We all know the job market is competitive, it seems to be all the news can report on lately. While every sector has been hit hard, jobs in education have really been under pressure and any available openings are being spread very thin. Those new to the job market can expect to compete with an average of 800 candidates for a position. This is a reality that, while common for years in the normal job market, is relatively new to the world of education. Given such an environment it is critical for any educator looking for a first position, or looking for alternative placements, to really stand out from the crowd. Anyone can have a solid resume, dress nice and nail a 3 minute interview at a job fair, and indeed, most do, but this is no longer enough.
Realizing this problem, and experiencing it quite often himself, Economics teacher Bruce Taylor, from Community School District 300 in Dundee, Illinois, took matters into his own hands and created a fantastic resource for his fellow educators. His website, www.findteachingjobs.com , allows teachers to search for their ideal positions, across the entire state, with a simple click of the mouse. What use to take hours is nowcompleted in a matter of seconds states Mr. Taylor. When testing out the site we found it to be very easy to use and the results were spot on.
Normally, those looking for teaching positions would do a Google search for
Teaching jobs in Illinois, or elementary teaching jobs in Chicago, or even something like teaching jobs in Chicago, but then the individual is just left with crossed fingers hoping something will turn up. Taylor continued by explaining how the site works.
So the teacher was often stuck, lost in an endless search for a position. Teaching jobs in Illinois, or teaching jobs in Chicago may or may not return any results, and if there were results returned they would be incomplete. Findteachingjobs.com exists to directly connect the individual with their ideal position by using targeted, keyword searches. I teach Economics, so, for example, if I were looking for a different job I would go to findteachingjobs.com, select my desired age, in my case it would be high school, and I would do a keyword search for Economics. The site would then scan EVERY school in the state for openings in Economics and I would be presented with the results in the form of a link directly to the application page.
Taylor stressed that the site was designed to be a time saver and to more efficiently connect teachers with positions. With one click the user is connected to all available positions in a matter of seconds, so the hours of searching are now a thing of the past. We also tested what it would be like for someone new to the profession to find a job and, taking Taylors advice, we ran searches on the most common initial keyword strings, teaching jobs in Illinois,
Elementary teaching jobs in Chicago and Teaching jobs in Chicago. We were returned with an abundance of websites, postings, advice pages and other sites that would take hours to comb through in the hopes of finding what we were looking for. Districts now realize that they dont have to advertise their openings because demand is so high, so a basic internet search is completely useless explained Taylor.
Findteachingjobs.com really looks like a great tool for those looking for jobs. A basic internet search is completely uselessin todays job market and with such an amazing resource like findteachingjobs.com, we couldnt agree more that such a search is a thing of the past. If you are looking for a teaching job, do yourself a huge favor, check out the site, sign up and get to getting your position. Did we mention that Bruce Taylor is a actual teacher, in the classroom at this very moment, teaching students? This is not a corporate page, not some heartless business, its made by a teacher for the direct benefit of all those looking for their first or a different teaching position, and for that we would like to say, nice work!
