Employment after graduation

Employment after graduation

April 6th, 2016

Adelle has spoken to some recent graduates on their experience with

employment as a graduate teacher

As many of my year level are looking to graduate and gain employment at the conclude of this year, questions about resumes, applications, cover letters, portfolios and criteria are floating around.

Attend the universities workshops on resume writing, interviewing, speaking workshops and cover letter writing. These are designed to assist you in getting that job which is ultimately the aim of many who are completing a university degree.

However,

Due to my extra experiences while at university my graduation date has been extended by my own accord and while I am perfectly happy with being older when I graduate and gaining more life experience before starting a career, others respectfully have different plans.

My original year level's classmates graduated last night and although there is a pang of jealousy that they all got to celebrate together while I went to a 9am class this morning, it is apparent that more than a few of them haven’t been successful in obtaining a job.

I asked a few of them why they thought they hadn’t found that job yet and I got mixed responses.

A few are doing emergency teaching and loving the variation and experience they are gaining through that. Others feel they don’t interview well and need work in this area. Some have reviewed revised and redone their resumes and cover letters countless times and with the feedback they are getting from potential employers, identify that as an area that needs work also.

However, each of the graduates I have spoken to have one thing in common. Although they feel quite sad at times about not securing that dream position yet, that is the reality. They will wait, apply and use their gained skills for other uses until that dream job presents itself.

The main message they all tried to convey was, that just like getting into uni or working your way up through a company, there are always pathways and options to get to a result. If things aren’t going to plan straight away, bide your time, use your skills for other purposes, obtain feedback and get a mentor for applications, apply for a CRT agency to gain experience, teach overseas, explore other options, your degree isn't going to expire. The job market is always unfavourable with the amount of graduates in one area from various different universities so if your applications aren’t receiving the praise that you feel they should or your interviewing skills aren’t quite what the employers want, try again. If you fail, learn from that and remember why you want to be a teacher in the first place. If you put in the work, your chance could come at any time and you have to be ready.

I have recently read a book by Daniel Flynn who is a co-founder of the company thank you (responsible for thankyou water and various other products) he himself was a university drop out because he had an idea and dream that he thought would work and ultimately it was a game changer. He followed this dream, failed and learnt from that and took action and risks to make his idea come to life. He is very successful in his field and has funded and aided an incredible amount of people living in poverty. This number is still increasing and he is quite an inspirational young person whose story can be very relatable to a lot outside of his own business. I would highly recommend this book, you can purchase it from their website https://thankyou.co/ or from any airport in Australia and New Zealand.

Remember that things can always be better and hidden opportunities reveal themselves through our ‘failures’.

-Adelle

Applying for Jobs

Applying for Jobs

22 March, 2016

Applying for and acquiring jobs seems to be increasingly difficult for teachers in Victoria. Kristen explores what it means to be finishing her course and the job application process.

I’m in the final year of my Bachelor of Education (Primary) in Melbourne and most weeks I’ll get asked the question ‘So when do you finish?’ and I’ll say ‘this year!’ enthusiastically, and then I get the comment ‘ahhh, so you must be nearly ready to apply for jobs!’. All of a sudden, I’m feeling daunted, stressed and anxious, much like the lady in the picture. I’ve heard bad things about applying for teaching jobs fresh out of university.

Firstly, I think back to a friend who finished her Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary) degree three years ago - one of the most lovely, friendly girls you’ll ever meet. She applied for over 100 jobs, and had only 4 interviews come out of it. The problem with the interviews was that they were for a position that had already been ‘filled’, but government required the schools to interview at least two other candidates before they could hire/re-hire that candidate. She was offered a position in a country location, however chose not to accept this position.

Secondly, another friend finished her Bachelor of Education Secondary, specialising in English and Drama two years ago. A similar story, applied for what seemed like tens of hundreds of jobs, writing unique key selection criteria suited to each school, without much success. It is important in this case to consider that drama is a specialist field, and these jobs are hard to come by at the best of times. She has a theory though (which she claims to be true), that a school will receive hundreds of applications, split the pile in half, and throw away one of the piles without so much as a glance. I really hope this isn’t true.*

Now, I’m not telling you these stories to scare you - I’m telling these stories to help us explore how we can set ourselves apart in the application process. Keep reading to find out what happened to these two friends (there is hope, don’t worry!). These stories do however beg the question: How to we get schools to look at our application?

If there’s one thing that I know for sure - schools want you to have a range of experience. Experience that may not be limited to placements required by your course, but experience working with children in other settings too. This indicates that you’re proactive and have demonstrated the necessary skills to work with children on a regular basis. 

For the duration of my course, I’ve been volunteering at a children’s art class that runs weekly after school, as well as a breakfast club at a local high school. Every time I mention that I’m studying Primary Teaching to one of the parents, they make the comment ‘that’ll look great on your resume!’ and I (mentally) pat myself on the back. Perhaps you’re like Alex who volunteers in a classroom (see below) - or perhaps you’re a swim teacher or maybe a nanny. What I’m trying to say is - whatever experience you have working with children is experience that schools want to hear about because these experiences will inevitably have helped to shape you as a teacher.

Back to my two friends - the first spent some time working as a casual relief teacher (CRT), and secured an ongoing contract at her dream school 6 months later. The second has worked as a CRT and had three term-long contracts at different schools filling long-service-leave positions. The feedback that she has received from schools is that they are looking for someone with experience, so she will continue to try and gain some more experience. 

*if you’ve heard of some other myths like this, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll see what I can find out about them.

- Kristen