[lookin4ajob]

Hello All! I need some advise about contacting schools/principals directly. In my area, you have to apply for teaching jobs through a multi-district consortium. Typically, there are hundreds of applicants for each job. In addition to that obstacle, most districts ask you not to contact them directly. Well, I say, "Desperate times call for desperate measures." My question is, have any of you ever contacted a school despite their request not to? If so, how did you do it? I'm thinking an email, but not sure what to say without being too pushy. Any advise would be appreciated.

[Mikhail]

I say why not? Everyone else is doing it BUT if you really want to stick out, may I suggest that you do so by subbing. This way they can put a name with the face while trying to connect with an admin at the same time. I don't know if this is going to work but I heard through others that they touched base with an admin to make an impression and it doesn't have to be about your desire to land a job. And at the end of the day, some would drop off their resume or business card. You gotta figure out a way to stand out so you are remembered. Not that there's anything wrong with cold calls but if everyone else does it like I had said, will you create that impression? Sometimes, HR is too busy to notice.

I have been putting in applications since April. We have little home-town districts, large district and districts in between within a 50 mile radius of my house. I have applied to all of them. I got desperate and took a stack of resumes to a large district that I knew had several openings over the summer. I wanted them to be able to put a face to the name. After going to 2 schools and not feeling very welcome, the secretaries at the next one told me that they do not want a face to the name. It could cause issues. Some might feel like they were discriminated because of their skin color or ethnicity. She said smaller schools may be receptive. I have emailed principals and very few respond, but I have not seen how it has helped me. I even hand-delivered a resume to a small school to show my initiative, emailing the principal 3 days later. He never got in touch with me. Contrariwise, I got my last year job at an urban school by dropping off my resume a day before school started. Last year I also went out of my way to go to a job fair 70 miles from my house just to speak to the principal of a large district in person. He was impressed with my initiative and called me later for an interview for a Kindergarten position. I did not get the job but at least he gave me an interview. If I weigh my experiences, I would say that I will not be emailing or stopping by any more districts. All they really want to see is my paper profile. So now, I am out to improve what I look like on paper. These are just some thoughts. I live near St. Louis. Also the district that hired me last year is always desperate for teachers. I did not stay because I wanted to find a job closer to home.

[basketball777]

I got my first job from leaving phone messages. But only cuz they were desperate near the start of school. Another principal copied down my info from the message and gave it to another principal looking for a teacher last minute. That principal who wrote down my info said she thought highly of people who call because it shows initiative and wanting a job. It was actually suggested to me by yet another principal that I should email/call to help pursue my job search as a new inexperienced teacher. It worked. This was 10 years ago tho,