Job-Alike Sessions
Job-alike sessions are not new to international schools, they started with academics and have now become popular among non-teaching staff. For example, at EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Schools) leadership conferences, they organize all kinds of job-alike sessions for non-teaching staff such as HR job-alike sessions, Finance job-alike sessions, Facilities Management job-alike sessions, and Admissions/Marketing job-alike sessions. Much non-teaching support staff eagerly look forward to these sessions. The job-alike sessions typically take place at the end of the conference. Often, conference delegates start their informal job-alike sessions on their own, as they can’t wait to exchange information and ideas.
Due to the recent pandemic, these job-alike sessions have turned virtual. However, this has become a blessing in disguise. Job-alike sessions do not need to be attached to conferences; we can organize them at any time. Being virtual spares both the school and the attendees time and money on travel and accommodation expenses.
Job-alike sessions may be conducted in either one of these formats: guided sessions, free-for-all discussions, or a combination of both. In guided sessions, the topics for discussions are pre-determined before the event, and any participant can share their knowledge, experience, and questions related to the topics. Job-alike sessions typically begin with a welcome address and a short presentation of targeted issues most relevant to attendees. The session then breaks into professional area groups. On the other hand, the free-for-all discussions are an “anything goes” discussion thread. There is no official facilitator, and the participants decide what topics to talk about.
The purpose of the job-alike session is to provide an opportunity for experienced and new professionals with similar roles and responsibilities from different schools to get together to determine best practices, ask questions, discuss common issues/challenges, and share strategies, techniques, and solutions.
There are several advantages of job-alike sessions. Here are some of them:
#1 Establish and strengthen connections
Job-alike sessions are professionals coming together and sharing. It is a wonderful place (at a physical or virtual location) to meet your counterparts from other schools. You strengthen relationships when you repeatedly engage with them and find opportunities to assist them. They will generally reciprocate and offer help when you need it. They are probably like-minded people with similar goals as yours, so it is not surprising if you become friends and remain in contact with them via WeChat or WhatsApp over the years. It is common to see attendees from different regions happy to see each other again at conferences year after year.
#2 Get fresh ideas and gain different perspectives
Job-alike sessions can be an excellent source for new perspectives and ideas to help you in your role. Exchanging information on challenges, experience, and goals is a crucial benefit of job-alike sessions. In addition, it allows you to gain new insights that you may not have otherwise thought of. Work can be never-ending at schools. It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations and end up in a rut. By talking with your professional counterparts, you can gain insights from viewing the situation with fresh eyes. For example, an HR manager expressed that she had learned from a recent job-alike session to conduct a survey of the school’s job candidates to improve the recruitment process. She has been in the HR profession for more than ten years, and she had never thought of the idea.
#3 Gain more knowledge
Job-alike sessions are a great opportunity to acquire best practices knowledge, learn about your counterparts’ strategies and techniques, and stay up to date with the developments in the international school industry. A vast network of informed, interconnected contacts means broad access to new and valuable information. In addition, discussing common challenges and opportunities opens the door to beneficial suggestions and guidance.
#4 Receive professional support
International schools in the same region or country face similar challenges and issues, and attendees can discover solutions to these problems when they discuss them together. A small international school business manager was challenged by rising health insurance costs for his foreign teachers. His school took a great hit because of the small pool of insured persons. He heard that the other smaller schools were facing the same problem at the job-alike session. He then organized a few international schools to form a bigger pool, which substantially reduced their premiums.
#5 Find answers
When you have a strong network of professional contacts, you can be confident that someone within your sphere will be able to answer even your most challenging questions. If there is no definitive answer, you will at least have a solid sounding board to bounce ideas off and put step-by-step plans into action to tackle those problems.
#6 Build confidence
By meeting new people, you effectively step outside your comfort zone and build invaluable social skills and self-confidence. You will also become more confident in your job. After hearing from an experienced professional at a session how he dealt with a problematic direct report, a new person at the role felt encouraged because she took the exact same actions, but she wasn’t sure if she had made the right decision.
#7 Raise your profile
You can help your reputation as a knowledgeable, reliable, and supportive professional, by offering helpful information and tips to attendees who need it. Therefore, during the job-alike sessions, it is essential to create value by listening carefully, following up on conversations, remembering names, and offering your knowledge and expertise.
If you use the job-alike sessions well, it shouldn’t feel like you’re using these contacts to further your career. Instead, you are building strong relationships with people of similar interests, with both self-growth and mutual benefit in mind.
ACAMIS (Association of China and Mongolia International Schools) organizes several job-alike sessions for faculty and non-teaching staff throughout the year. Periodically click here to check the updated job-alike schedule. The next upcoming job-alike session in December is designed for business, HR, finance, or operations managers.
