We are registered and headquartered in the United States, with offices around the world led by our Senior Associates, all former international educators and leaders. Together we support educators and schools in more than 125 countries. Search Associates was founded in 1990 by John F. Magagna, an experienced international school leader, and remains family led today under his daughter, Jessica Magagna, who serves as our CEO. Read the full story on our Our Story page.

Because membership gives a school everything it needs to recruit well in one place. Every educator in our database is screened by hand: an experienced Senior Associate and their team review each application, verify a minimum of four confidential references, and confirm the profile is complete before a school ever sees it. Membership also means access to the most respected recruitment fairs in international education, a dedicated School Coordinator for every member school, a platform that keeps every posting and application organized, and consultants available when bigger questions come up. Most of the people behind that work are experienced international educators and school leaders themselves. Explore what membership includes on our Membership Advantage page.

More than 750 member schools across 125+ countries, with thousands of screened educators active in our database at any given time. Since 1990, member schools have hired more than 50,000 educators through us.

No, there’s no minimum size or type of school. That said, part of our screening process requires references from the expatriate educators already on staff, so we hear directly from the people working there.

We look closely at how a school treats its educators, because our network’s credibility depends on it. Specifically: salaries and benefits comparable to other reputable international schools, housing or a housing allowance, return flights or a travel allowance, health insurance, annual or biennial home leave, a supportive professional work environment, accreditation or membership with a recognized international accreditation body, and experience onboarding faculty from overseas.

Start with the school application on Get Started. Our School Coordinator follows up with a set of screening questions and a request for references. References are submitted through forms we developed and remain confidential. Everything is compiled into a summary report for our Executive Management Committee, which makes the final decision on membership.

The length of time depends on how quickly a school moves through our process, providing what we need accurately and promptly. It can take as little as a week or as long as several weeks. Schools interested in attending a job fair should apply well in advance to leave time for our review process.

Schools can join our network at any time, recruiting with us happens year round. To be visible on our site, ready to post vacancies, and prepared ahead of our job fairs, we recommend starting the application as early as possible, ideally between August and September.

No. We review every application carefully, and not every school is accepted. Some aren’t the right fit yet, and others need more time before we can confidently accept them as members. Being the largest network has never been our goal. Being one that schools and educators trust is. Learn more about how we evaluate schools on our Our Vetting Process page.

Yes. A school is welcome to reapply if its circumstances change and it can meet the standards of membership.

Our School Coordinator provides everything a new member school needs to start recruiting with confidence. That can include a one on one meeting to make sure the school’s team can navigate our site and use every tool available with ease.

Year round. Our database is always changing, with new educators joining throughout the year, so schools can search and hire whenever they need to, not only at our job fairs.

Every member school verifies and updates its information annually, since schools, leadership, and working conditions change over time. That keeps educators working from an accurate picture of the school.

Yes. Schools can end their membership status at any time.

In rare cases where a school no longer meets the standards of membership, we may deactivate that school from our network while we work through it.

Our School Coordinator is the point of contact for anything a school needs, before joining and after. Schools can reach out anytime, or connect directly from their school dashboard using the email icon in the top right corner. For a serious concern, such as a child protection issue or policy matter, schools should contact our Director of Leadership Recruitment and Global Partnerships.

Every educator is reviewed by an experienced Senior Associate and our team before their profile ever reaches a school: professional history, qualifications, and a minimum of four confidential references, all collected in a consistent format we developed so every profile looks and reads the same way. There are no algorithms and no shortcuts. A real person reviews every application, every time. See the full picture on our Recruit Top Educators page.

Professional history, teaching qualifications, uploaded credentials, confidential references, and background check documentation when an educator has completed one. Every profile is built to the same structure and reviewed for completeness before it goes live, so schools are comparing applicants on the same information rather than working around gaps or piecing together what was left out. When profiles look and read the same way, comparison gets easier and hiring decisions get clearer.

We strongly recommend, but don’t require, that educators complete a criminal and police background check from their country of passport and current country of residence, through our partner Avanz. Most member schools require this as a condition of hire, so we encourage schools to confirm it directly as part of their own hiring process.

Child safety shapes how we built our process. Our application is deliberately thorough and our profiles are comprehensive, and that depth is a safeguard in itself: it attracts educators who welcome that level of scrutiny and deters those who would rather avoid it. Our profile structure reflects recommended practices in safer recruitment, developed in part through our early work on the Recruitment Committee of the International Task Force on Child Protection. We set clear expectations with schools about due diligence before any offer, whether a hire happens at a job fair or through our database, we require confidential references at the leadership level, and we maintain a confidential pathway for raising concerns.

Our educators come from different countries, school systems, and professional backgrounds. Some are experienced international educators looking for their next school, and others are entering the international community for the first time. That range is deliberate, and inclusive practice is embedded in how we work rather than treated as a separate initiative.

Yes. Educators in our database agree in writing to honor commitments they make to schools, including offers they accept, and they are informed about how to engage professionally at each stage of hiring and at our job fairs. Conversations with schools start on professional footing.

Yes. Our screening gives schools a solid, organized place to begin, but calling referees directly, reviewing documents against a school’s own standards, and confirming visa requirements and classroom skills remain essential steps. We facilitate the connection. The hiring decision, and the diligence behind it, stays with the school.

Yes. A one time joining fee of US$2,000, paid before the school’s account is activated.

Yes. When more than one school in a group applies for membership, the first school pays the full US$2,000 joining fee, and discounted rates apply to additional schools that join within the year. Contact our School Coordinator for details.

Yes. A US$500 annual membership fee keeps a school connected to everything membership offers: continued access to thousands of screened educators, access to our job fairs, promotion of the school on our website, every vacancy posted pushed out to educators actively searching our database, the credibility that comes with being a Search Associates member school, and ongoing maintenance of the school’s profile.

Teacher: US$1,980. Intern: US$1,800. Administrator: US$2,980.

Yes. For positions of six months or fewer, schools pay 50% of the full recruitment fee. Longer positions carry the full fee.

A recruitment fee applies whenever a school hires an educator through our services. That means any educator who learns of a school’s vacancy through a posting on our website, connects with a school at one of our job fairs, or is viewed on our website by a school’s recruiters before being hired. If the hire happens at a job fair, the fair organizer invoices the school directly. If it happens through the database outside a fair, the educator’s sponsoring Senior Associate invoices the school directly.

Yes, if the educator first learned of the vacancy through the school’s posting on our website. Posting a position puts it in front of every educator actively searching our database, and when an educator discovers an opening that way, reviews the school’s profile, and is hired as a result, that still counts as a Search Associates assisted hire.

Our service concludes when an educator accepts a school’s offer, and an invoice is issued once we learn of the hire. Schools sometimes ask us to hold the invoice until an educator arrives on campus, which can be months later. We issue it at acceptance, because that is the point at which the work we were engaged to do is finished. What we do commit to is this: if an educator reneges before arriving to start the job, we refund the recruitment fee in full, or cancel the invoice if it has not yet been paid.

No. To give our educators dedicated support, our Senior Associates manage specific regions, territories, and job fairs. Each educator is automatically assigned to a Senior Associate based on their location and the details they provide when creating their account. Invoicing and collecting recruitment fees happens locally: through the sponsoring Senior Associate for a database hire, or through the fair organizer for a job fair hire, rather than through one central office. Schools that hire educators through more than one Associate or fair may receive more than one invoice, each covering that specific hire.

No. Schools can post, edit, or remove positions on their profile as often as they like, at no cost. Every opening posted is pushed directly to educators whose search preferences match it, landing in their inbox and on their dashboard daily.

Yes. The Leadership Job Board is a separate, publicly visible page reaching roughly 60,000 visitors a month, and there’s an additional fee for this service. Contact Melinda Williams for details.

Yes. Attendance fees are set by each fair organizer and are separate from membership and recruitment fees. See the Job Fairs section for details on what attending costs.

All fees are quoted in US dollars (US$). Offices outside the US may invoice in local currency, calculated at the equivalent US dollar value.

Some countries require schools to withhold tax on payments to providers based overseas. Where that applies, the school covers it, so the amount we receive matches the fee in full. That’s why recruitment fees are quoted as net amounts. Schools that want a fuller understanding of how this works can contact our School Coordinator for more information.

Invoices are due within 30 days of the issue date. If something is holding up payment, we would rather hear from the school than let an invoice sit unresolved. Deactivating a profile is a last step, not a first one, and access is restored as soon as the balance is settled.

Our job fairs bring together large numbers of screened educators and member schools in one place. That means schools can meet many qualified educators, conduct interviews back to back, and often leave with offers extended or positions filled, all within a few days. See what’s coming up on our Job Fair Schedule page.

Each fair organizer sets their own attendance fee, and fees vary because the cost of running a fair depends heavily on location and venue. Fees are charged per recruiter attending from a school, and recruiters cover their own travel and accommodation. For specific fair pricing, please contact the fair organizer.

Yes. Recruitment fees are the same whether a school hires an educator at one of our job fairs or through our database. The only difference is who issues the invoice: the fair organizer for a hire made at a fair, and the educator’s sponsoring Senior Associate for a hire made through the database. See the Pricing & Membership Fees section for full fee details.

Invitations go only to member schools whose accounts are in active status, so the first step is applying for membership through Get Started. Because review takes time and our busiest fairs fill early, we recommend starting well in advance.

Member schools in active status can request an invitation from their school dashboard, or contact the fair organizer directly.

No. Each fair has its own character, and organizers work to build the right mix of schools at each one. That means considering venue capacity, how many schools are already attending from a given region, how many invitations are outstanding, the kinds of educators a particular fair tends to draw, and whether a school’s package is likely to be competitive there. The goal is a fair where schools recruit successfully, so organizers may recommend a different fair as a better fit. We suggest talking with the fair organizer early about which fair suits your school.

A one year paid position including salary, housing, and airfare, with additional benefits varying by school and region. Salaries are set appropriately for an early career educator and are lower than a standard teacher salary.

Yes, through the same process we use for every educator seeking membership.

A salaried position for the full one year contract, housing and airfare, mentorship from an experienced educator with regular check ins, a clearly defined role, and the same child protection and safer recruitment standards that apply to every hire.

It can, though it’s never guaranteed or expected. Some schools bring a strong intern on as a full teacher when a position opens, gaining someone who already knows the school and community.

Our Intern Coordinator. Learn more on our Hire Interns page.

Yes. We’ve led head of school and senior leadership searches across every region of the world for over three decades, including division principals, deputy heads, directors of teaching and learning, and senior finance and operations roles.

We’ve completed more than 800 Head of School searches, with a 95% retention rate among the leaders we’ve placed. Our consulting team brings more than 200 years of combined school leadership experience to every engagement.

Four phases: understanding the school and building the job posting and leadership competencies together, building a diverse and qualified candidate pool through global marketing and direct outreach, guiding the committee through selection with interview notes and structured feedback, and supporting the transition after the offer, including a year of ongoing availability. See how a search unfolds in full on our Head of School & Leadership Searches page.

Separately from our standard recruitment fees. A Head of School or senior leadership search is a custom engagement, scoped and priced around the school and the role. Our standard administrator recruitment fee applies only to administrator hires made through a job fair or our database, not to a search led by our Consulting team.

Beyond leadership searches, our consulting team supports schools in four areas: board governance, strategic planning, inclusive leadership and organizational culture, and compensation audits. Explore each on our Other Consulting Services page.

Consulting is occasionally offered to non-member schools, though the majority of our consulting work is with schools already in our network.

Our Director of Leadership Recruitment and Global Partnerships.