Searching

My job search has officially begun for the '12-'13 school year. Last year I started late because I was student teaching and really did not comprehend when and how the schools hired. This year I have a better understanding and will hopefully do a better job (and obtain a job!).

At this time I have sent out emailed resumes and customized cover letters to each middle and high school in the surrounding counties: Barrow, Hall, Walton, Banks, Oconee, Clarke, and Jackson. Which added up to 39 sent emails. This took quite a few hours as I had to look up the information for each school and put the emails together. I have two versions of cover letters, one for Title-1 schools and one for non Title-1 schools. I have not begun on Gwinnett County yet, which will be another 40+ emails for that county alone.

Hopefully I will be able to obtain a few interviews from these query emails. I plan to resend my resume to each of these schools in late April or early May. At that time I will also be able to send an updated resume which includes my long-term subbing job.

I know that not many schools will be hiring, but it is still disheartening to receive responses like these:

Thanks for your interest.  I do not anticipate any vacancies at this time but will hang on to your information.

Thank you for expressing interest in a Social Studies teaching position.  At this time we do not anticipate a vacancy in your field for the 2012-2013 school year.  If a vacancy does occur the position will be posted on our system’s website.  Please monitor our website for possible future vacancies.  Again, thank you for your interest in a teaching position.

Thanks for your interest. At the present time, we do not have any openings for next year, but I will keep you in mind as we move forward with the hiring for next year.

Sigh. Maybe things will begin to look up. I'm trying to stay positive, but then come across information articles like this: APS wants to close 13 schools.

Job Fair

Georgia State held a job fair yesterday which I attended. Georgia State printed out stickers for applicants to wear which listed our names, degree level, and program. Multiple counties were present; however, the only county which I visited the table for was Gwinnett County. They were the only county who's schools are within acceptable driving distance.

Gwinnett sent three representatives and had one of the longer lines. I waited about 10-15 minutes in line and spoke with a HR representative. I gave her my resume and told her about myself. She seemed pleased that I was covering my bases by taking GACE tests for both middle and high school content.

From what I could hear from other conversations, the representatives' main goal was to ensure that all applicants had begun the online application. She let me know that references are very important. She also advised me to fax my resume to the schools who post jobs so that they receive my resume quickly.

The conversation lasted around a minute and the drive home took an hour and a half due to bad weather and rush hour traffic. Although the interview was so short I am glad I went as it provided me with experience. Walton County has a job fair April 16th which I am excited about and I am hopeful that counties will soon begin looking for applicants.

Long Time No Blog

Well, it has been a while since I have put anything here. I have been pretty busy and haven't really had much to say.

This weekend I have been working on getting my resume out to a lot of schools. Both my mentor as well as a middle school Assistant Principal who works at my part time job suggested that I begin sending out resumes. For now I have decided to focus on middle schools, as I believe that I will enjoy working in a middle school more than a high school. However, due to the conditions of the job market, I will be applying to High Schools as well.

I purchased (expensive) resume paper and envelopes and will be sending out my resumes to the schools closest to my home, along with a cover letter. I hope to make a good impression with them. I also found some thank you cards on clearance from the same people who make the resume paper which I can send out after job fairs or interviews.

Each school does its own hiring and it may be done by a variety of people (principal, assistant principal, or any other sort of administrative position) so it is hard to tell which schools are more receptive to mailed resumes or just search the database of applicants. Either way, it can't hurt!