Career Corner
In this blog, members of the American Association for Employment in Education, a professional organization for college career-center directors and school district recruiters, provided career advice and discuss developments in the education job market. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: career advice and job huntjob hunt.
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Musings from an April Fools' Day Teacher Job Fair
Our Teacher Job Fairs have a browsing session in the morning and structured interviews in the afternoon. The interviews are scheduled during the browse portion when school district representatives discover candidates who match their staffing needs and desired professional profiles.
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Oh, No! The District I Want Isn't Coming To Campus!
For the first time in recent memory, several school districts from a large metropolitan area near our university canceled their attendance at our spring teacher recruitment event – after they had already registered. This occurred in large part because of, you guessed it, a cut in state funding, which is resulting in budget cuts.
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
The Importance of Thank-you Letters
A thank-you/follow-up letter is the professional way to maintain contact with an employer. This letter will assure the Personnel Office of your continued interest in the position. Remember the purpose of the letter is to maintain contact, but make sure that you have a substantial reason for contacting the employer each time you write, such as:
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Network Your Way to a Teaching Job!
When I graduated from high school and first began looking for work, I used the only job search method I knew: searching the classified ads in the newspaper. Identifying possible options from those listings, I began submitting applications to employers. I had no idea how few jobs were actually advertised in the paper. Although I eventually landed a position, it was not until much later that I learned the value of networking and utilizing my contacts to locate opportunities.
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Teaching Demonstrations for Interviews
I was recently asked for advice on presenting teaching demonstrations during interviews. I do not consider myself to be an expert in this area, and I hope others will post comments and advice here as well. Let’s open up the discussion!
Teacher Preparation
Opinion
Making the Most of Substitute Teaching
In these times of uncertainty, most new teachers entering the workforce are understandably concerned about their ability to obtain teaching positions. During the last decade or so it was fairly common for teachers to sign a contract right out of college, sometimes while they were still student teaching. More recently, however, many teachers are finding it necessary to "pay their dues" by working the "Sub Circuit." As challenging as it may be, a positive substitute teaching experience may also lead to a permanent teaching position. When facing a sudden need to fill a position, most districts turn first to their loyal substitute teachers to meet those vacancies. Substitute teaching is an excellent way to become known by various colleagues and administrators, so it's important to treat these opportunities as "pre-screening interviews."
Education Funding
Opinion
Where Do We Go From Here?
Where do we go from here?
From my first two blogs, you should have the impression that I have issues with the budget cuts in education. Yes, revenues may be down due to a variety of reasons but it seems like education is the first place to cut. I would look a little harder at some other budget lines, salaries and government waste and inefficiencies.
From my first two blogs, you should have the impression that I have issues with the budget cuts in education. Yes, revenues may be down due to a variety of reasons but it seems like education is the first place to cut. I would look a little harder at some other budget lines, salaries and government waste and inefficiencies.
Education Funding
Opinion
How Do We Finance the Deficit?
We Can Invest In Sports Facilities Why Not Education?
Education Funding
Opinion
Budget Cuts Affect Us All: How do we Cope?
At year end of 2008 we see a dismal economic outlook. The broad market (Standard & Poor 500) is off by almost 40% since the beginning of 2008 and the Dow Jones industrial index is down 34% for the year. We see that your dollar, from January 1 to end of the year, only buys about 62 cents of goods and services. How does all this affect education? Well, we see endowment funds of colleges/universities, state retirement funds and 403b accounts have lost value and to make a grim situation look even more depressing, interest rates on no risk investments such as U.S. Treasury Bonds are paying literally no interest while the cost of goods and services are increasing. Couple this with the crash in the credit markets, cash is drying up. When cash dries up, creditors can’t get paid and defaults become common place. It is all a domino effect.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
To Join or Not to Join
Teachers are invited to join many professional organizations. Should you join or not? Only you can answer that definitively, but here are a few thoughts I have.
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Shopping – Not Always a Good Idea
About a year ago, I wrote an entry for this blog on holiday tips for the job seeker. One thing I mentioned was using the post-holiday sales for wardrobe development, both for teaching and for interviewing. This topic, however, has nothing to do with retail shopping. Instead, I refer to what I call “job shopping.”
Professional Development
Opinion
Preparing for the Transition to Administration
When sitting on the sidelines, it is easy to second guess the coach’s play calling. But, when you’re put into the position of making the calls yourself, you quickly find out it’s not as simple as it looks. The same is true when you become an administrator, decisions that looked like “no brainers”, are not so clear cut when you’re the one that has to make the call. So, how do you know if becoming the “coach” is the best career move for you?
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Competing in a Competitive Job Market
A special education job candidate came up to me at a job fair not long ago and said with a huge smile, “I didn’t think that anyone besides my mother could love me this much!” At the same job fair, I encouraged job candidates in social studies, elementary education, and health and physical education to not take the disinterest of school district representatives personally. Of course, these candidates had been warned when they declared their major that their job search would be extremely competitive; now they were experiencing the challenge of finding a job in an area of teacher surpluses.
Job Hunting Tips & Advice
Opinion
Plan to Teach a Demonstration Lesson
You got the call! After investing hours in the job search, a prospective employer has called to invite you for an interview. You’ve prepared for this moment by researching the district’s website, reviewing sample interview questions, participating in a mock interview, and developing questions to ask the interviewer. However, when the caller indicates that you should plan to teach a ten-minute lesson, your anxiety level escalates. As you graciously thank the caller for the upcoming interview and opportunity to teach a lesson, your inner voice is screaming, “Where do I start?!”