What the Interview Won't Tell You: Red Flags in Remote International School Hiring

Remote interviews have become standard practice in international school recruitment, but they've also made it easier for problematic schools to hide their issues. When you can't visit a campus, walk the hallways, or chat with teachers over coffee in the staff room, you're operating with limited information at precisely the moment you need clarity most. I've seen teachers accept positions based on polished Zoom calls only to arrive at schools that bear little resemblance to what was promised.

The interview process reveals more than you think. How a school conducts itself during recruitment tells you exactly how they'll treat you once you've signed the contract and boarded the plane. Some warning signs are obvious: requests for upfront fees or salaries that seem wildly inflated. Others are subtle. A vague response about behavior management policies or a reluctance to connect you with current staff might not seem alarming in the moment, but these small evasions often signal bigger problems.

Here's what the interview won't explicitly tell you, and how to read between the lines.

The Interview Setup Itself

Pay attention to the technical details of your video call. Teachers who've been caught in hiring scams report interviews where the camera was mysteriously off, or lighting was so poor that faces remained in shadow throughout the conversation [1]. The interviewer's name gets rushed through introductions so quickly you can't quite catch it. Everything feels vague.

Legitimate schools don't hide. If you're speaking with the principal or head of department, you should see their face clearly, hear their name, and have time to verify their LinkedIn profile matches the person on screen. When schools make it difficult to identify who you're actually talking to, it's usually because they don't want you asking questions later about promises that were made.

Communication during the hiring process also matters. If a school struggles to respond to your emails, reschedules interviews repeatedly without explanation, or gives you conflicting information from different administrators, brace yourself for chaos [2]. This isn't just disorganization; it's a preview of what you'll experience once you're trying to get your visa processed, arrange housing, or resolve a payroll issue from overseas.

Contracts That Don't Match the Conversation

When the contract arrives and doesn't match what was discussed during your interview, many teachers assume there's been a miscommunication. There isn't. The school is testing whether they can provide less without you noticing [3].

I've seen this play out dozens of times. The interview mentions a housing allowance of 8,000 RMB monthly; the contract lists 6,000 RMB. The principal describes a full international curriculum; the contract specifies "curriculum as assigned by administration." These aren't clerical errors. They're intentional.

Last-minute contract changes are equally problematic [4]. Schools that wait until you've resigned from your current position, booked flights, or shipped belongings before introducing "minor modifications" are banking on your sunk costs to push through unfavorable terms. Additional unpaid duties, reduced vacation days, elimination of promised benefits: all of these appear in revised contracts sent days before departure.

If the contract doesn't match your notes from the interview, don't sign it. Ask for written clarification and insist on amendments. Schools that respect their teachers will make the corrections without pushback.

Visa Procedures That Raise Questions

Reputable international schools ensure work visas are processed before you start teaching. They know the requirements, they've done this before, and they build in enough time for bureaucratic delays [3]. If a school suggests you should enter the country on a tourist visa and "sort out the work permit later," walk away.

This arrangement is illegal in most countries and puts you at serious risk. Immigration authorities don't care that your employer told you it would be fine. You're the one who gets deported, banned from re-entry, or fined. The school faces minimal consequences; you bear all of them.

Schools in China have been particularly problematic on this front, though the issue appears across multiple regions. Some teachers report being told that tourist visa entry is "standard practice" or "just how things work here." It's neither. Schools that can't or won't secure proper work authorization before your arrival either don't understand visa law (concerning) or don't care about compliance (worse).

Transparency About Policies and Procedures

Ask to see the school's behavior management policy during your interview. Also request the admissions policy. Schools with clear systems will send these documents without hesitation [3]. Schools that hesitate, question why you need to see policies, or claim everything is "still being developed" are telling you they don't have functional systems in place.

This matters more than you might think. Behavior management policies reveal whether teachers have administrative support when dealing with difficult students, what the consequences actually are for various infractions, and how much documentation you'll be expected to maintain. Admissions policies tell you whether the school has academic standards or accepts any student whose parents can pay tuition.

International schools with open admissions often enroll students with significant behavioral challenges or special educational needs without providing teachers the training, resources, or support staff to address those needs properly [5]. They won't mention this during the interview. You'll discover it when you're managing a class of 24 students with six different learning plans and no teaching assistant.

If the school refuses to share written policies or keeps everything frustratingly vague, you're looking at an environment where expectations shift constantly and teachers have little recourse when things go wrong.

Access to Current and Former Staff

Any school that won't provide contact information for current or former teachers is hiding something [3]. This is perhaps the single most telling red flag in international school recruitment.

Legitimate schools understand that candidates want to speak with people who actually work there. They'll connect you with teachers in your department, someone who recently relocated to the city, or a staff member who's been at the school for several years. These conversations give you information the administration would never share: what housing actually looks like, whether salaries arrive on time, how the principal responds to conflict, what the student behavior is really like.

Schools that refuse these connections, claim all current staff are "too busy" to talk, or only offer highly scripted conversations with hand-selected cheerleaders don't want you hearing honest perspectives. I'd go further: if a school makes it difficult to verify basic facts about the position, assume those facts don't support what they've told you.

Financial Red Flags and Upfront Fees

Legitimate international schools do not ask for money during the hiring process [6]. They don't request visa processing fees, housing deposits before you've seen the accommodation, or administrative charges for paperwork. If a school asks you to wire money via Western Union, pay into a personal bank account, or cover any costs before you've started work, you're dealing with a scam.

Some teachers rationalize these requests. Perhaps the visa process is expensive and the school needs help covering initial costs. Perhaps housing deposits are standard in this country. Perhaps this is just how international schools operate. It's not. Schools handle these expenses themselves, deduct them from your first paycheck if necessary, or arrange for you to pay landlords and government offices directly once you've arrived.

Scammers rely on psychological pressure and fabricated deadlines to rush your decision [6]. They'll claim visa slots are limited, housing is going fast, or another candidate is about to accept the position. These tactics exist to prevent you from conducting due diligence. Real schools give you time to think, review contracts with an attorney if you want, and ask questions without pressure.

Salaries and Benefits That Seem Too Good

When a job posting offers extraordinarily high pay, minimal hours, a dream location, and requires almost no qualifications, something is wrong [4]. International school salaries follow fairly predictable patterns based on region, school tier, and teacher experience. Outliers exist, but they're rare and usually explained by extreme locations (very remote postings), high cost of living adjustments (Zurich, Singapore), or truly elite institutions (major international schools in established markets).

A posting that offers $6,000 monthly to teach English in Thailand with no degree requirement and only ten contact hours per week isn't a hidden gem. It's bait. Scammers use these inflated numbers to attract attention, then introduce "complications" that require your money to resolve.

Compare salary offers against established benchmarks. Search Associates and ISS publish annual salary surveys that give you realistic ranges by country and position type. Numbeo provides cost of living data that helps you assess whether a salary is genuinely attractive or just large in nominal terms.

School Legitimacy and Online Presence

Scammers create surprisingly convincing facades [6]. They build websites with stock photos, copy accreditation logos from legitimate schools, and use plausible names that sound like real institutions. Some add modifying words to authentic school names: "Shanghai International School" becomes "Shanghai International Independent School." Others invent entirely fictional campuses in cities known for international education.

Check accreditation with the organizations themselves. If a school claims membership in the Council of International Schools (CIS), the Council of British International Schools (COBIS), or regional accreditation bodies, verify this directly through the accrediting organization's website [3]. Scammers copy logos freely; they can't fake actual membership databases.

Look for detailed information about the school's history, leadership team, and current staff. Real schools have graduation photos, sports team rosters, parent associations, and years of digital footprint across multiple platforms. Fake schools have generic content, sparse social media presence, and websites that appear suddenly with no historical archive.

If phone numbers lead nowhere and email addresses bounce, you're not dealing with a real institution [6]. Test contact information before you get deep into the interview process.

Questions the School Should Ask You

Pay attention to what the interviewer focuses on during your conversation. Schools genuinely interested in your teaching ability will ask about classroom management strategies, curriculum experience, differentiation approaches, and how you handle specific scenarios (parent conflicts, struggling students, cultural differences in the classroom).

Schools more interested in your nationality, where you learned English, or your partner's employment status than your credentials and teaching philosophy are revealing their priorities [5]. Some international schools hire based primarily on passport color and native English speaker status. They assume these factors matter more than actual teaching skill or experience.

If the entire interview focuses on your availability, willingness to start immediately, and flexibility around contract terms rather than your educational background and teaching approach, the school probably has high turnover and struggles to retain staff. They're hiring warm bodies, not building a faculty.

The Accommodation Promise

Schools often provide or subsidize housing for international teachers, but what they promise and what they deliver don't always match [3]. The contract might specify a "furnished two-bedroom apartment in a desirable neighborhood," but some teachers arrive to find studio apartments in inconvenient locations, shared accommodation they weren't expecting, or housing that doesn't meet basic quality standards.

Ask for photos and addresses of actual teacher housing. Request contact with a current teacher who lives in school-provided accommodation. Find the address on Google Maps and research the neighborhood independently. These steps won't guarantee you'll love your apartment, but they'll catch outright misrepresentations before you've committed.

Single teachers should specifically ask whether housing is individual or shared. Some schools require teachers to share apartments or even bedrooms without making this clear during recruitment. Finding this out when you arrive with your belongings is too late.

High Staff Turnover Patterns

The number of principals a school has cycled through in recent years tells you almost everything about institutional stability and staff wellbeing [5]. Schools that replace head leadership every year or two are either extremely dysfunctional or experiencing serious governance problems. Teachers rarely thrive in these environments.

Current staff retention rates matter just as much. If half the faculty leaves every summer, the school either pays poorly, treats people badly, or both. Some turnover is normal in international schools (people move, family situations change, career opportunities arise), but healthy schools retain most of their staff year to year.

When you speak with current teachers, ask how long they've been at the school and whether they plan to renew contracts. Ask how many of their colleagues from last year are returning. These questions reveal patterns the administration won't volunteer.

Trust Your Instincts

I've spoken with teachers who ignored clear warning signs because they wanted the job to work out, needed a position quickly, or convinced themselves that concerns were overblown. Almost universally, they later regretted not walking away when the red flags first appeared.

Remote interviews make it easier to overlook problems, but they don't change the fundamental dynamic: schools that operate with integrity are transparent, responsive, and willing to provide evidence for their claims. Schools that evade, deflect, or pressure you are showing you exactly who they are.

If something feels off during the interview process, it probably is.