Quick Tips

The Job Market

Inspection of the current teacher hiring environment indicates that this a "buyer's market."

Since you are the "seller," this means that you have a lot of competitors (i.e., other great teachers) who are interviewing for the same position that you are applying for. And, if you are lucky, you will receive, maybe, one job offer.

Of course, you can't be sure which interview will net the job offer, so you have to gear up to put on your best show at every interview.

"Psyching" Yourself Up for the Interview

The first one or two interviews are not difficult. You feel relaxed and excited. You smile, and the warmth of your charm seems magnetic.

But, after you don't get either job, or the next, or the next...your attitude begins to tatter.

This is when you begin "psyching" yourself up for the next opportunity.

Although everyone is different, there are some general rules for remaining upbeat. Here are a few:

Network and Expand your Contact Base

Donate your services, join civic groups, give of your time and energy. You never know when a contact notices your dedication, skills, your rapport with children; then refers and recommends you for a job

Accept that you are learning with each interview

Rejection only means that you are one position closer to the one that is for you. The key is to keep getting rejected until the right offer comes along

Prepare better

Study the district that you are applying for, do more homework, check the district's Web site, check lots of individual campus Websites in the district.

Get friends to coach you and ask the tough questions

Role play difficult interview situations, particularly the ones that you didn't do well with the last time around

Prepare for the trial (I mean interview) by committee

These committee members are only gatekeepers, and you can't be all things to all people (please them all/ be liked by them all). In most cases, it is still the campus principal that has the final say. That is the person you have to win over, but not by pandering.

Control your stress

Learn to relax (a skill that you should teach your students once you land the job)

Reward yourself

Find ways to provide tender loving care to yourself. You deserve all the pampering that you will accept, so accept some

Use mental rehearsal to perfect your external and internal practice

Top athletes use this skill to mentally go over every aspect of their game. You should do the same with both the interview situation, and with mental rehearsal for your future job. Rehearsing your future job skills will enable you to speak confidently when you answer questions about your teaching during the interview.

Use creative imagery to test your decision by following a future imagined job offer

All jobs are not created equal. Some are right for you, and others are not. By putting the job situation in "fast forward" in your mind and checking how the job is going, you can find out how your unconscious mind interprets the prospective job opportunity, and whether the long-term outcome will be positive

Remember that things change

The principal that hires you could be promoted, or replaced in a year, or has already been replaced. (Be prepared to relocate at the end of every year for your first three years.) Resubmit applications to campuses where you interviewed last year. You never know until you try

Take the First (Or any) Job that is Offered?

This is your call. But, if you are a brand new, fledgling, newbie teacher with no experience, go for it...unless your intuition, dreams and "gut feeling" scream, "NO!".

Spending a year or two gathering experience is super important. In fact, plan on it taking at least three years before you really hone your instructional and management skills to the level where you can back up every confident interview statement with specific examples of your successes.

Anyone who believes that four years of college taught them a "whole lot" about teaching graduated from the "College of Fine Deception."

Don't Give Up

And, just because no job offers develop early in the summer, keep the faith.

Many changes; i.e., teachers (who were coming back to a campus) move, or their spouse is relocated, a better job offer came through and a position opens up, a teacher has second thoughts and decides to enter another field, etc.) and teachers are hired, even after school starts.

If you can afford it, consider working as a substitute teacher.

Find out, from the Department of Human Resources or Personnel Office of districts that you prefer to work for. what happens if you decide to work for a year in a private or charter school. Some districts will hold this experience against you. Other districts will not credit the time that you work in a private or charter school toward your yearly step pay increase. Rightly or wrongly, many school district hiring agents assume that because private and charter schools pay much less than public schools, that less effective teachers land there as a "perch (cage) of last resort."

Prepare for Deployment

And, use the time that you are waiting for your job opening to build an instructional and management bag of tricks. (This is a great idea if you become a substitute teacher, too.

Unless you are a Math, Science or Special Education teacher (all in high demand); you may not know exactly what grade level or subject you will offered a teaching job for.

So, focus on Multi-age, and content integration strategies such as you find at the Classroom Toolkit Web site.

Build a library of reusable modules and enough generic materials to keep you in business for at least two weeks for whatever classroom you are assigned to.

A multi-age/ grade level thematic unit, graphic organizers, daily oral language, daily oral math, daily oral vocabulary...are mainstays. Items such as journal pages, open-ended question lists, a generic student project framework...you get the idea.

Preparing for anything means that you are ready for anything, and your confidence will communicate during your interview.

A New School Reality

The days of joining a close-knit campus family have dwindled. The school climate is test-score-sour, and your first teaching experience may leave a bad taste in your mouth. If you are not prepared for the stress and confusion that results from pushing students down a path that is not good for them, The "warm-fuzzy-feelings" that made teaching so rewarding in days of yore, can be elusive if you get caught up in the "testing frenzy."

Triple-edged Sword of Opportunity

With the instability caused by principals (and districts) heavy-handed methods for "weeding out" low performing teachers (as measured by test scores), there are more job openings than would normally be available.

However, this mismanagement drives many qualified and competent teachers into the labor market, looking for a new position. These effective and experienced teachers are collateral casualties and "testing-craze fallout," and these experienced teachers become your competitors.

Unfortunately, campuses with "fearing-for-their-own-job" principals are the job sites that are least likely to understand that supporting a "master-teacher-in-the-making" will take at least three years, and are the sites where unrealistic expectations of "test-success-now" create inordinate stress for faculty members.

It will be a risky gamble, and it will be a "trial-of-your-patience" tenure at one of these test-stressed campuses; but somebody has to do it. If you have the stamina (and need the job badly enough) it could be you who rises to the challenge. Thriving in an adverse situation is a job skill that will serve you well during your teaching career.

Remember: Things change. This includes the ideal environments (for both campuses and districts) that are " run into the ground" by new administration or management.

Good luck with your interview. And keep the faith. After all is said and done; the challenges are worth meeting and mastering, because your students are worth every bit of the effort you dedicate to their learning.