Sean Harris

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Interview with Sean, Middle East Department Manager for Footprints Recruiting

Sean is the Middle East Department Manager and Screening Manager at Footprints Recruiting. He loves his job, snowboarding, music and cooking for his partner. When he’s not at work, he can be found being generally awesome around the city of Vancouver. Fun fact: Sean Connery was actually named after him as Sean is from the future and has already figured out time-travel.

What position do you hold at Footprints Recruiting? What has been your career path so far?

I am the manager of the Middle East placement and screening departments. I started off as a telephone interviewer, moved up to screening department manager, and am now responsible for an amazing team that works on placing certified teachers across the Middle Eastern region.

Did YOU teach abroad?! If so, where and what inspired you to go?

I taught in South Korea, Poland and Scotland. I finished my degree back home in good ole Niagara Falls and wanted to do something different. If you look at a globe, Korea is about as far from Niagara as you can get, so it seemed like an appropriate place to start. I fell in love with international education and now I get to help other people along the same road that I took.

What does the future hold for Footprints - any exciting new programs to share?

Good things! We have just taken on a new contract with the Hong Kong Education Bureau placing teachers in public schools across the SAR. More and more of our new contracts involve the placement of certified teachers abroad and we are up to the challenge. The future is looking good for Footprints.

What about the future of the teach abroad industry? How do you think international education will change over the next 10 years?

It’s certainly not going away, however, the standards are getting higher. In my opinion this is a good thing. It’s still an accessible field, but it is finally coming into its own. As standards increase, so does the quality of teachers that we send, which means schools are happier and in turn, want more international teachers.