SABIS RECRUITMENT or should I say, how they got me.

I am sure that nobody is particularly interested in how I was recruited, in fact it isn’t very interesting at all. However, I feel compelled to write about it as I have seen its method criticised elsewhere on the web.

I answered an ad in a newspaper (I know now that they use the internet a lot on sites like tefl, goabroad, prospects, gradireland etc etc). I was posted an application form and information pack (emailed these days). The information pack was like a bloody manual to a car mixed with the regulations book we had in college. My first imppression was “what the heck is this ” ( I believe they were my exact words).

After the initial shell shock of receiving the material (about one week later), I set about trying to read it. I must admit that I was kind of frightened by the apparent complexity of the whole thing (I mean how could education be so organised, it wasn’t like that for me when I was in school so I assumed that it should be the same everywhere else in the world! Obviously not!). It was however important to read the information pack as it answered so many questions.

It took another week to pluck up the courage to open the application form (after the initial scare of such a detailed information pack—how could education have a logical structure and system?—not logical from my educational experiences and those of many others I know). Thankfully the application form was shorter but some of the questions were weird. Only in later years did I realise the logic of all of this information and application form, it was ingenious, if it scared me into not going then it means I was’nt serious about  going  in the first place. Therefore I would avoid being either fired or disgruntled when I did get out there. Therefore saving me and them time and money and when they could go and recruit someone else instead.

I suppose it makes sense from their point of view they have to try and plan ahead and have enough staff to start a year, shell out a rake of cash on flights, visas etc., so they have to try and be as sure as possible that someone is committed to fulfilling a contract.

So now they had my application form, CV and references. Next came a phone interview, again very logical and straightforward. By the time it came to the face to face SABIS interview they had all the possible information about me they needed, they had telephone interviewed me, checked my credentials, done a backround secrity check, verified my references and I guess had made their mind up 75% whether or not they would offer me a job . Afterall I really liked teaching and wanted to go to the United Arab Emirates and as I have already indicated I was impressed with the SABIS Hiring Protocol (These are my conclusions as I reflect).

Before the interview i was sent a contract and told to study it, prepare any questions that I might have about it and, if offered a job, be prepared to sign after the face to face interview. Again, on reflection this is a pretty nifty piece of HR. They new everything about me, they were travelling 5,000 miles once to do a bunch of interviews so they had to be  prepared. They had provided me with all the information and time in advance, had all of my information ,references, telephone interviewed me so upon reflection it was or is a logical proceedure (although not what we are used to in the west).

I hear things have changed nowadays and they travel to more than one country and more often as they have been so successful in opening so many schools globally and need a lot more staff. I also believe they use email and websites as opposed to forms and books as instruments of information and require criminal backround checks. I believe also they have an Irish guy in charge of all that stuff Sean Connery or Cooney or something like that ( I remember a guy by that name being based in Sharjah when I was there.)

Anyhow it is really important that an applicant has as much infomation as possible and the recruiters these days have to explain many things about culture, customs, the different educational systems. I have seen some of the crazy things on the net describing the recruiters (“sales people”). I saw one comment saying “not to trust the recruiter after all it is his job to recruit “, of course his job is to recruit he is a bloody RECRUITER , HELLO SMELL THE COFFEE. The are some serious imbeciles in this world, I just hope it is not a painful state of being.

So, I obviously signed the contract but not at the interview, i came back that evening and signed it. I was happy with the SABIS salary, that there was no discrimination and that the SABIS hiring practices and hiring protocol were transperent and acceptable to me. Thats my story!!.

 

NOTE: I have recently learnt that their recruitment department has become much more selective especially in terms of the completion of application forms and other documents. Those who half heartedly complete documents or mis a telephone interview are being rejected. They have, apparently a huge iflux of applications. SO, my advice, if you are serious then take their recruitment process seriously.