This weekend was the job fair at the school district I currently teach at (and want to continue teaching at). Calling it a job fair actually seems a bit un-fair. (I'm really sorry, but it was too hard to resist.) I think of fairs as happy occasions. There's the kind where you get to buy really cool things or even the kind with cotton candy, balloons and darts, and roller coasters. Believe me, there were no roller coasters at the job fair. It's just a whole bunch of administrators and curriculum chairs (people, not furniture) giving job interviews and looking over resumes.
More than one person recommended that I go. I really do actually want to get hired next year, so I felt obliged. Yet, every other applicant that I chatted with while I was there looked at me like I was crazy for wasting my time. Their line of reasoning: You already have a job at "insert district name" so why do you even care. You already have your foot in the door. Actually, I'm kind of hoping that's the case. I also really can't afford to just coast through and hope really hard that I have a job next year.
My first interview went pretty well. I decided to interview with middle school applicants since I have met some of the high school teachers and administrators before. I actually ended up interviewing with the former curriculum chair for the district. Now she's an administrator at my old middle school. I think that it went well overall, but I just felt kind of fake to me. This may or may not be true, but I've just had interviews where I felt like I connected with the person so well. Ant hten here, I just felt like I was answering using the jargon I knew they wanted to hear. I believe everything that I said, but it doesn't help the feeling somehow.
The next interview went well to okay, depending on whose opinion you take. The curriculum chair for Comm. Arts had a back-up, so I ended up interviewing with the ESL and Foreign Language chair. Which worked out rather well since I have an endorsement in ESL. She actually hinted that there would be openings and would I be interested. I told her my most recent experience has been in teaching English, but if a job doesn't open up that I'd definitely consider it. To me, I was being honest. Some of my family seems to think that I should have told her yes straight away. My only thought is, that I would want someone to be upfront with me if I were in her shoes.
Openings don't actually open until March, so we'll see how things go. Wish me luck.
2 comments:
Good luck.
I think when we go through interviews in a forum like that, we get a good feel for what it must be like to be a politician.
Good luck. I would have done what you did, and stated my preferences, so I don't think you were being dishonest, or holding back or anything, more like being careful.
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