Education Job Search - Great Places and Websites to Start

The education job search continues to change as technology plays a vital role in searching for job leads and submitting teaching applications online. Not sure where to start looking for your next education job? Read this post to grab some tips and strategies to discover and land a new teaching post.

It would be great if the school of your dreams called you up as soon as you graduate from college and offered you the teaching job you have always wanted. However, as anyone who has ever been hired for a teaching job knows, this is never the case. If you are a certified teacher wanting a teaching job, you will need to do some serious legwork.

Obtaining a teaching position can be difficult, but it is much easier if you know where to look and start your job search with a keyword-rich, accomplishment-based, visually-appealing teacher resume and cover letter.

Great Places to Start Looking for Your Next Teaching Job

Education Jobs: Sources to Find Job Leads or Submit Your Resume

First, decide whether you want to remain teaching in the city/state or province where you are currently living and working, or if you would prefer to consider education opportunities on a national (or international) scope. Often, career advancement within your particular certification may be limited if you restrict your search locally, so consider this as you plot out the next step of your career progression or lateral change.

For local searches, spend some time scanning the classified advertisements, but focus most of your attention on making a list of the school districts, private schools, school boards, colleges, or universities with whom you'd like to explore employment possibilities.

Spend some time researching and learning about each school district – websites are a great place to start. Determine if you and your teaching skills would be a good fit. If they are, identify the name of the individual who would likely serve as your boss, then target your cover letter and resume or CV to that person.

For national or international searches, you can do the same thing as recommended above, with the added step of searching and or posting your resume on targeted websites specific to teaching, such as educationjobs.com or if your job search is Canadian focused, try jobsineducation.com. This extra step will give you broader exposure to both districts and education recruiters. Also check industry or trade journals, which list available employment opportunities for educators.

Other Avenues to Locate Education Job Opportunities:

The Reliable Old Fashioned Classifieds

While it is not the most likely place to find them, some schools post job vacancies in the newspaper; a particularly common practice when dealing with private or charter schools. You are most likely to find job listings in the newspaper between the months of June and August, but it wouldn't hurt to check the newspaper at the end of the school year since some schools do their hiring the school year before. Most teaching postings listed in the newspaper include details on how to apply for the position and a contact number to gain more information.

Local Department of Education Website

Almost every state or province has a department of education that has been established to govern the education of the children living in that particular area. A great source to consult when seeking a teaching job is your local department of education website, as most Department of Education websites contain a page of job listings. These job postings are often searchable or organized by region, making them an invaluable tool for any job hungry educator.

School District or College Websites

The most common way to locate teaching jobs is to look on school district websites. Almost every school district has a section of their website that is dedicated to listing teacher or administrator job posts. Once you have identified the school district that you would like to work in, you should be sure to check the website weekly for jobs. If you are not consistent in checking district websites, you could easily miss a teaching position that would be perfect for you. Many teachers submit their application through OLAS – online application system for educators.

Teaching Job Boards

Depending on where you are located, you can find jobs on physical job posting boards. Some school districts have job posting boards in the district office with information about openings. Because the methods of communicating job postings varies greatly from area to area, it would be advantageous to check with any school districts that you would like to work in and inquire as to how they post their jobs. You can also check the many online education job boards for postings in your area.

Check Job Opportunities Outside of Your Teaching Area

If you don't see many postings for teachers, you may also inquire about teaching assistant and substitute teaching positions. Many schools would prefer that their teachers start out this way so they receive training on how the school is run, get to know the other personnel, get to know the school policies, and learn to communicate and interact with the students.

Utilize Recruiters or Employment Headhunters

You may also want to send your resume to companies that are hired specifically to recruit teachers for open positions. Sometimes the job you can get through these companies is better than the ones you would get through a public-school system. Keep in mind, headhunters work for the organization that is looking to hire by suggesting top candidates to them to fill available positions.

Additional Areas to Find Great Teaching Job Opportunities:

Career Job Fairs are a Goldmine for Job Leads

These are great places to meet with a bunch of different schools and school districts face-to-face and find out about potential teaching opportunities. When attending a job fair, make sure you dress professionally, take plenty of application packets and copies of your resume, and ensure you have researched the districts you hope to have an interview with.

Don't Forget the Power of Networking

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Networking – connecting with family members, friends, colleagues, or even strangers at formal networking events, by phone, or over the internet – is actually the most successful way of finding a job. Remember that whole 'six degrees of separation' thing that was so popular a few years back? That's how networking works. Spread the word about your job search and you'll soon find out that so-and-so knows someone who happens to work for ABC School District and might have the perfect job available. It really works, so give it a try! If you are conducting a confidential job search be careful who you tell.

And lastly, You Can't Forget Social Media Networking

Social media networking is so powerful for career advancement and job searching. For this reason, you will find a section on our website dedicated to social media channels and the benefits to your job search, as well as how to write social media profiles, how to use them effectively, and many more relevant topics. Visit our social media networking section for more information.

Looking for a teaching or school administrator position is serious work and the task can make you feel defeated after searching for months. It may seem like you are getting nowhere. It is important to recognize that landing a job may take longer than expected simply because the teaching profession is flooded and schools have no difficulty filling their positions.

The key is to start with an accomplishment-based, keyword-rich, visually-appealing resume and cover letter. When you have these documents fine-tuned, keep applying for jobs because no school is going to come looking for you. Be active in your job search and eventually you will find the job that you have been looking for.

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