Okay- here is my beef. All my life I was told that if I worked hard enough, I would get a job. Well four years of private college and 3.97 gpa later- no employer will even give me the time of day. I am a certified teacher in 2 states, CT, which is where I am from, and TN, which is where my husband and I just moved to.
I have all of the credentials. A career management office looked at my resume and said it was spectacular. I’ve applied to 5 districts, to over 100 teaching jobs. I’ve e-mailed and called principals, and showed up at their schools (some as much as an hour away) with fresh resumes.
Not only has not one single principal acknowledged me or my application, but none have even had the decency to call or email me back. I understand principals are busy, but they have secretaries for a reason.
So society, good joke. Work hard, and you can achieve.
Heres my question- does anyone think I might be being discriminated against because I am new to the area? I mean, I have a perfect record, student leadership experiences, and a great letter of recommedation. I am even a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the national honors society for educators. And- well, lets face it, TN schools are in rough shape compared to the rest of the nation. (Especially CT, which places heavy emphasis on its education). I would understand perfectly if principals interviewed me and just didn’t think I was the right candidate. But for goodness sake- I can’t even get an interview! What’s the deal?
I don’t know if this is the case in CT or TN, but the county I live in has had a hiring freeze on for a long time (they just lifted it, actually). We have a projected $40 million budget shortfall for the coming school year. The situation is pretty dire - I’m guessing your problems aren’t related to your personal qualifications. You’d think they’d at least give you a response, though.
Have you tried asking about subbing? Sometimes that’s a good way to get your foot in the door. You might also want to think about taking a temporary job as a teacher’s aid just to make a few local contacts.
Unfortunately many teachers are facing the same problems you are right now:
You might be at the bottom of the list of, say, teachers the district had to previously fire? I keep applying for jobs that would be a lateral move within my own library system, and they don’t even interview me. I think it’s because the branches don’t like the main library or something. It’s not my resume, it’s nothing concrete that anybody can point to. They just… don’t interview me. Maybe they want to give the chance to a new librarian, I dunno.
I’ll go along with what’s been said already – it may not be entirely your fault, but just some bad luck with your timing. Around here, school districts have terrible budget problems, so most have hiring freezes at the moment. Rather than hiring teachers, many are being layed off.
I googled up ‘teaching jobs in TN’ and ‘teaching jobs in CT’ and found a ton of resources. It looks like both areas might have more or less a glut of teachers, however, which is probably part of your problem. My suggestion would be to broaden your search and look in other states. The trouble right now is that the economy sucks, and a lot of states are running deficits and actually laying off or furloughing people. Have you tried to see what the job situation is in private schools?
As for your bit about the work ethic, no one ever said that it’s guaranteed. The thing is, that there are a LOT of teachers out there, and you are competing with all the ones who are already in the system as well as folks like you just coming into it. Unless you think it would be right to set aside someone who is already teaching in favor of yourself, you have to look at labor as a market like any other. If your particular skill set is not needed where you are looking, then you either have to try something else until the market changes or look elsewhere. I’m sure that there isn’t a glut of teachers everywhere, including in other countries (I know that in some countries I’ve traveled too, US teachers who can teach English and who have a second language can make VERY good money).
Anyway, good luck (I’m not sure why you put this in the Pit btw).
Unfortunately, I think that, with the recession and subsequent lack of teaching positions available, getting a job as a teacher has devolved into “who” you know instead of “what.”
That’s the only reason I managed to land a teaching job last year. I work at my kids’ school, which had no foreign language department until I browbeat the director with a sheaf of studies indicating the advantages of foreign language study. Most high school foreign language departments around here have been RIFfing teachers like crazy.
There were massive layoffs in my state the year I graduated from ed school. Out of, I think, over 200 resumes I sent out to districts in nearby states as well as parochial and private schools in my state, I was called for one interview. I didn’t get the position.
I turned to subbing for one particular district. At first I was a per diem sub, meaning I was sent to whichever school needed me. The second year I managed to be set up to stay in one particular school (of course they pulled me out for a day as soon as I hit the magic “60 days and you automatically get a raise per the union contract” so they wouldn’t have to give it to me). The third year I was a long-term sub for a Chapter 1 Reading class.
I worked two PT evening jobs, btw, just to keep my head above water (the per diem pay back then was peanuts – I was lucky I could afford gas for the car).
My thinking through all this was, “Well, if I stay here long enough, somebody official will have to notice and, because I’m ‘known’, I should have a leg up on anyone on the outside applying for next year.”
No permanent position ever materialized. I could have continued being a long-term sub at that particular school; I could have perhaps moved to a different school.
As it happened, I was offered a FT position at one of my PT jobs. I grabbed it.
Yeah, it sucked. I still get twinges every now and then. Sometimes I think I might have had better luck with a different license. Maybe I should have moved across the country. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough, I don’t know.
You have my utmost sympathy, and I wish you every bit of luck.
Same story here in California. I gave a presentation recently at a grant-sponsored seminar for school history teachers, and some of the teachers were telling dire stories about how many lay-offs their school district had suffered recently. I imagine, in that climate, it’s going to be very hard for any new teacher to get a foot in the door.
America values education, but it sometimes seems like we only value it in an abstract sense; no-one really wants to pay for it.
What is your subject area if you don’t mind my asking?
If it’s something like music or art it might be a harder sell. One, there might not be as high a turn-over and two, I could see if a fine arts teacher was retiring, a dim-witted administrator might decide that’s a good time to scrap the program all together. Also in this slumping economy, teachers who had set out to retire might figure they still have another year or two left in the tank.
If you’re certified in math, science or special ed. I’d be curious too as to what’s going on. Usually there are openings galore in those areas.
Lastly you don’t need to abandon all hope yet. I was hired the week before teachers were due to start back up. Don’t know when the school year in Tennessee begins but you may still yet have some time.
Eventually, the OP will learn that he/she doesn’t have a job because:
-Don’t deserve one.
-Obama.
-Didn’t network enough.
-Should have majored in something more marketable.
-Should have joined the military.
-Should be satisfied with menial labor.
-Is spoiled and entitled.
My husband trained to be a sports journalist - he’s a construction safety officer now. It happens, unfortunately. I agree that it’s time to broaden your search.
Why would I leave, just because you are still around? That said, it is a good thing that you are about to act as a constant definition for the term, just in case my formerly alcohol soaked brain forgets…
I keep applying for librarian positions in which the position gets withdrawn and the search cancelled due to further budget cuts. Really pisses me off, especially when some aren’t even reimbursing for the interview expenses anymore. (I didn’t even go to an interview I was offered in Chattanooga because it was at 8 in the morning and no reimbursement for mileage or lodging- basically if I didn’t want to pay for a hotel and mileage out of pocket for a job I only might be offered and only might accept if I were then I’d have to leave my house at about 3 a.m. and then turn around and come home, so I cancelled.)
Well, you could try upping the voltage and getting some glasses, I suppose. My neck is brown, not red. Now, if you want to call me ‘wetback’, then that would at least be marginally accurate I suppose…
You should still try upping the voltage, however. You might try hitting yourself in the forehead with a large hammer, too…it couldn’t hurt (well, not someone with a head the consistency of granite, as based on your posts you obviously have).
That said, it is a good thing that you are about to act as a constant definition for the term, just in case my formerly alcohol soaked brain forgets…