Step 4 in a Career Pivot – The Job Search – Part 2

In the last post I discussed my struggles in finding a teaching position.  With a little more than a week till school started I did not have a position.  In fact, I had not had a single interview!

All of my younger colleagues had positions.  I noticed then that all of my classmates in my cohort who were male and over 40 were all in the same position. We were the last candidates who would get called.  If you remember from my earlier post, I did not pick up on the signs that my demographic (male over 40 professional) was not in the target audience for the first Alternative Certification Program. This was happening again!

When making a career pivot your resume and social network profile will not get your foot in the door.  You must make the personal connection FIRST! You have all of this experience that at first glance does not necessarily appear to translate to this new career or role.  You need to network and let people in this new world know who you are, what your values are, what skills and talents do you bring to this new world and the most key for the getting a position in the public schools, you can be trusted with the kids.  Trust is huge. You have to build the relationships first.

The first time any of the principals saw my name was when I submitted my resume.  They did not know me and therefore, I was not even going to get a call.  So how the heck did I get a teaching position?

Everyone in my cohort knew which of us were still looking. A little over a week before school started the school that hired me called one of my young employed colleagues about an open position.   She immediately called me and told me that a position had opened up. I immediately faxed my resume to the school (yes, I faxed a resume!  This is a school district) and within two hours I had a interview scheduled. Two days later I was hired.  My network worked for me.

What I did not understand was teacher contracts are rarely honored by the teachers or the school districts.  At the last moment, the teacher who vacated the position I was hired for, was hired by another school district.  It is very common the month before school starts, teachers move around where they fill vacant positions in one school but creating a vacant position in the one they left.

All of my colleagues who were male and over 40 were hired but at the very last moment and for the least desirable positions. Typically, in large urban school districts, with minority majority populations, poverty and single parent households. The key here is learning to teach students who come from the culture of poverty. After one week of teaching I said, “Toto we are not in Kansas anymore!” This was the beginning of a very stressful year that did not need to be so stressful.

No matter what kind of career pivot you make you have to make the personal connection first. I cannot reinforce this enough, it is all about relationships!

My next set of posts will be lessons learned from my first months at school.  These lessons apply to just about any Career Pivot!

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Marc Miller Career Design Specialist