Preparing to leave teaching
"The trees are in their Autumn beauty"*
Hello there - sorry it's been such a long time since my last post - I've been really busy - but I've got lots of good news this post. In fact I was planning to do two posts - what I did to prepare myself to leave teaching and then how I went about getting a job, but actually I was offered a permanent job just last week - so I'm going to have to speed things up a bit!
Originally I thought I'd write about how I prepared for leaving teaching and how I minimised gaps in my working/pay schedule. I think that's quite an important thing to focus on because most of us probably aren't in a happy financial position where you can just be out of work for months on end.
After I'd decided to leave, I knew that I had to start preparing for it. Teaching is quite a difficult profession to actually get out of, simply owing to the fact that you have to give quite a long notice period. Most schools require one term's notice, and you have to get the dates just right. This means that if you went for an interview in January and were offered the job, you wouldn't be able to start until much later on because you'd have to work to the end of the spring term. As many jobs are advertised with the starting date 'as soon as possible', having to work such a long notice can put you off applying for that job. Therefore I realised that, realistically, I wouldn't be able to leave until the end of the academic year (July-August), which also meant that, as a teacher is paid until the end of August, I would have money coming in during September, giving me eight weeks in total to find a job without it affecting my finances too much. I also planned to save up a little bit of extra money to act as a safety buffer. I think that whatever career you are in it's best to 'save up' if you want to change because job-hunting brings extra expenses - not just the fact that you still have to pay the bills and put dinner on the table, but also you need to factor in things like travel to interviews and in some cases (mine in particular) buying some smart interview-style clothes.
The first thing I did when I decided to really take this job-move seriously was to get my CV together. Most people will have a CV in one from or another, but I wanted to change mine from a teaching focussed one to one that was putting emphasis on my transferrable skills. The Guardian jobs website had some very good advice about CV wring and I used their proformas as a a guide. One interesting thing that somebody told me is that in today's job market, most young people don't put their address on a CV - just their email and their mobile number. Apparently putting your address onto a CV really ages you. The other thing I was told was that you don't have to include your 'O' levels if you have a degree because again, putting down 'O' levels automatically ages you and anyway, nobody's that interested in your KS4 exams if you've got a degree - the one presupposes the other. If you look at the Guardian's advice you'll see that the main thing to focus on is the skills you have and how you acquired them, with examples of what exactly you've done which demonstrate these skills.
I did look for some jobs online through websites like 'indeed', 'The Guardian, and also the Civil Service jobserch. I found some really interesting jobs but when you begin to look for jobs which are not in your previous line of work it can be really quite confusing and also a little bit scary/off-putting. Most jobs today have such a long list of bullet points for their JD /PS (job description and person specification) and it takes such a long time to address each one. The other scary thing about changing career is that a lot of jobs ask for 'at least 5 years experience' (or 2, 3, 4, - whatever) and when you've been teaching for ten years then there's no way you can cover that up!
I decided that I would start applying for jobs in about March/April, just to see what sort of reaction I'd get or whether I would even get any interviews; I think you need to do that just to get used to the whole process, improving your application / CV each time so that it's appropriate for the jobs you want.
Needless to say nothing happened at all until about August when I got my first interview! I was so excited. The job was probably very much below what I was capable of but to actually get an interview for something that wasn't teaching was quite impressive for me. The post was a course co-ordinator at the University of Sussex - very much an administrative post but I thought that it would give me some good experience in office-based work, plus it was based in a very pleasant environment.
I was very nervous about the interview but I prepared myself well, going over (many times) what I'd put on the application form, trying to think of the sorts of questions they would ask me and having a good idea of how I could give examples to answer them. I felt that the interview went quite well but I was not offered the job; it was given to somebody who was already working there - I think this can be quite common for lots of large organisation. However, the one thing that I did, having read some advice on the internet, was to ask for feedback about why I hadn't got the job. The article was really helpful and actually gave a draft text of what to say in an email - you can read it here if you are interested. I was glad I did it because luckily the person who interviewed me gave me some really positive, extensive feedback - and it was all via email so it was actually written down. I asked her about how I could get some experience working in a university setting and she gave me the name of a temping agency in Brighton. I contacted them, went in to see them, and then by the end of the week they had found me a job in the Human Resources department at the University of Sussex - and that was all because I asked for feedback and also I could actually show them the feedback I'd received. So the moral of the story is: even if you are feeling crap after failing an interview, asking for feedback is a good thing and ask questions about what to do next.
I don't know about you but I feel that I've been talking quite a lot - so let's have a photo break as part of the 'What Judy did next - but not just what job she did' theme.
We went to see Father John Misty at the Brighton Dome last week - great voice, great lyrics, great performer and (surprisingly) a very funny man:
Unfortunately we couldn't get standing seats - I took this photo of the crowd from the balcony - a little bit surreal / a vision of hell?
... and talking of teaching - I bumped into one of my PGCE buddies there - he's still teaching but has moved into special provision for 'challenging' pupils - not a job I could do so well done him.
Back to work-stuff: I've been working in the Human Resources department at the University of Sussex since September now, so I was only out of work for three weeks. Ok, so I'm not exactly doing anything too challenging intellectually, but I am working, earning, and learning new skills, all of which helps to boost your CV, your confidence and your bank-balance.
There is so much more I could say about the time spent poring over the job pages on the internet, the hours and hours spent filling in application forms, and the feelings of frustration when you don't hear back from a company once you've sent that lovingly crafted application in. Before I got offered a permanent last week job I applied for about 16 other jobs - some of which I really would have loved to have done. In total I was only offered 5 interviews. All I will say is that you need to keep getting 'back on the horse' every time you have a knock-back (just been watching 'Godless' on Netflix - it's brilliant) You mustn't take things too personally, you need to learn from your rejections, and above all, ask for feedback and then act upon it next time you apply/have an interview. And never forget that changing jobs / career takes time - a long time - so BE PREPARED.
Next time - maybe I'll take a break from all of this job-related stuff and talk about something else.
Have a good week,
Judy.
Read the full poem here.
Listen to FJM here.
Hello there - sorry it's been such a long time since my last post - I've been really busy - but I've got lots of good news this post. In fact I was planning to do two posts - what I did to prepare myself to leave teaching and then how I went about getting a job, but actually I was offered a permanent job just last week - so I'm going to have to speed things up a bit!
Originally I thought I'd write about how I prepared for leaving teaching and how I minimised gaps in my working/pay schedule. I think that's quite an important thing to focus on because most of us probably aren't in a happy financial position where you can just be out of work for months on end.
After I'd decided to leave, I knew that I had to start preparing for it. Teaching is quite a difficult profession to actually get out of, simply owing to the fact that you have to give quite a long notice period. Most schools require one term's notice, and you have to get the dates just right. This means that if you went for an interview in January and were offered the job, you wouldn't be able to start until much later on because you'd have to work to the end of the spring term. As many jobs are advertised with the starting date 'as soon as possible', having to work such a long notice can put you off applying for that job. Therefore I realised that, realistically, I wouldn't be able to leave until the end of the academic year (July-August), which also meant that, as a teacher is paid until the end of August, I would have money coming in during September, giving me eight weeks in total to find a job without it affecting my finances too much. I also planned to save up a little bit of extra money to act as a safety buffer. I think that whatever career you are in it's best to 'save up' if you want to change because job-hunting brings extra expenses - not just the fact that you still have to pay the bills and put dinner on the table, but also you need to factor in things like travel to interviews and in some cases (mine in particular) buying some smart interview-style clothes.
The first thing I did when I decided to really take this job-move seriously was to get my CV together. Most people will have a CV in one from or another, but I wanted to change mine from a teaching focussed one to one that was putting emphasis on my transferrable skills. The Guardian jobs website had some very good advice about CV wring and I used their proformas as a a guide. One interesting thing that somebody told me is that in today's job market, most young people don't put their address on a CV - just their email and their mobile number. Apparently putting your address onto a CV really ages you. The other thing I was told was that you don't have to include your 'O' levels if you have a degree because again, putting down 'O' levels automatically ages you and anyway, nobody's that interested in your KS4 exams if you've got a degree - the one presupposes the other. If you look at the Guardian's advice you'll see that the main thing to focus on is the skills you have and how you acquired them, with examples of what exactly you've done which demonstrate these skills.
I did look for some jobs online through websites like 'indeed', 'The Guardian, and also the Civil Service jobserch. I found some really interesting jobs but when you begin to look for jobs which are not in your previous line of work it can be really quite confusing and also a little bit scary/off-putting. Most jobs today have such a long list of bullet points for their JD /PS (job description and person specification) and it takes such a long time to address each one. The other scary thing about changing career is that a lot of jobs ask for 'at least 5 years experience' (or 2, 3, 4, - whatever) and when you've been teaching for ten years then there's no way you can cover that up!
I decided that I would start applying for jobs in about March/April, just to see what sort of reaction I'd get or whether I would even get any interviews; I think you need to do that just to get used to the whole process, improving your application / CV each time so that it's appropriate for the jobs you want.
Needless to say nothing happened at all until about August when I got my first interview! I was so excited. The job was probably very much below what I was capable of but to actually get an interview for something that wasn't teaching was quite impressive for me. The post was a course co-ordinator at the University of Sussex - very much an administrative post but I thought that it would give me some good experience in office-based work, plus it was based in a very pleasant environment.
I was very nervous about the interview but I prepared myself well, going over (many times) what I'd put on the application form, trying to think of the sorts of questions they would ask me and having a good idea of how I could give examples to answer them. I felt that the interview went quite well but I was not offered the job; it was given to somebody who was already working there - I think this can be quite common for lots of large organisation. However, the one thing that I did, having read some advice on the internet, was to ask for feedback about why I hadn't got the job. The article was really helpful and actually gave a draft text of what to say in an email - you can read it here if you are interested. I was glad I did it because luckily the person who interviewed me gave me some really positive, extensive feedback - and it was all via email so it was actually written down. I asked her about how I could get some experience working in a university setting and she gave me the name of a temping agency in Brighton. I contacted them, went in to see them, and then by the end of the week they had found me a job in the Human Resources department at the University of Sussex - and that was all because I asked for feedback and also I could actually show them the feedback I'd received. So the moral of the story is: even if you are feeling crap after failing an interview, asking for feedback is a good thing and ask questions about what to do next.
I don't know about you but I feel that I've been talking quite a lot - so let's have a photo break as part of the 'What Judy did next - but not just what job she did' theme.
We went to see Father John Misty at the Brighton Dome last week - great voice, great lyrics, great performer and (surprisingly) a very funny man:
Unfortunately we couldn't get standing seats - I took this photo of the crowd from the balcony - a little bit surreal / a vision of hell?
... and talking of teaching - I bumped into one of my PGCE buddies there - he's still teaching but has moved into special provision for 'challenging' pupils - not a job I could do so well done him.
Back to work-stuff: I've been working in the Human Resources department at the University of Sussex since September now, so I was only out of work for three weeks. Ok, so I'm not exactly doing anything too challenging intellectually, but I am working, earning, and learning new skills, all of which helps to boost your CV, your confidence and your bank-balance.
There is so much more I could say about the time spent poring over the job pages on the internet, the hours and hours spent filling in application forms, and the feelings of frustration when you don't hear back from a company once you've sent that lovingly crafted application in. Before I got offered a permanent last week job I applied for about 16 other jobs - some of which I really would have loved to have done. In total I was only offered 5 interviews. All I will say is that you need to keep getting 'back on the horse' every time you have a knock-back (just been watching 'Godless' on Netflix - it's brilliant) You mustn't take things too personally, you need to learn from your rejections, and above all, ask for feedback and then act upon it next time you apply/have an interview. And never forget that changing jobs / career takes time - a long time - so BE PREPARED.
Next time - maybe I'll take a break from all of this job-related stuff and talk about something else.
Have a good week,
Judy.
Read the full poem here.
Listen to FJM here.
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