300 Applicants

I called to follow up on a resume, and found out there are 300 applicants for one of the only four temporary Social Studies positions within the Boston Metro area. What that means is that I will not get the job. In Boston you have to have all of your college transcripts, copies of your certificate, actual letters of reference (not just names and numbers) when you apply for jobs. I'm working on getting everything together, but I don't have it. Unless the 300 are terrible choices (which is unlikely) I don't stand a chance.

What that means for the future is that there are *already* at least 300 teachers looking for a Social Studies position for the upcoming year. That doesn't include anyone who might not have applied or any of the upcoming education graduates who will also be looking for a job. Including districts in or around Boston, I'm guessing that perhaps 50 Social Studies jobs will become available for the upcoming year. I could be one that gets a job, but that's pretty darn competitive.

What I would really need to do would be to substitute teach for a district I want to work with. I've been substituting for a private school that will probably keep all of their teachers for the upcoming year, or loose elementary teachers which I'm not yet qualified for. I don't regret working with this school, it's restored my belief in education, but it hasn't helped me network for the upcoming school year.

But it's not too late to substitute for other districts, right. Wrong. The district I called has already added 100 new substitutes to their substitute list. Even if I were to ask to be added, gone out to schools to network, etc., I would see very little time within a classroom, likely too little to draw the notice of a hiring principal. I suppose I could be more aggressive, but I don't think teaching should be a cut throat occupation.

So this means another full year of substitute work with the possibility of a long term sub position in the spring of next year. Sure, it could be better than that, but it's unlikely. What I can do is take the elementary certification test to expand my qualifications. I don't know the situation with that, but it might be a little better. Since I have no experience in an elementary classroom I would most likely spend some time substituting anyway, although I could specifically request to work with the lower grades at the school I'm working with now.

Anyway, my job search isn't going very well right now...Ah well, off to my volunteer job (working with adults trying to get their GED). At least I know I can stay busy, even if I'm not getting paid.