I strongly urge you to go to the Ohio Department of Education website and look for the job bank. That is the absolute best place to hunt for teaching work. Right now, the majority of work is in the center of the state and in charter schools.
Horrible! I moved out of OH because I couldn't find a job even in Special Ed, and when I was first looking I was willing to go anywhere in the state- even the super rural areas that tend to have more openings. I personally think the ODE website can be a little misleading. I had always known after graduation that I would most likely have to leave the state to find a job, but when I saw the hundreds and hundreds of jobs posted on the ODE site, I gave up looking in other states and spent most of the summer looking for a job in OH thinking I had a chance with all of those openings. What they don't tell you is that there are literally THOUSANDS of people applying for each and every one of those jobs. Most places use the Gallup Teacher Insight test and then only interview the top 5% of scorers (I've even heard top 1%). So if you're good at that test (I'm not) you might have a shot. My parents were VERY upset when I moved across the country for a job and kept urging me to look back in OH last year. In an unfortunate turn of events, my mom lost her teaching job and started looking. She has 20 years of experience in a private school, and since public schools don't pay for your private school experience, if someone hired her they'd be getting a very experienced teacher for the price of a 1st year teacher. She couldn't even get an interview- at which point she finally realized what it was really like and told me I better learn to love my current state!
I totally agree. Also, I'd find a listing of the districts in the state that you're seriously interested in (or if it's every district, start in alphabetical order and work your way through). Many will post on the ODE site but others will post on other websites. I know Dayton has a similar site for schools in that area. Overall, it really depends on what area you're certified in. From what I hear, no states are looking too great but I'm here to tell you that there are jobs here for those people persistent and patient enough.
I graduated in May and found a job in June teaching English at a school that I really like. It is a private school, though I did have public school interviews. There are many districts in NE Ohio that do not post their openings on ODE. Most of the jobs I applied for in fact were not posted there and were mostly just posted on their own websites. It took a lot of web time but it was definitely worth it!
I graduated in May, summa cum Laude. I was hired in August in a district I previously taught in during one of my field experiences in college. Job hunting was definitely frustrating for me. I was hired less than 2 weeks before school started. I'm a sped teacher, and I went on maybe 3-4 interviews before landing my current job. I know a few people who never got a job and are pursuing other opportunities now until the next hiring season. It will be tough, it's tough anywhere. Ohio is really saturated though. Just do your best to stand out. Make sure you have many diverse teaching experiences and you're reading up on (and familiar with) some of the "hot topics" in education today.
I agree with previous posters that Ohio is a pretty tough place to find a good position right now, but it does happen. I was very blessed to find a good private school position after lots of interviews all over the state. I've read that it will get worse in the public sector for teachers in OH before it gets better, unfortunately. Districts are making pretty drastic cuts after loosing so much of their state funding, and many levies just aren't passing. Some good resources have been mentioned, I'll add a couple more: http://k12jobspot.com/Ohio-teaching-jobs - this site is a one stop shop for all districts in OH using AppliTrack http://www.ohioteachingjobs.org/ - greater Cincinnati area only
