Online Apps and Job Fairs

[Pam from Ill]

Here is my two cents regarding the above.

Online applications take forever to complete. I swear they just end up in cyberspace somewhere....... floating, floating....... never to be seen again. I do them, but I wonder about the value of them.

Job Fairs: I went to two last year. It was so demoralizing. There were about 1,000 people in attendance. Some were working teachers, most were like me, not employed. I would wait in lines for 35-50 minutes to hand over my resume, and received a brisk "thank you". If I did get a chance to sit and talk, it was very brief, a few notations and all resumes were dumped in a box.

I waited for one district and actually went through a reverse discrimination. She kept asking me, "are you AT ALL familiar with our district?" It is a poor, suffering community, 91% Afro-American, 3% Hispanic and the rest a mix. Yes, I knew the community, but I felt I could make a differece.
I had never,ever been treated so poorly by a school representative. I tried a second time - same district several months later, because of a job posting I saw on line. I was treated the same way.

If you go to job fairs, good luck to you.

 

[YHG311]

Thank You

I hate how each school district has a seperate online application to complete. It's pretty easy to complete one of them, but it's a pain when applying to numerous districts. Why can't each state board of education have its own unique application that serves all districts?
I am probably going to 2 or 3 job fairs soon, and I really don't know what to expect. One of them is for a small district, and the other 2 are for larger ones. Will they cast me aside, or show an interest in me? Probably a litte bit of both.
BTW, if they treated you badly both times, then I would recommend applying to a different district nearby, hopefully with better luck.

 

[Mrs.B]

any interviews

Have you had any interviews from the online apps or job fairs? I'm going to my 4th job fair tomorrow and I'm exhausted. I'm also pretty sick of online applications!

 

[MomtoBoys]

I agree with Pam

I found that online applications do disappear into cyberspace...at least until you find out the "secret" to making it reappear. Let me explain. I applied online with a school district in which the Administration office kept insisting to me that they only take online applications. Well, later (after I did not get a job for the school year), I became a full-time sub in the same district. As I began working with teachers in the district, I learned that you have to call the administration after you fill out the online app and request an interview! I did that and immediately was set up for the first of 4 interviews! WOW. Sure wish I would have known this last summer, I may have gotten a real job! Funny, the website and application never said that you should do that and of course the people I talked to on the phone last summer didn't suggest it either. It was only after I was working among the teachers themselves that I learned this.

As for job fairs, I had the same experience, too many people, school districts were packing up and leaving after only being there one hour (guess they had no openings!). Wasted my time for travel and time away from student teaching! I guess it is just a chance you have to take.

 

[PrivateEyes]

My experience

I went to three job fairs. For the first one, I was running a little late. They said to get there between 8:00-8:30. I got there at 8:45. By the time I got my badge and packet, etc., all of the principals were off interviewing. I spoke to people at the booths and dropped off my resume, but not a single nibble. LESSON LEARNED: GET THERE EARLY.

The second one I went to, everyone got an initial interview. It was difficult to concentrate because we were all packed in the same room and you could hear the other questions and answers going on around you. I must not have interviewed well, because I never got a call back on that one, either.

The third job fair I went on they gave us a nice packet, some water, breakfast, and set us up for an initial interview. It was more spread out and the interviewer (a principal from one of the schools in the district) was really nice. Apparently I passed that interview, because they set me up with a second interview that day with the personnel department. As I was waiting for that interview, they asked if local people would be willing to interview another day. I decided cooperative was good.

At that job fair, they were offering early commitment letters that day, and when I reinterviewed the next week, they also offered an early commitment letter. I took it and ran, because not only was it was my first choice district, but it was so much better than the other job fairs I had been to.