Tag: job interviews

In which I make a decision

On By Luther M. SilerIn TeachingLeave a comment

…so, apparently I like my job?

I had a Moment this weekend, or perhaps a series of Moments, where a math job opened up at the boy’s school and I jumped on it faster than I’ve ever jumped on a job opportunity in my life. And then, once the cover letter was written and the resume was updated and everything was filled out and sent off, I immediately regretted it.

And that was … kinda weird? You’re telling me, brain, that I offer you a job with small class sizes and damn near universally kids who want to learn and whose parents are invested in their education and you … don’t want it? You’re supposed to kill people to get that job. I’ve been in the trenches for over two decades at this point! I deserve a job that no one would ever refer to using the word “trenches,” God damn it!

Now, because it’s my kid’s school, it’s kind of a weird situation, because in the “who do you know who works here” section on the application, I had to write “basically everyone,” because dude has been at this school since he was larval and that’s kind of what happens. And I emailed one person at the school and gave him a heads-up that I’d put in the application, because technically I used to be his boss and I thought it was at least a little possible that someone might go ask him about that if they put together that we were at the same school at the same time. And I very specifically did not tell two of the three people I put down as references, because no one ever calls references first and if I’m not taking the job I don’t need the drama at work about whether I’m leaving.

Anyway, yeah, several days in the row of anxiety, and do I really want this, and reminding myself that I really haven’t had a lot to complain about this year, and then the person I sent all the documentation in to emailed me back and she asked “are you sure about this,” because, in her words, their pay was “woefully” lower than what I’m currently making.

So, of course, I emailed her back and asked how woeful is woeful, because that word doesn’t really suggest a number to me if I’m being honest, and Glassdoor was being really unhelpful, and she got back to me.

Twenty five thousand dollar pay cut.

So, uh, yeah, I’m staying at my current school next year. That was a fun few days, though.

When you’re trying to project confidence but on the inside you’re screaming

On By Luther M. SilerIn Teaching2 Comments

Had a job interview today.

A two hour job interview today. Not, like, interviews with multiple people in a row that totaled up to two hours. One interview, with one person, that lasted two hours.

I was interviewing for two different jobs– math at two different grade levels, basically, so it’s not like the questions were going to be different and that’s why the interview ran long– but I got the feeling that the principal was definitely zeroing in on one grade instead of the other by the end of the interview. Which is fine. I’ve been teaching middle school long enough that grade levels don’t really matter all that much to me any longer, although I do have a preference for one curriculum over the other, for whatever that might be worth. I gotta feel like if you sit down with me for two damn hours then you’re probably pretty serious about bringing me into your building; a red flag at any point could have ended the interview a whole hell of a lot sooner.

And here’s the thing, right? If you’ve been around here for a while, or if you’ve read Searching for Malumba, you know good and damn well that if you ask me questions about education you’re gonna get answers. I’m better at talking coherently about classroom praxis and education in general than I am at almost everything else. Which means that I interview really goddamn well for teaching jobs, and the number of teaching jobs where I’ve made it to the interview stage and not been offered a job is frankly pretty damn small.

At any rate, I think it’s probably reasonable to believe that I’m gonna get offered a job at this school in a couple of days. Not guaranteed, certainly, because shit happens, but I think it’s reasonable, especially since I was applying for two different jobs. Which will mean that I’ll be back in the classroom this fall.

Which I have … mixed feelings about, as you well might imagine, if you’ve been around here for a while. And those mixed feelings made honestly answering questions like why are you applying for this job a bit more … I dunno, fraught than they might be? Because I really do have mixed feelings about the idea of leaving my current position. It’s just that after being placed irregularly into a classroom over the last half of last year, at least until ILEARN hit and then my life went to hell, I’m pretty goddamn certain that I’m gonna be teaching this year on at least a part-time basis whether I want to or not, and I’m absolutely going to get asked to write lesson plans for classes I’m not teaching, and, well …

Here’s the thing: something has to change, one way or another, because of reasons having really nothing at all to do with me or the job I actually did. I know where I’m at right now is probably not tenable, so there are a bunch of available moves that represent improvement over my current situation, and one of these two jobs would do that. And … that’s basically how my answer went? That, honestly, returning to classroom teaching wasn’t ideal to me, but that if that was what was going to happen anyway (and I think it will,) I would rather be in control of the where and the when and the what than where I think I’m gonna be if I don’t make some changes.

And, well, the principal talked to me for another hour and forty minutes, so it must have been an acceptable answer, I guess.

We’ll see how it goes.

Etiquette question re: that interview

On By Luther M. SilerIn Work8 Comments

courtesy-writerattheranch-thiswritinglife.blogspot.com_.jpgPutting this in a separate post instead of as an addendum because more people will notice it that way: I don’t have an email address for anyone at the place I interviewed at this morning, because the guy I interviewed with contacted me by phone yesterday and there isn’t contact information for individuals (just an email form that isn’t geared to personal messages) on their website.

OK to call the receptionist and ask for that information so I can send the post-interview thank-you note?  Or is the PITYN overrated anyway and not worth worrying about?

And, like, if I call and the boss answers the phone, because I get the feeling he does that from time to time, do I just, like, die of shame on the spot, or hang up the phone and run away and change my name and move to Nepal, or…?

Ugh.

On By Luther M. SilerIn Writing4 Comments

The following happened:

  • I woke up with about a third of a cold.  Juuuuuust enough to be massively annoying and make me want to spend the day in bed.
  • The boy somehow managed to cut my soul when I dropped him off at day care today.  No tears, but…god, the betrayface was somehow twenty times worse than usual.
  • Two different job interviews, both half an hour away, but far enough separated in time that just hanging out in goddamned Elkhart for five hours wasn’t reasonable, that both went very well, for at least one job that I think I’d really like, neither of which will pay me sufficient wages to keep my house.
  • Three positive reviews (one four-star, two five-star) for The Benevolence Archives have been removed from Amazon, for no reason that I understand.  I found an email address to write and complain to; I suspect it will get me nowhere.  (HA!  They’ve already sent me a form letter back, without actually reading my message.  It took ten minutes.  I love it when customer service is a robot!)
  • I have gotten no writing done whatsoever in the last two days that isn’t on this site.  This isn’t the big problem that the others were (I wasn’t expecting to, what with bathroom reno yesterday and the job interviews occupying my brainspace today) but I feel weird stopping at four things.

I am going to bed in the very near future and saying to hell with today.

Well, that was depressing

On By Luther M. SilerIn Teaching5 Comments

Just got back from an interview that, I think, went really well both for me and for the other folks– and which was, for once, a couple of people having a conversation across a table, which is how I think job interviews ought to go– and which ended by me basically having to admit that there was no chance in hell I was going to be able to work for them because of their legally-mandated-by-the-state-of-Indiana salary structure.  I have twelve years of experience and two Master’s degrees; no, I will not be teaching for you for $35,000.

It is literally illegal to pay me according to my experience and training.  I have another interview scheduled for this afternoon; I have already read through their master contract and it is going to go the same way.  I am sorely tempted to save myself the gas money and just cancel the interview.  They can’t afford me, because the state doesn’t want them to.

Governor Pence’s master plan to entirely deprofessionalize teaching in Indiana is having its intended effect.  I hope the state enjoys the results they will get.