Anyone ever use one of the teacher placement companies? The one I saw was advertised in the employment section...they want 10%-12% fee, nothing if they don't find you a job. Sounds too easy...
I'm signed up for one. Likely, I'll find my own job and I won't have to use them. They did get me one interview.
I've never heard of them either and I'm pretty sure schools around here don't use them. Maybe check around to see if schools in your area use something like that? If they don't charge anything if you don't get a job though, doesn't seem like it can't hurt to try it.
10-12% of What? Your yearly salary?? I'd stick to it yourself. Let's say they DO come up with an interview... you still have to get the job yourself.
hmm i think its at least worth it to sign up. you dont have to take a job if you do get one through them and hey if you do get a job then great! it would suck having to pay that 10% or whatever but if that was the only way you got the job then i;d take paying that
There's no way I would pay someone to represent me in my best light-- I'm the best person for that!!! And if, as is very likey in this economy, they have several clients all interested in the same job, then who gets their loyalty??? No thanks. I would be pounding the pavement on my own, showcasing my skills and determination.
You guys all bring up very good points. I think, however, I'd stick to going at it on my own. Like the others said, YOU are the only one that can land that job. It is YOUR hard work that did it, not the company who got you the interview. And who's to say that you couldn't have gotten that same interview on your own. I'll be a first year teacher and I'll be making around $34,000 where I live. That means that the co will be making $3,400, which is more than a month's salary. And I read that website...if you pay up front it is 10% but if you want the money to come out over the first year it is 12%. Just not worth it to me. Good luck to those of you who have signed up with them. Maybe they do have connections that can help you get that job!
Not to mention, how is it going to look to a P or Supt. if they see you were "placed" by that company. It might make you look desperate and as though you needed someone else to help you get a job.
These are just headhunters...employment agencies for teachers. Stay away. I never saw one teacher on here who was hired through an agency or used one. There is no way I would want someone calling and trying to get interviews on my behalf unless it was someone like my principal. Forget it, plus how do you trust that you even have a good agent? And, there is not any school calling employment agencies now for help in hiring...they have thousands of resumes already.
That's not how it works. The principal knows you got the interview through the agency because the agency works with the school and principal.
These agencies really anger me. They are preying on your desperation to get a job, they won't find you a job, and if you happen to get a job on your own effort, they are set up to still be able to claim their percentage of your first year's pay. Someone said, you don't have anything to lose. That is bull. You have 10-12% of your income to lose! They, on the other hand, have nothing to lose, and about $3,000 to gain from each and every sucker they pull in. And don't buy the "if you find it on your own, we won't charge you" line. It is a line. What they do is this: as soon as you sign up they plaster your resume to every single district (something you could easily do and have probably already done.) Now, if you get a teaching job with any of those districts (even if you found the specific opening, went by on your own and met the principal, etc, and got the interview totally because of your own hard work) they still legally collect the 10-12% fee because they made contact on your behalf! In the teacher world, there is absolutely nothing these headhunters can do for you that you can't do yourself. In private industry, in very specific hard-to-place jobs, or with senior executives with very specific qualifications and ten plus years of experience, using a headhunter is a typical way of getting a job. In these situations, the jobs aren't even advertised -- they are filled by the headhunting agency golng out and recruiting a specific, extremely qualified and experience professional on behalf of a particular company, and it is all usuallly done without an ad being placed. CEO's, VPs, City Managers, Department Heads, Medical Officers, and high level Program Directors, etc., use these types of agencies. They have no special "connections" in the education industry -- at least not in the public school sector. In my former career, we used to laugh at candidates who used agencies for entry level postions to mid-range positions. It just showed the person did not have a clue about how things operated in municipal government. Unless it was a director level position or higher (those jobs are hired "at will" by city council or the city manager) then legally we had to advertise the job and go through the formal process. Any person who wanted to find out about it could simply by calling the job-vacancy hotline (now replaced by internet). So for anything in the public sector (city government, public schools, etc.) they have to follow guidelines and post the jobs. All you are doing is paying someone to do the basic leg work of looking on the website for postings and shooting off a copy of the application form. Obviously you can do that yourself. In our industry, it is a rip off. They are preying on the desperation of people -- and they should be ashamed of themselves. And now that you know better, don't fall for their deceptive approach.
I hadn't thought of that! I've already sent my resume everywhere--so no need to pay someone else to do it again. I wonder for those who have signed up--was there a length of time that it was good for or can you back out of the program.
Guys, this isn't true. I don't know of all agencies, but it was teacher connection that was brought up. They do not work with public schools because public schools don't need help finding employees. They work with charter schools and private schools. When a participating charter school or private school has an opening, they call teacher connection, then teacher connection calls you. You only pay if you get a job through them. Some charge if you find your own job, but this isn't one of the agencies.
They do work with public, private and charter schools. You can check their website. If you and them both send a resume to the same place, and you get the job, you pay. That's how these things work. It's the same in business and Rainstorm is exactly correct. I've worked with a bunch of them.
The website says public, charter and private, but they do not ever set you up with public schools. The agency probably did that at a time when there was a need for teachers at public schools. He says he's been doing it for 20 years. It's not true that if you both send a resume to a place you pay when you get the job. You would know exactly how you got the interview. If you got the interview on your own, the school calls you. If you don't get the interview on your own, the agency calls you and sets you up with the interview. It's fine to think the fees are high, but it is false to say that they charge you for any job you find. I have worked with them, told them found a position with a charter school and they put me in the inactive files.
In this economy I don't think no one can afford that. Here we have teacher recruiters for the state who try to help teachers find jobs and stay in the state. Maybe you can check out and see do your state have this!!
FYI! I had never really thought about using a recruiting/placement co for teaching but after reading this thread I looked into it....according to this article: http://cnx.org/content/m17302/latest/ about IL practices...below is a breakdown on hiring practices with principals in IL Table 1 Strategy Responses of Principals District Website 68.0% Job Fairs 63.1% University Placement Center 43.4% Local Newspapers 27.9% Other Websites 22.1% Solicitation Calls to Other Districts/Colleagues 23.0% Solicitation Calls to University Professors 18.9% Professional Associations 14.8% Solicitation Letters to Other School Districts 1.6% National Publications 0.8% Recruiting Firms 0.8% Doesn't look like it is worth the time or money (at least here in IL!)
And I'd bet those 0.8% were for jobs in very hard-to-place areas -- such as mild-to-moderate special ed, or an AP Science placement in a very rural area. The only agency we use is the one that obtains workers from the Phillipines for the special ed positions we simply can't fill here. You can't fill the position when nobody qualified applies -- and especially for the moderate range special ed, or the intense BD programs, certified applicants are incredibly hard to find.
I got one of those teacher connections email too. However,something's fishy about them that I did not reply or sign anything with them. Now with all the posts, I am so relieve. And gosh this job seeking thing is tired.
I suppose if you're desperate, have no need for the 10-12% and don't care if the school is the "best fit" for you, then go ahead sounds like a great option. Personally, after having gotten a job the "hard way" I feel a sense of self-satisfaction (and have plans for that 10-12% that I apparently saved).
