA and the schools have the right to undertake criminal and sex registry checks to ensure a candidate has no past history that would jeopardize the children in our schools. Additionally, each school will require the submission of documents mandated by their host country in order to obtain a visa. These could include Interpol or police checks from countries of current and past residence, or the more specific checks such as those listed below:

• USA (FBI Check)

• Canada (RCMB Vulnerable Sector check)

• England and Wales (DBS or ICPC)

• Northern Ireland (Access NI Enhanced disclosure)

• Republic of Ireland (Garda Vetting National Check)

• Scotland (Enhanced PVG Disclosure)

• Australia (Federal Working with Children Check)

• New Zealand (Police Check with exception request)

Salary and benefit information is posted in the AMISA database. While teaching is a noble vocation, it is also a job. In selecting a job, compare not only salary packages but the savings you might realize. Consider the cost of living as well as the salary and benefit package. While money is one aspect of fulfillment, remember you are heading off to an adventure. Consider the size and type of school in which you want to work as well as the place you want to live. Aim for a place where you will be happy and a place that will provide what you are looking for at this stage of your life: a bustling city, or a more rural setting?; by the sea or up in the mountains?; a hot climate or a colder one?; a stable country or a more politically exciting one?

We highly recommend that you visit the schools' webpages and do internet searches of cities and countries in which you are interested. The AMISA database has salary and benefit information as well as other specifics for each school.

For financial reasons (since schools generally provide housing and benefits), most schools will look either for single teachers and/or teaching couples. Some schools will hire couples in which one spouse does not work (or works remotely), but this is something to discuss during the interview process.

Some schools will not hire families with children, many will, and most will cap the number of children since the schools generally provide for the education of the children of the staff they hire. This is something that can be discussed during the interview process.

Some non-teaching spouses are retired or able to work remotely and do not need the benefits provided to a dependent spouse. Please be clear in explaining your situation to recruiters.

Our schools offer a typical range of courses found in American schools offering programs from Early Childhood through high school graduation. While the majority of our schools offer the College Board’s Advanced Placement Program in high school, there are a number of schools that offer the International Baccalaureate.

The specific positions that become vacant vary from year to year depending upon the needs and vacancies of individual schools. While one year may see a greater number of openings in math, science and counseling, for example, the following year may see greater needs in elementary positions, librarians and administrative positions.

Since our schools are located in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, it is highly unlikely that candidates applying as teachers of either of these languages will be hired from abroad. A small number of schools which are located in non-Spanish speaking countries may have openings for an imported Spanish teacher.

For the past few years, AMISA has opened its recruiting fair to administrative positions (i.e. principals, vice principals, curriculum coordinators, etc) and a good number of candidates have been successfully placed.

Check the Leadership Vacancies on the AMISA website. Applying for a Head of School position is a separate process from AMISA Recruiting Service.

Contracts are generally offered for an initial period of two years and most are renewable annually after the initial two years. Contracts in the international school world are taken VERY seriously and are, literally, binding upon both the school and the employee. Breaking a contract is not taken lightly… Candidates should, therefore, make sure they have a thorough understanding of the contractual agreement into which they are entering.

A verbal agreement is binding, and should be followed as quickly as possible with a written offer from the recruiter and acceptance by the candidate.

Log into the AMISA database. Login links are in the login area menu on the AMISA website (www.amisa.us).

Access Chat for Candidates: 1. Click the Chat link in the nav bar. 2. The candidate can then select any school from the left side.

Access Chat for Recruiters: 1. Click the Chat link in the nav bar. 2. The recruiter can then select their school from the left side.

Direct Messages (top left) - This shows all of their direct chats. The name in red is the active chatroom. When a new direct chat is requested, it will show a "Requesting Direct Chat" notice in red below the name and play a sound (if audio is allowed by their browser). Click the direct chat name to enter the direct chatroom. You can move your mouse over the direct chat name to show an "x" which will allow you to close the direct chatroom, but only once you have left to another chatroom first. Joined Chatrooms (middle left) - This shows all of the visited/joined chatrooms. The room name in red is the active chatroom. You can click on the chatroom name to switch chatrooms. You can move your mouse over the chatroom name to show an "x" which will allow you to close the direct chatroom, but only once you have left to another chatroom first. All Chatrooms (bottom left) - This shows all of the chatrooms. You can click on the chatroom name to enter that chatroom. Active Chatroom (middle) - This shows the active chatroom messages. Recruiters will see buttons at the top to download visitors and messages. They will need to download these at the end of each day, since it will only download the current day's visitors and messages. Candidates will only see the Profile and Vacancies buttons to view each accordingly for the active school. They can type a message at the bottom and either click the submit button or just hit the enter button on their keyboard to post a message in the chatroom. Recruiters can delete messages within their school's chatroom by hovering over the name associated with that message and clicking the "x" next to their name. Current Chatroom Users (right) - This shows all of the active users in the active chatroom. The name in bold is the current user's name. You can move your mouse over the names to show the red "Chat" button and click to enter a direct chat with that user.

Chat transcript reports are only active on the same day of the chat and then they disappear/reset at 11:59 p.m. ET each night.

Click Download Visitors to download chat room visitors from the day.

Click Download Messages to download chat messages from the day.

We never want candidates to feel rushed or pressured to accept a job. Candidates should have time to fully answer questions they might have about the position they are accepting and the school as well as the living conditions, the country, city etc.

However, we understand schools do not want to miss a great teacher because the teacher accepted another job offer. So, candidates should not be surprised if they are given a deadline to accept an offer. Be honest with the school. If you are really not interested in the position then do not drag out the process.

On the other hand, if you have a great job offer, do not wait to accept because you want to see what other job offers you might receive. If you would love to accept the offer, then accept. Don't pass up a great opportunity because you think an equal or better one might come along. At the same time, do not accept an offer just to accept an offer. If you really do not want the position then do not accept. The worst thing you can do is accept a position and then try and back out later. If you accept a position, you must complete the contract.

Verbal acceptances are binding. Written offers need to follow verbal offers as quickly as possible.