Absolutely NOT! My district is adding new positions weekly. There are not that many, but there are positions! Keep your head up and send those resumes to principals. Walking in a resume won our Music teacher a JOB last year. You never know what a school may need or who just left to be a stay at home Mom. So, do the uncomfortable, put on your dress clothes, and walk in some resumes and cover letters. Those are the posters that get the jobs. If you are sitting in front of the computer all day and not actively searching, you may miss the boat. Yes, you can email those resumes/cover letters too. But sometimes the early bird gets the JOB when he happens to be in the right place at the right time. Principals see that as ingenuity. Many district administrators are off until next week. Then they are actively searching for new teachers. So, if you think the interview season is winding down... THINK AGAIN. It is just heating up! :thumb: The question is... Are YOU ready???
I agree, absolutely. Schools in this part of the country don't start until after Labor Day-- thats's a good 6 weeks left. And never underestimate the value of a secretary who says "A nice, professional teacher dropped off this resume while you were at lunch." Those secretaries are the eyes, ears and right hands of the principals.
Alice is absolutely right! Secretaries are the hidden gems in a school. We had one girl that dropped off a resume, home baked cookies with a cute saying like... Cookies are the beginning of a great working relationship. I hope you enjoy them as much as my resume and cover letter. It was cute.
As a tangentially related example: Yesterday I had some stuff to return to Kohls. I waited a few minutes on line, then got to the register. The woman was all business-- professional, but all buisness. She got to a dress I had bought without trying on. I mentioned that I loved the dress, but it looked like a maternity dress on-- and that, at age 52, we were NOT going down that road. She looked at the dress, laughed, and then was my best buddy. She put forth the extra effort to find the price I had paid for another dress (Julia's, the one thing I didn't have a reciept for-- she looked up the account number.) Funny how a little small talk can make things easier for you.
I think the 'walking in resumes' advice tends to be district, region, or area specific. A lot of districts around here have very specific instructions to not turn in paper copies in person or through postal mail. Those schools could look at it like the candidate doesn't know how to follow directions. My advice would be to carefully look at the district's/school's website first.
If you walk a resume in, be careful what you say and how you are dressed. One girl dropped off her resume, the principal glanced through it, and asked why she was leaving her current school. The girl replied she resigned because she wanted to move and said she was having a quarter life crisis. I wasn't there and I'm guessing the quarter life crisis comment was meant as a joke but the resume was trashed.
Umm... Yes, you don't want to mention that you are in crisis when someone asks why you are leaving your current position. Like I said, throw on a cute skirt and a nice blouse and do your thing girl! (or guy as the case might be...)
Yeah... they have that posted all over our website too. And guess what, people do it and they get hired. Think about it...
I figure it's the middle of July. If they've had your resume for a while, have posted openings, and haven't called you yet, you really have nothing to lose.
I know when you are brand new, you just want to do everything the right way. You don't want to step on anyone's toes and you don't want to push the envelope. That is fine... But, in this economy when teachers with experience are out there looking for a position as much as brand new teachers, you need to think outside of the box and take a few chances. At my friend's school she recently had a position. The one thing her P was interested in was experience. Nothing else mattered. You need to stand out somehow as being a better candidate.
I definitely got a job without walking in my resume and had 8 interviews. I know they hired people with experience because I know one of the others that was interviewed and they still chose me I know there's a lot of emphasis put on walking in resumes but it's just not always possible, especially for new teachers, since it seems like we're mostly the ones looking in a broad range. I was looking anywhere from 6-8 hours away and only applied to maybe five or six schools in my area that had actual openings. (Many more that didn't have anything posted) I was invited to interview at three of those though two were after I had been hired so I didn't go.
Good for you! And congratulations! In our area there are virtually no postings for jobs. The Texas budget has been cut, cut, cut. They increased class sizes and cut teacher jobs. There are many teachers out there looking for work both new and experienced. There are a multitude of ways that schools choose that JUST RIGHT fit. Glad you found a place that saw your potential!!!!!
I don't know about other states, but in CA a lot of schools are closed during the month of July. This means you can't drop off resumes because no one is on campus and the office is locked. It also means very little happens in the way of interviews because no one is around to conduct them. Once August rolls around everything picks back up again as principals and teachers begin to return to campus. So definitely drop off resumes! But if schools are closed it's just a temporary lull. Things do pick up again and many schools keep posting jobs and interviewing through September even.
Thanks! Yes, Ohio has been hit pretty hard but there were surprisingly quite a few job openings! I was really surprised after our professors and advisers kept telling us how rough it was going to be. Not to say that it's easy by any means but there are definitely opportunities! I looked in KY too, which had way more openings than Ohio. I have two horses and have always loved KY so it would have been a good fit to be around either Lexington or Louisville but thankfully now I'm only two hours from my family! You are so right about the just right fit. The school I was hired at had I think 5 teachers retire this year and 2 more leave because of family things plus the AP left But the school has the type of kids I like to work with most and it's very small class sizes (15-20) and I have three different grade levels including honors courses. I feel like it's going to be a busy year but I should definitely learn a lot! :haha:
Our admin gets mid June through the end of this week. They get about a month as well. You are right. You need to be aware of the schedule the P's keep. No need going out in this heat if you can stay by the pool!
The interview season is just getting started it seems. A friend let me know today that her district finally posted openings. I checked and they posted over 50 elementary openings alone!!! They finally passed a budget and they are now open for external applicants. So if you are still looking for a job for next year, keep checking for openings
I saw about 15 more openings on the Alabama website alone this morning, got an email about 23 postings in MS on SchoolSpring. Seems they are passing budgets and getting enrollment estimates right before school.
After applying to every new opening that one district posted yesterday I emailed my cover letter and resume to EVERY P that had an opening. It has so far paid off with 2 interview offers in less than 24 hours!!! Get your resumes out there! I doubt that those Ps got my name from the application with the district (the district usually has thousands of applicants).
I don't think it's winding down at all. I have my 20th, yes you read that right, interview tomorrow morning.
