12 Lessons I Learned from the Job Search

This might be obvious, but I want to start by reinforcing that these are my opinions from my (very limited) perspective.  Your situation could be extremely different from my own.  Take it all with a grain of salt.  I hope if you are entering the education job market these 12 tips will help, though.

Before we start, here is some data about my search:

Number of jobs applied to:  62

Jobs applied to in Michigan: 40

Jobs applied to in Illinois:  12

Jobs applied to in other states:  8

Number of times I called in to a school I applied for but didn’t hear back: 14 out of 17

Number of interviews:  10

Number of times I didn’t hear back from a school I interviewed with: 2 out of 10

Number of job offers:  2 (after a phone interview, I declined a job in Arizona)

On to the 12 things I learned from the job search:

1.      It sucks.  It is very impersonal now that everything is online.  Schools can be real jerks and not bother to call you back (even after an interview).  You send out your resumes and you just have to wait.  There is nothing more you can do.  The lack of control is frustrating.  Even when you get an interview and it goes extremely well, you probably only have a 1 in 6 chance of getting the job (that’s usually how many people a school will interview).  It sucks having your hopes lifted by a solid interview only to not get the job.

2.      Get those letters of recommendation from your references going early.  Like in January or February.  Some professors will have them ready within days for you.  Others might take a month, in which case I usually lie to the professor and tell them I need the letter sooner than I actually do ;)

3.      Go to job fairs.  Someone in the music department at MSU really dropped the ball on telling us about that.  Luckily, since my girlfriend is in the college of ed, I went to a charter school job fair in Novi and an MSU education fair.  I got 4 of my 10 interviews that way.  When you go to the fair, research the schools that are going to be there beforehand.  This is easy for music people since there are not many places with listed music openings.

4.      In the job interview, be specific.  Give real life classroom examples.  If you are talking about umbrella terms like creativity, popular music, and technology, don’t talk philosophy (hard for me).  Tell them about an activity you did with these things in it. 

5.      Be proactive about showing off your portfolio.  Often times the interview panel won’t even ask to see it.  If they ask you a question and you have something that connects with it in your portfolio, get it out yourself!

6.      Schools won’t call you back.  I called a bunch of schools after I applied and didn’t hear back after leaving a message.  Here is the exception: small school districts will probably call you back.  I actually think one of my interviews was the result of me calling in.  So call them!  Here is usually the barometer: if the school district is big enough to have a human resources department, it isn’t even worth trying.

7.      Schools move at wildly different paces to fill a position.  Some take a week, others a month.  It all depends on timing.  The month of July is a doldrum because the entire school is on vacation.  Also, teachers may leave very suddenly because they accept another job somewhere else.  Don’t be surprised if a school hires you less than a week before school starts.

8.      Don’t be afraid to turn down a job offer you are uncertain about.  Don’t just take a job because it’s a job.  You are taking a gamble, but it will probably turn out for the better.  I was offered a job in Arizona very early on, but I declined it because I had 3 other interviews pending around Michigan.  I felt horrible at the time, but now I am happy I turned down the job.  Of course, don’t get too picky…

9.      Everything can happen in a week, and nothing can happen in a week.  I went through periods of serious depression where for 2 weeks I would have no leads.  Then, the next week a million jobs would be posted and I would get 2 or 3 calls to do interviews.  A week later, those interviews would all fall through and I would be back to square one again.  This is how it works. 

10.  People are highly opinionated about resume length.  Honestly, do what feels right to you.  Here’s my opinion though: I think you have two options.  The first is to do a 1 page resume.  I didn’t do this because I think it sells yourself short.  Sometimes you don’t know what a principal is looking for, so it’s good to go broad.  For example, if I did a one page resume, I wouldn’t have had room to talk about my choir experience.  One of the interviews I got was because the principal was looking for a choir and band teacher.  Thank god that was on my resume!  Another reason to do a two page resume is because that is the norm for all education majors these days (and if it’s a paper copy, it is actually a 4 page “booklet”…if you want to see how that works I can show you mine).  Everyone in the college of music told me to do a one page resume, but every single other person in education has told me to do 2 pages.  So it’s a tossup…again, go with what your gut tells you.

11.  Be ready for some incredibly stressful decisions.  I mentioned about that I got a job offer in Arizona.  That might sound like an easy decision, but what about the 3 other interviews you just did in Michigan?  What if one of those pans out the day after you move to Arizona?  Here was an even more ridiculously sticky situation for me: I interviewed for the job I have now in Illinois on a Tuesday.  They offered me the job.  The next day I interviewed at a very good school in Michigan.  It was an incredibly good interview…the best I did all summer.  This school in Michigan was by far my first choice.  Illinois wanted an answer by Friday, but the job in Michigan wasn’t even going to have their second interview until the following Monday (and there was a third interview after that).  So do you take the job out in Illinois, where school starts in 5 days and you will be away from everyone that you know?  Or do you wait to see if this amazing job in Michigan pans out?  Extremely tough decision…I was stressing many days about that one.  Luckily (or unluckily), the Michigan job ended up falling through anyways and made my choice easy. 

12.  It will all work out.  I know that is easy for me to say because I got a job, but I truly believe this.  My high school band director has a great story about this.  After a few small band jobs, he took over at Eaton Rapids and stayed there for 8 years.  He built up a wonderful program there and had an amazing relationship with the students and parents.  After that, he decided it was time to move on.  He accepted what he thought was a better job in the Metro-Detroit area.  Although the bands were great, he had a horrendous time with the band booster parents and the students were emotionally numb (seriously).  He literally told his wife one day after work that he would rather be a Walmart greeter the following year than teach at that school again.  Just as he quit, another job opened up a few cities down the road.  He heard about it before anyone else did because it was a local job.  He applied and got the job in Troy, my hometown.  Now, he leads a music program that is beyond incredible.  It is truly his dream job…and he never would have gotten it if he didn’t endure that years’ worth of crap at that other job!  See?  It all works out.

      I have a really deep philosophical statement about opportunities in my head that I can’t seem to get out in words.  It is kind of relates to the weak anthropic principal in theoretical physics: “Why does the universe appear to us the way it does?  Because if it were any different, we would not be here to ponder that question in the first place.” Does anyone see where I’m going with this?  Sorry I just had to put this out there.  Whoaaaaaaa that’s a weird way to end a blog post.