not a good place for jobs right now..... All of Texas is having a rough time... We are region 10 in Dallas. I forgot about Ft.Worth
Dallas is Region 10 and Fort Worth is 11. If you are willing to go as far north as DFW, have you looked at region 9. It is the area around Wichita Falls and there are a lot of small districts there that get a lot fewer applicants.
I am well aware the market is bad. I cannot control that. All I can do at this point is find out where other locations are and apply. Thanks rice! I will check out those out.
When will the market get better in Texas in your opinion? I'm working on physics/chemistry certification and I'll be done and looking for jobs for the 13-14 schoo year.
The Texas budget is for 2 years, so it will definitely stay this way for at least the next 2 years. However, it was already pretty bad for the past few years. In the larger cities, we have been having a lot of districts with budget issues in the past few years. Also, we have a lot of new teachers graduating every year and those going through alternative certification. Add those newly certified teachers to the already laid off teachers and the competition can be pretty fierce. Last year I went to a district job fair that had over 5000 attendees. That was for a single district! I unfortunately do not see Texas' teaching market to improve any time soon.
There are fewer applicants for the jobs you want so you might have a chance. Fewer applicants may mean only fifty instead of five hundred. You'll still have to stand out. Start building that resume!
Plus they do not want to touch the rainy day fund which adds to the stress of the budget issues. In my opinion, the legislature really screwed things up.
I'm lucky to have just gotten hired in DFW. I will say that I applied to pretty much every district in the area and sent out over a hundred resumes. I just graduated in May and probably about 98% of us (we were a large graduating class of over 200) have not found jobs in the area. I have gotten 3 calls to interview within the past week and signed my contract for the first interview I took last week. If you are looking in this area you need to apply NOW. The jobs I got called for were from applying to the individual district websites even if they didn't have an opening or by emailing my resume to the principal (which I did three weeks ago and barely got called). Dallas is Region 10 and they use Teacherjobnetwork. Fort Worth is Region 11 and they use Searchsoft. Schools are looking RIGHT NOW to fill these jobs before school starts so get on it ASAP!!! Good luck!
well like someone else said it's at least 2 years. And unless we get changes in the legislature it will continue past that because the Republicans caused the problem that created the short fall. (However, it will be a tall order changed the majority in the Texas state legislature. I say this not to scare or discourage anyone. I just know I'd want to know and be prepared. I know someone who has taught for 17 years, switched to a new district last year (big mistakes but no one knew at the time) and was the first cut (last hired, first to be let go) and now has no job for the upcoming year. Scary! She has applied to many DFW area districts - still nothing... I moved districts the year before her and thank goodness I didn't leave later than I did or I could be her position.
Skitteroo ~ Your friend has 17 years experience.... Did she find anything? What is her certifcation in?
K-8th generalist, ESL too (she's taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th). She just left tenured position at the wrong time to go to a new district. Due to money she was the first to go. She taught 3 of my own children....So sad....
No no she didn't lose the job at my school. Long story but we taught at the same place for years (where my kids attended because I taught there). I left in 2009 and went to my new school. She stayed another year and then left in 2010 to a different district. That is where she was only at 1 year.
Oh I see... that makes more sense. I would think that she would be highly marketable with her range of experience and years in the teaching field.
Me too - but I think it actually is working against her right now. Think about it if you're a district that is struggling financially you're probably NOT going to hire someone that costs more because of experience..... It's crazy they would think that way, but because of what the lawmakers are doing, some districts have no choice. That is why I am hearing that brand new teachers are faring better than experience - just based on cost to the district.
50 applicants for physics? Wow. I'm doing certification through an online college and I'm hoping that that won't hurt me too much. However, Ill also have 3+ years of subbing experience.
This is kind of what happened in my district... I heard "through the grapevine" that they turned down a few teachers that had 5+ yrs of experience and hired a handful of 1st years (myself included) because we are lower on the pay scale. It makes sense in a financial way, of course you are going to go with the person you can pay the cheapest. Why hire someone for $40k (example) a year when you can pay someone else $30k?
The school I was hired at had 7 open positions and I've seen one of the teachers and he is definitely young. I waived my insurance coverage and they seemed so overly grateful that they wouldn't have to pay for it. It will be interesting to meet all the new people. *I will still have insurance. I am staying on my parents' for the time being.
My school and district has been actively seeking experienced teachers. So, I guess it is where you are and what your needs are.
Einstein's theory of relativity: A typical number of elementary ed applicants around here is probably at least 3,000.
It also depends on how well your district uses and protects the money they have. My district fared better than most. But alot of our districts were already in debt and this just sent them in a tailspin.
At least most of the DFW districts use the ESC common applications. I remember being amazed last year because I didn't have to search every district website for openings and applications.
Some do. There are just so many I am not able to get to all of them, but I do have more applications out there now at least.
Actually, fifty probably is only accurate for little districts like the one I'm in. The online certification may hurt you in some districts, but not hurt in others. It just depends.
Are you in the DFW area too MsQualified? Try Region 10 and 11. There are postings there like we told nangel.
Yes, SCTeach I'm in DFW too. I'm constantly on those sites, but NOTHING yet. One more month and I'll be packing it up and going back to my parent's basement. Isn't that lovely at 30?
