Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Personal tips on job hunting
Job-hunting is a tedious and time-consuming process. However, if one is organized, things become much easier and you can taste success pretty soon. Though I am still working on improving my organization skills, I am happy to have achieved some success in it.
The steps, which I follow while, job hunting:
1. Prepare your resume
One should always remember that your resume is a reflection of yourself. "The more organized it is the better". Make sure to follow the pattern consistently, include your qualifications, memberships, experience, other skills and extra curricular activities. I constantly work on updating my resume and improving it. At times, when the content is more than 3 pages, I try to condense it and include the most pertinent information. It always helps to have your resume handy (both in form of hard and soft copy).
2. Organize your paperwork
Always have hard and soft versions of your transcripts, work experience and your recommendation letters. Also have a soft common cover letter in the MS word format. Whenever needed, you can add in the details of the school district you are applying to.
Most of the websites of the various school districts require you to mail them the copies of your transcripts, certifications, letters of recommendations, resume and cover letters. Excluding the cover letters, make packets of all the required paperwork. Having them handy saves 80% of your time and reduces a lot of confusion. At times you might also need to download the application form or submit it online which is different for each school district. Having the rest in place will help you finish filling out the application forms and mail it immediately.
3. Visit the DOE
The Department of Education of that particular state has tons of information regarding certifications, tests which one needs to take to get certified, laws guarding the school systems, the school districts in the state and also the job opportunities in the DOE as well as the various school districts. You can also get other important information like the NCLB test scores of the school district, the demographics, salary scale and other important information, which affects your job. For all those who have an out of state certification, it is a must to visit the DOE of the state they would like to work in.
4. Do your homework
Search through various search engines. At times, the particular state has a special search engine, which enlists all the teaching jobs in the state at one site. (E.g. www.edjoin.com for CA). So go ahead and google "teaching jobs" and you shall find tons of pages full of information. Some of my favorite stops are: www.springschool.com
www.teachingjobs.com
www.teachers.net
Make sure you are confident of what you are looking for in your future job. Visit the websites of the school districts and look for the HR department link or the employment opportunities link where the jobs are listed. You can get more information about the school district by going through their website more carefully. This will also help you in being specific while writing your cover letter. Being specific and including something about the school district surely impresses the reader.
Find out more information about the school, you can visit www.greatschools.com which should help you in giving a more detialed profile of the school district.
5. Apply for the jobs
When you find the vacancies in the area of your expertise, go ahead and apply for the jobs. Make sure you include all the information asked for. Or else, it is just a waste of your time and energy. If you have followed my sequence of having all the paperwork ready, then it should not take you more time. You would only be working on your cover letter, application forms if needed, and will be al set to mail the packet to the school distinct. Being prompt, and sending in all the required materials always helps
6. Follow up
Most of the times, it is difficult to get a response from the school district. The HR dept of the school district is the only office, which is open all year round. However, during the vacation times, you find more than half of the staff taking their time off. Hence it is one's own responsibility to call them and follow up with their application packet. Your call indicates that you are very much interested and your packet might receive special attention.
All the best with your job-hunt!
The steps, which I follow while, job hunting:
1. Prepare your resume
One should always remember that your resume is a reflection of yourself. "The more organized it is the better". Make sure to follow the pattern consistently, include your qualifications, memberships, experience, other skills and extra curricular activities. I constantly work on updating my resume and improving it. At times, when the content is more than 3 pages, I try to condense it and include the most pertinent information. It always helps to have your resume handy (both in form of hard and soft copy).
2. Organize your paperwork
Always have hard and soft versions of your transcripts, work experience and your recommendation letters. Also have a soft common cover letter in the MS word format. Whenever needed, you can add in the details of the school district you are applying to.
Most of the websites of the various school districts require you to mail them the copies of your transcripts, certifications, letters of recommendations, resume and cover letters. Excluding the cover letters, make packets of all the required paperwork. Having them handy saves 80% of your time and reduces a lot of confusion. At times you might also need to download the application form or submit it online which is different for each school district. Having the rest in place will help you finish filling out the application forms and mail it immediately.
3. Visit the DOE
The Department of Education of that particular state has tons of information regarding certifications, tests which one needs to take to get certified, laws guarding the school systems, the school districts in the state and also the job opportunities in the DOE as well as the various school districts. You can also get other important information like the NCLB test scores of the school district, the demographics, salary scale and other important information, which affects your job. For all those who have an out of state certification, it is a must to visit the DOE of the state they would like to work in.
4. Do your homework
Search through various search engines. At times, the particular state has a special search engine, which enlists all the teaching jobs in the state at one site. (E.g. www.edjoin.com for CA). So go ahead and google "teaching jobs" and you shall find tons of pages full of information. Some of my favorite stops are: www.springschool.com
www.teachingjobs.com
www.teachers.net
Make sure you are confident of what you are looking for in your future job. Visit the websites of the school districts and look for the HR department link or the employment opportunities link where the jobs are listed. You can get more information about the school district by going through their website more carefully. This will also help you in being specific while writing your cover letter. Being specific and including something about the school district surely impresses the reader.
Find out more information about the school, you can visit www.greatschools.com which should help you in giving a more detialed profile of the school district.
5. Apply for the jobs
When you find the vacancies in the area of your expertise, go ahead and apply for the jobs. Make sure you include all the information asked for. Or else, it is just a waste of your time and energy. If you have followed my sequence of having all the paperwork ready, then it should not take you more time. You would only be working on your cover letter, application forms if needed, and will be al set to mail the packet to the school distinct. Being prompt, and sending in all the required materials always helps
6. Follow up
Most of the times, it is difficult to get a response from the school district. The HR dept of the school district is the only office, which is open all year round. However, during the vacation times, you find more than half of the staff taking their time off. Hence it is one's own responsibility to call them and follow up with their application packet. Your call indicates that you are very much interested and your packet might receive special attention.
All the best with your job-hunt!
