April 20, 2022 • 24 mins
"Self-Exploration: The First Step in the Job Seach" by The Bridgespan Group at this link: https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/careers/self-exploration-first-step-job-search?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmPSSBhCNARIsAH3cYgafkLldy7FFG167RDy1eGBKa1a9Q0p7JmE0VnX8EBlSfqifM2T6kAQaAsBtEALw_wcB
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're a teacher who's feeling stressed out and
(00:02):
overwhelmed.
Do you worry that you're feelingsymptoms of burnout or are you
sure you've already gottenthere?
Have you started to dream ofdoing some other kind of job or
perhaps pursuing a wholedifferent career, but you don't
know what else you're evenqualified to do?
You don't know how to start jobsearch.
You just feel stuck.
(00:24):
If that sounds like you, Ipromise you're not alone.
My name is kitty boy.
Not I'm a career transition andjob search coach.
And I specialize in helpingburnout out teachers, just like
you deal, not only with thestress and overwhelm of your day
to day job, you consider whatother careers might be out there
waiting for you.
(00:45):
Join me for teachers intransition.
In some episodes, I'll bespeaking to stress management
techniques and how you canmanage your stress on a day to
day basis.
In other episodes, I'll betalking about career transition.
What tools do you need to besuccessful in a job search when
you're moving from one careerinto a totally different track.
(01:10):
These are questions that youneed answers to and I can help
you find those answers.
My name is kitty boy, notwelcome to teachers in
transition.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Welcome back to another episode of teachers in
transition, the podcast and theYouTube channel.
My name is kitty boy, not.
I am the founder of teachers intransition.
The owner of boy, not coachingLLC, and a heart centered career
transition and job search coachwho specializes in working with
(01:47):
teachers who are burnt out andready for a career change, but
don't know how or where tobegin.
If you've listened to thispodcast in the past, you know,
that I alternate topics eachweek, because in addition to
being and trained in aexperienced career transition
and job search coach toteachers, I'm also a certified
(02:09):
stress management coach.
So one week I will talk aboutstress management strategies and
on alternating weeks, I talkabout career transition
strategies.
This week, the topic is careertransit and I found
an article that is, uh, theperfect resource for anyone who
is exploring the possibility ofchanging careers, midstream,
(02:33):
whether you are a teacher who'sbeen working for five years or
10 years or more in theclassroom, or perhaps, or not a
two or the spouse of the teacherand you work in a different
industry, but you are alsocontemplating making a change in
career direction.
This particular resource wouldbe an excellent, um, something
(02:58):
for you to go to, to get someinformation on how to get
started.
The article is offered by thebridge span group, and I will
offer a link to the article inthe show notes.
The title of the article is selfexploration.
The first step in the jobsearch.
(03:20):
And I apologize, I'm lookingcurrently at the PDF form and
don't see that it offers aspecific author or date.
Uh, so, uh, that, that may beoffered in the show notes as
well, but I downloaded the PDFsso that I could share with you
(03:40):
what they consider the fivemusts that you must begin with.
If you are considering a jobsearch, the first steps that you
need to take, if you're lookingto change jobs from what any
career that you may be, uh,currently in engaged in.
(04:01):
So they say that the first step,the critical step is one that I
also harp on a lot, hammer home,a lot.
Talk about a lot.
I've probably talked about it onthis podcast numerous times
before, but sometimes it makessense to hear it from someone
(04:21):
else in a different form, alittle different wording.
So perhaps you'll hear it todayin a way that it hasn't landed
before today.
But what they say is that thefirst step is self assessment
and exploration.
Well, why do you want to moveinto the nonprofit sector?
(04:44):
Do you feel this is assumingthat you do some people say I, I
would like to work in thenonprofit sector, but I don't
know how or where to getstarted.
So if that resonates for you,why would you want to be moving
into that area?
And if you're a teacher who'sthinking, well, I'd like to be a
trainer or I'd like to go intocurriculum and development,
(05:05):
explore the reason for why youthink that, is it just something
that sounds good?
Is it something that sounds likeit would be a logical
transition, whether you have anyidea what it would entail or
not, they say in their point, doyou feel a personal connection
(05:25):
to a particular mission?
What skills do you have thatwould be transferable from what
it is that you're doing now intothe new sector that you're
looking to get into?
And what do you expect from thetransition?
So what you looking to get intothe nonprofit world or the
(05:47):
training world or the web designor whatever it is that you're
thinking you might like to doconsider why that appeals to you
and dig deeper then?
Well, it's just something thatsounds like you maybe would be a
, a easy transition because itmay not be as easy as you think
(06:10):
it may also be that you're upagainst people who have
experience.
And so if you don't have any,yet, you'll be competing with
people who are already in thatparticular sector.
And you have to take that intoconsideration.
So self assessment andexploration.
Now, when I say self assessment,I'm talking about the numerous
(06:35):
assessments that you can takeonline.
Some of them will cost, uh,something Myers Briggs.
If you get the full paid versionruns about$50.
Uh, if you wanted to do a discassessment, you'd probably have
to find a disc specialist andpay for that.
But that is information that canbe useful in the midst of a
(06:58):
career train transition.
There are free versions of MyersBriggs.
There are 16 personalities,which is based on the same
premise as, um, Myers Briggs.
There are many, many assessmentsthat you can take advantage of
strengths finder, 2.0 is anexcellent resource that you can
(07:20):
check into.
So do a fair number ofassessments to start to see if
you can determine patterns inwhat continues to come up to the
top of your particular strengthsand aptitudes.
Those can be signals to the kindof work that you should be
(07:43):
looking for.
So don't ignore the option oftaking some assessments and
don't consider that doingassessments and self exploration
is fluff work or a waste of yourenergy because it's anything,
but there's nothing fluffy aboutdoing the initial internal work
(08:10):
that you need to do before youdecide on setting off on an
entirely new career path.
You, you owe it to, to yourselfto know what it is that you're
getting yourself into.
You owe it to yourself to begoing for a job.
(08:31):
That's going to feel like a goodfit.
That's going to offerfulfillment and an opportunity
for you to thrive and to bepromoted and to be paid
commensurate with your level ofeducation.
You deserve all of that.
But if you skip over thisassessment piece, which too many
(08:55):
want to do, they don't wannatake the time.
They think it's a waste of time.
It's anything, but, but theywill skip over that and start
applying for jobs left andright, and then wonder why
they're not getting any positiveresponses.
So take the time may take coupleof weeks.
It may take a couple of months.
(09:16):
It takes the time it takes,which I know is something that I
say to my clients that probablydrives them crazy.
But it's the truth.
It takes the time it takes foryou to come to a clear
understanding of who you are,what you have to offer, where
you can fit your into a newcareer, that will feel good for
(09:40):
you and for your family.
So that's number one, selfassessment and exploration.
The second step.
Also one that people tend towant to jump over gloss over
speed by not take the time todo.
And that is researching andnetworking, researching the job
(10:03):
itself, finding out what is itexactly that training
specialists do?
What in particular does acurriculum designer do all day.
So researching by going onlineand looking up, what do training
specialists do?
But in addition to doing aGoogle search, you want to reach
(10:28):
out to people on LinkedIn orwherever.
You can find them, perhapspeople in your own network,
people in family and friends whointroduce you, interview them.
Now they often refer to thisparticular interview as a, an
informational interview, aninformation.
(10:51):
And I don't pre I don't lovethat term because it gives a
sense of an interview, which youis, where you are expecting to
be hired for a job at the end.
That is not what aninformational interview does,
but an informational interviewinstead allows you to interview
(11:11):
someone about what it is thatthey do.
So let's use a curriculum design, for example, let's say you
find somebody on LinkedIn andthey're a curriculum designer,
or they're in the curriculum anddevelopment arena.
And you wanna know more abouthow they got there.
(11:33):
What did they have to do?
What kind of training did theyneed?
What kind of experience did theyhave further more?
What is it like to work in thatfield?
Do they like it?
Is it, is it enjoyable?
Do they enjoy the culture of thecompany is the company where
they work a good place to bebecause not all companies are
(11:54):
healthy cultures.
You'd like to know that beforeyou get yourself enmeshed in one
with a toxic culture, for sure.
So you can reach out to anindividual who is already in the
job that you're interested in.
Now, you don't justautomatically without skip being
a beat, ask them for aninformational interview.
(12:17):
You need to do a little bit ofrapport building.
First, you start out, you sendthem a casual invitation to
connect on LinkedIn.
Hey Joe, I see that you areworking as a curriculum designer
for company X, Y, Z.
I'm very interested in that lineof work.
(12:37):
I'd love to add you to myLinkedIn network.
Assuming that Joe is checkinghis LinkedIn periodically, and
that he's accepting newrequests.
He'll probably nine chancesoutta 10, except your connection
request.
If he doesn't, don't take itpersonally, move on to someone
(12:57):
else.
In fact, send out severalinvitations, see who you can
build a rapport with, uh, askthem a question about, Hey, I'm
just curious.
How did you get into curriculumand development?
Were you a teacher first or didyou go into to this straight out
(13:18):
of school?
Just a casual non-threateningquestion.
And if they answer your questionand they seem open to answering
your questions and most peoplewanna be helpful.
So none out of 10 people arelikely to respond to your
question.
Then you might, you know, I'dreally love to hear more.
(13:42):
Would you be available for a 10minute conversation about your
job?
I won't take any more of yourtime than 10 minutes.
I'm not asking for a job.
I'm just curious how you gotstarted.
What it, what it's like workingfor your company arranged to
meet all on zoom or by phone.
(14:03):
And 10 minutes is when you stop.
Unless if, if the conversation'sgoing really well and you say,
oh, it's the end of 10 minutes.
I, I promised I'd let you go.
If they say, oh, that's okay,I've got more time.
And the conversation's flowingeasily.
Then go for it.
Let them be the guide though, ifthey say, oh yeah, okay.
(14:25):
I need to get back to work or,okay, well, it's nice talking to
you then let'em go.
So for that 10 minutes, you needto get in as many of the
questions as you have, as youcan possibly ask, depending on
how long they go at theiranswer.
So research and networking, whatdo you need to know about the
sector that you're interested ingetting into?
(14:46):
What do you need to know aboutthe organizations or the
companies?
What do you need to know aboutwhether there are even jobs
available or not?
Who can you ask to help you withyour search?
Now, this is an area where youmight consider reaching out to a
recruiter or a someone who canserve as a mentor.
(15:09):
If you don't wanna be hiring acoach, number
three, the third step outreachand interviews.
Now I've already talked aboutinformational interviews, but
you also wanna consider how doyou set yourself up in the best
position with your resume, yourcover letter.
And ultimately if you get aninterview, you do the best
(15:34):
possible job that you can insidethe interview.
This is where you may wannaconsider hiring a coach.
A coach can help you to preparefor an interview in a way that
you cannot prepare on your own.
It may be that you need a coachto help you with your resume and
your cover letter, especially ifyou have a, it looked on your
(15:54):
own for a while.
So consider whether you need todo that or not.
Once you've been offered a job,you'll need to be able to offer
negotiation and, um, counteroffers so that you don't take
necessarily the first offer.
The you've been given.
(16:16):
You wanna determine throughconversations with the persons
that you've been in touch with.
Are you sure that this is goingto be a good fit for you,
culturally?
Are you going to be comfortableonce you get into the company
and based on the salary that youagree on, can you make it
financially with the salary thatyou've agreed to?
(16:38):
Don't undercut yourself bytaking a job that doesn't pay
beans, just to get out of theclassroom.
You need to be more intentional.
You need to be careful.
You've gotta have a bottom linefinancially.
You cannot accept below acertain amount.
Now I'm not saying youshouldn't.
If, especially if you're at thetop of the education salary
(17:01):
scale, perhaps you will need tostart at a lower salary to get
your foot in the door, but youdon't wanna take a salary.
That's so low that you can't paythe rent and have groceries on
the table or put gas in the carto get to work.
So be careful about undercutingyourself and finally
(17:21):
transitioning into the new role.
What should you do to make thetransition as smooth as
possible, but the most importantpiece, and the reason this
particular article stood out tome to share today is the
importance of not the selfassessment and self exploration.
(17:42):
Too many people that I've workedwith over the years are unaware.
That that's where they need tostart.
They think they need to startwith their resume.
And I have, you've probablyheard me use this analogy.
I have used it many times,writing your resume and cover
letter before you've decidedwhat it is that you want to do
next in your career is akin tobooking airfare and a hotel
(18:07):
before you've decided whereyou're going on vacation.
That sounds nuts.
Who would do that?
How could you even do that book,air far and hotel before you
know where you're going onvacation not possible.
And yet nine times outta 10people think I need a new job.
So I need a new resume.
(18:29):
The problem'em with thatrationale is if you write your
resume in a vacuum, based onyour teaching experience or
whatever your current experienceis without knowing what it is
that you're transitioning to,you're going to wind up with a
teacher sounding resume, andthat's not going to get you out
(18:52):
of the classroom.
It'll get you another job indifferent district, maybe, but
not out of the classroom.
Too many people overlook theimportance of studying job
descriptions.
They look at titles that don'tmean squat to them, but they
think, oh yeah, maybe do that.
(19:13):
And they scan skim over quickly,the job description.
Oh yeah.
I know how to do that.
And they ignore the other ninetens of the things on that job
description that they don't knowhow to do and have never done
before.
And then wonder why when they'veapplied for the job, they don't
hear back from anyone.
(19:35):
Don't do that to yourself.
The hard part is the internalwork and doing that first is
non-negotiable.
So if you are thinking that youwant to leave the classroom, it
may already be too late for thisto be your last year of
(19:57):
teaching.
I hate to tell you that, cuzthat's probably not what people
want to hear, but I am nothing.
If not honest, I will tell youwhat I believe is true.
It's already the middle of,until past the middle of April.
The average job search after thepandemic I've read is 27 and a
(20:18):
half weeks.
That means it's over six months,go into seven months.
Maybe you cannot expect thatyou're going to find something
easily between now and August.
That's not to say it's notpossible.
It is possible.
(20:39):
Not likely.
So you probably need to go aheadand sign your letters, intent
your contract for next year planto start the year.
But that doesn't mean you can'tbe looking for other
opportunities so that if theright one does pop up, you'll be
ready for it.
The other thing you have to bewilling to accept is that
(21:01):
looking for a job as a secondjob, especially if you're, if
you're teaching right now and Idon't have to tell you the,
between spring break and the endof the year, it gets really
crazy.
You are busy with testing,pretesting testing, post testing
, analyzing data, showing outreports, getting report cards,
(21:21):
ready.
You, you know, the drill end ofthe year, activities that are
out the Wazu.
You are busy 16 hours a day,probably.
And don't talk about theweekends, cuz they're tied up
too.
But the fact of the matter isthat if you are going to be
committing yourself to a jobsearch, you need to commit
(21:44):
yourself and treat it like asecond job.
You have to schedule time inyour, to tend to some aspect of
your job search.
If you need help with that, Ihave a program designed to help
everybody who may be listeningwithin the sound of my voice.
(22:06):
I have a program available as,as inexpensively, as$27 a month,
all the way up to$97 a month forpeople who need help, who are
ready for help, who want somedirection to help them get out
of the classroom.
If you're interested in learningmore about how I might be able
(22:28):
to help you reach out atteachers in transition com slash
calendar, set up an appointmentfor a free discovery session,
complimentary discovery sessionso that we can talk about
whether or not what I have tooffer is what you need.
(22:49):
Do check out the article, selfexploration, the first step in
the job, search from the spangroup.
And as always, please reviewthis podcast.
So whether people can find it,let me know what your comments
are, what your thoughts are.
Ask questions, email me at kittyboy, gmail.com.
(23:10):
If you'd like to suggest a topicfor me to cover one week and
I'll, I'll be back next weekuntil then take care, stay safe
and be well.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So there you have it.
An episode of teachers intransition.
I hope you enjoyed theinformation and I hope you'll
plan to come back.
Please subscribe to teachers intransition so that you can be
alerted of future episodes.
And let me know if you have anyquestions or topics that you
(23:44):
would like me to specificallycover in a future episode, I'm
more than happy to help withindividual questions as well.
So email me at kitty boy, notboy.coaching.com.
If you are interested in findinga new career or just enjoying
(24:06):
your life more, this is theplace to start.
I'm kitty boy not.
And this is teachers intransition.
You're a teacher who's feeling stressed out and
(00:02):
overwhelmed.
Do you worry that you're feelingsymptoms of burnout or are you
sure you've already gottenthere?
Have you started to dream ofdoing some other kind of job or
perhaps pursuing a wholedifferent career, but you don't
know what else you're evenqualified to do?
You don't know how to start jobsearch.
You just feel stuck.
(00:24):
If that sounds like you, Ipromise you're not alone.
My name is kitty boy.
Not I'm a career transition andjob search coach.
And I specialize in helpingburnout out teachers, just like
you deal, not only with thestress and overwhelm of your day
to day job, you consider whatother careers might be out there
waiting for you.
(00:45):
Join me for teachers intransition.
In some episodes, I'll bespeaking to stress management
techniques and how you canmanage your stress on a day to
day basis.
In other episodes, I'll betalking about career transition.
What tools do you need to besuccessful in a job search when
you're moving from one careerinto a totally different track.
(01:10):
These are questions that youneed answers to and I can help
you find those answers.
My name is kitty boy, notwelcome to teachers in
transition.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Welcome back to another episode of teachers in
transition, the podcast and theYouTube channel.
My name is kitty boy, not.
I am the founder of teachers intransition.
The owner of boy, not coachingLLC, and a heart centered career
transition and job search coachwho specializes in working with
(01:47):
teachers who are burnt out andready for a career change, but
don't know how or where tobegin.
If you've listened to thispodcast in the past, you know,
that I alternate topics eachweek, because in addition to
being and trained in aexperienced career transition
and job search coach toteachers, I'm also a certified
(02:09):
stress management coach.
So one week I will talk aboutstress management strategies and
on alternating weeks, I talkabout career transition
strategies.
This week, the topic is careertransit
an article that is, uh, theperfect resource for anyone who
is exploring the possibility ofchanging careers, midstream,
(02:33):
whether you are a teacher who'sbeen working for five years or
10 years or more in theclassroom, or perhaps, or not a
two or the spouse of the teacherand you work in a different
industry, but you are alsocontemplating making a change in
career direction.
This particular resource wouldbe an excellent, um, something
(02:58):
for you to go to, to get someinformation on how to get
started.
The article is offered by thebridge span group, and I will
offer a link to the article inthe show notes.
The title of the article is selfexploration.
The first step in the jobsearch.
(03:20):
And I apologize, I'm lookingcurrently at the PDF form and
don't see that it offers aspecific author or date.
Uh, so, uh, that, that may beoffered in the show notes as
well, but I downloaded the PDFsso that I could share with you
(03:40):
what they consider the fivemusts that you must begin with.
If you are considering a jobsearch, the first steps that you
need to take, if you're lookingto change jobs from what any
career that you may be, uh,currently in engaged in.
(04:01):
So they say that the first step,the critical step is one that I
also harp on a lot, hammer home,a lot.
Talk about a lot.
I've probably talked about it onthis podcast numerous times
before, but sometimes it makessense to hear it from someone
(04:21):
else in a different form, alittle different wording.
So perhaps you'll hear it todayin a way that it hasn't landed
before today.
But what they say is that thefirst step is self assessment
and exploration.
Well, why do you want to moveinto the nonprofit sector?
(04:44):
Do you feel this is assumingthat you do some people say I, I
would like to work in thenonprofit sector, but I don't
know how or where to getstarted.
So if that resonates for you,why would you want to be moving
into that area?
And if you're a teacher who'sthinking, well, I'd like to be a
trainer or I'd like to go intocurriculum and development,
(05:05):
explore the reason for why youthink that, is it just something
that sounds good?
Is it something that sounds likeit would be a logical
transition, whether you have anyidea what it would entail or
not, they say in their point, doyou feel a personal connection
(05:25):
to a particular mission?
What skills do you have thatwould be transferable from what
it is that you're doing now intothe new sector that you're
looking to get into?
And what do you expect from thetransition?
So what you looking to get intothe nonprofit world or the
(05:47):
training world or the web designor whatever it is that you're
thinking you might like to doconsider why that appeals to you
and dig deeper then?
Well, it's just something thatsounds like you maybe would be a
, a easy transition because itmay not be as easy as you think
(06:10):
it may also be that you're upagainst people who have
experience.
And so if you don't have any,yet, you'll be competing with
people who are already in thatparticular sector.
And you have to take that intoconsideration.
So self assessment andexploration.
Now, when I say self assessment,I'm talking about the numerous
(06:35):
assessments that you can takeonline.
Some of them will cost, uh,something Myers Briggs.
If you get the full paid versionruns about$50.
Uh, if you wanted to do a discassessment, you'd probably have
to find a disc specialist andpay for that.
But that is information that canbe useful in the midst of a
(06:58):
career train transition.
There are free versions of MyersBriggs.
There are 16 personalities,which is based on the same
premise as, um, Myers Briggs.
There are many, many assessmentsthat you can take advantage of
strengths finder, 2.0 is anexcellent resource that you can
(07:20):
check into.
So do a fair number ofassessments to start to see if
you can determine patterns inwhat continues to come up to the
top of your particular strengthsand aptitudes.
Those can be signals to the kindof work that you should be
(07:43):
looking for.
So don't ignore the option oftaking some assessments and
don't consider that doingassessments and self exploration
is fluff work or a waste of yourenergy because it's anything,
but there's nothing fluffy aboutdoing the initial internal work
(08:10):
that you need to do before youdecide on setting off on an
entirely new career path.
You, you owe it to, to yourselfto know what it is that you're
getting yourself into.
You owe it to yourself to begoing for a job.
(08:31):
That's going to feel like a goodfit.
That's going to offerfulfillment and an opportunity
for you to thrive and to bepromoted and to be paid
commensurate with your level ofeducation.
You deserve all of that.
But if you skip over thisassessment piece, which too many
(08:55):
want to do, they don't wannatake the time.
They think it's a waste of time.
It's anything, but, but theywill skip over that and start
applying for jobs left andright, and then wonder why
they're not getting any positiveresponses.
So take the time may take coupleof weeks.
It may take a couple of months.
(09:16):
It takes the time it takes,which I know is something that I
say to my clients that probablydrives them crazy.
But it's the truth.
It takes the time it takes foryou to come to a clear
understanding of who you are,what you have to offer, where
you can fit your into a newcareer, that will feel good for
(09:40):
you and for your family.
So that's number one, selfassessment and exploration.
The second step.
Also one that people tend towant to jump over gloss over
speed by not take the time todo.
And that is researching andnetworking, researching the job
(10:03):
itself, finding out what is itexactly that training
specialists do?
What in particular does acurriculum designer do all day.
So researching by going onlineand looking up, what do training
specialists do?
But in addition to doing aGoogle search, you want to reach
(10:28):
out to people on LinkedIn orwherever.
You can find them, perhapspeople in your own network,
people in family and friends whointroduce you, interview them.
Now they often refer to thisparticular interview as a, an
informational interview, aninformation.
(10:51):
And I don't pre I don't lovethat term because it gives a
sense of an interview, which youis, where you are expecting to
be hired for a job at the end.
That is not what aninformational interview does,
but an informational interviewinstead allows you to interview
(11:11):
someone about what it is thatthey do.
So let's use a curriculum design, for example, let's say you
find somebody on LinkedIn andthey're a curriculum designer,
or they're in the curriculum anddevelopment arena.
And you wanna know more abouthow they got there.
(11:33):
What did they have to do?
What kind of training did theyneed?
What kind of experience did theyhave further more?
What is it like to work in thatfield?
Do they like it?
Is it, is it enjoyable?
Do they enjoy the culture of thecompany is the company where
they work a good place to bebecause not all companies are
(11:54):
healthy cultures.
You'd like to know that beforeyou get yourself enmeshed in one
with a toxic culture, for sure.
So you can reach out to anindividual who is already in the
job that you're interested in.
Now, you don't justautomatically without skip being
a beat, ask them for aninformational interview.
(12:17):
You need to do a little bit ofrapport building.
First, you start out, you sendthem a casual invitation to
connect on LinkedIn.
Hey Joe, I see that you areworking as a curriculum designer
for company X, Y, Z.
I'm very interested in that lineof work.
(12:37):
I'd love to add you to myLinkedIn network.
Assuming that Joe is checkinghis LinkedIn periodically, and
that he's accepting newrequests.
He'll probably nine chancesoutta 10, except your connection
request.
If he doesn't, don't take itpersonally, move on to someone
(12:57):
else.
In fact, send out severalinvitations, see who you can
build a rapport with, uh, askthem a question about, Hey, I'm
just curious.
How did you get into curriculumand development?
Were you a teacher first or didyou go into to this straight out
(13:18):
of school?
Just a casual non-threateningquestion.
And if they answer your questionand they seem open to answering
your questions and most peoplewanna be helpful.
So none out of 10 people arelikely to respond to your
question.
Then you might, you know, I'dreally love to hear more.
(13:42):
Would you be available for a 10minute conversation about your
job?
I won't take any more of yourtime than 10 minutes.
I'm not asking for a job.
I'm just curious how you gotstarted.
What it, what it's like workingfor your company arranged to
meet all on zoom or by phone.
(14:03):
And 10 minutes is when you stop.
Unless if, if the conversation'sgoing really well and you say,
oh, it's the end of 10 minutes.
I, I promised I'd let you go.
If they say, oh, that's okay,I've got more time.
And the conversation's flowingeasily.
Then go for it.
Let them be the guide though, ifthey say, oh yeah, okay.
(14:25):
I need to get back to work or,okay, well, it's nice talking to
you then let'em go.
So for that 10 minutes, you needto get in as many of the
questions as you have, as youcan possibly ask, depending on
how long they go at theiranswer.
So research and networking, whatdo you need to know about the
sector that you're interested ingetting into?
(14:46):
What do you need to know aboutthe organizations or the
companies?
What do you need to know aboutwhether there are even jobs
available or not?
Who can you ask to help you withyour search?
Now, this is an area where youmight consider reaching out to a
recruiter or a someone who canserve as a mentor.
(15:09):
If you don't wanna be hiring acoach,
three, the third step outreachand interviews.
Now I've already talked aboutinformational interviews, but
you also wanna consider how doyou set yourself up in the best
position with your resume, yourcover letter.
And ultimately if you get aninterview, you do the best
(15:34):
possible job that you can insidethe interview.
This is where you may wannaconsider hiring a coach.
A coach can help you to preparefor an interview in a way that
you cannot prepare on your own.
It may be that you need a coachto help you with your resume and
your cover letter, especially ifyou have a, it looked on your
(15:54):
own for a while.
So consider whether you need todo that or not.
Once you've been offered a job,you'll need to be able to offer
negotiation and, um, counteroffers so that you don't take
necessarily the first offer.
The you've been given.
(16:16):
You wanna determine throughconversations with the persons
that you've been in touch with.
Are you sure that this is goingto be a good fit for you,
culturally?
Are you going to be comfortableonce you get into the company
and based on the salary that youagree on, can you make it
financially with the salary thatyou've agreed to?
(16:38):
Don't undercut yourself bytaking a job that doesn't pay
beans, just to get out of theclassroom.
You need to be more intentional.
You need to be careful.
You've gotta have a bottom linefinancially.
You cannot accept below acertain amount.
Now I'm not saying youshouldn't.
If, especially if you're at thetop of the education salary
(17:01):
scale, perhaps you will need tostart at a lower salary to get
your foot in the door, but youdon't wanna take a salary.
That's so low that you can't paythe rent and have groceries on
the table or put gas in the carto get to work.
So be careful about undercutingyourself and finally
(17:21):
transitioning into the new role.
What should you do to make thetransition as smooth as
possible, but the most importantpiece, and the reason this
particular article stood out tome to share today is the
importance of not the selfassessment and self exploration.
(17:42):
Too many people that I've workedwith over the years are unaware.
That that's where they need tostart.
They think they need to startwith their resume.
And I have, you've probablyheard me use this analogy.
I have used it many times,writing your resume and cover
letter before you've decidedwhat it is that you want to do
next in your career is akin tobooking airfare and a hotel
(18:07):
before you've decided whereyou're going on vacation.
That sounds nuts.
Who would do that?
How could you even do that book,air far and hotel before you
know where you're going onvacation not possible.
And yet nine times outta 10people think I need a new job.
So I need a new resume.
(18:29):
The problem'em with thatrationale is if you write your
resume in a vacuum, based onyour teaching experience or
whatever your current experienceis without knowing what it is
that you're transitioning to,you're going to wind up with a
teacher sounding resume, andthat's not going to get you out
(18:52):
of the classroom.
It'll get you another job indifferent district, maybe, but
not out of the classroom.
Too many people overlook theimportance of studying job
descriptions.
They look at titles that don'tmean squat to them, but they
think, oh yeah, maybe do that.
(19:13):
And they scan skim over quickly,the job description.
Oh yeah.
I know how to do that.
And they ignore the other ninetens of the things on that job
description that they don't knowhow to do and have never done
before.
And then wonder why when they'veapplied for the job, they don't
hear back from anyone.
(19:35):
Don't do that to yourself.
The hard part is the internalwork and doing that first is
non-negotiable.
So if you are thinking that youwant to leave the classroom, it
may already be too late for thisto be your last year of
(19:57):
teaching.
I hate to tell you that, cuzthat's probably not what people
want to hear, but I am nothing.
If not honest, I will tell youwhat I believe is true.
It's already the middle of,until past the middle of April.
The average job search after thepandemic I've read is 27 and a
(20:18):
half weeks.
That means it's over six months,go into seven months.
Maybe you cannot expect thatyou're going to find something
easily between now and August.
That's not to say it's notpossible.
It is possible.
(20:39):
Not likely.
So you probably need to go aheadand sign your letters, intent
your contract for next year planto start the year.
But that doesn't mean you can'tbe looking for other
opportunities so that if theright one does pop up, you'll be
ready for it.
The other thing you have to bewilling to accept is that
(21:01):
looking for a job as a secondjob, especially if you're, if
you're teaching right now and Idon't have to tell you the,
between spring break and the endof the year, it gets really
crazy.
You are busy with testing,pretesting testing, post testing
, analyzing data, showing outreports, getting report cards,
(21:21):
ready.
You, you know, the drill end ofthe year, activities that are
out the Wazu.
You are busy 16 hours a day,probably.
And don't talk about theweekends, cuz they're tied up
too.
But the fact of the matter isthat if you are going to be
committing yourself to a jobsearch, you need to commit
(21:44):
yourself and treat it like asecond job.
You have to schedule time inyour, to tend to some aspect of
your job search.
If you need help with that, Ihave a program designed to help
everybody who may be listeningwithin the sound of my voice.
(22:06):
I have a program available as,as inexpensively, as$27 a month,
all the way up to$97 a month forpeople who need help, who are
ready for help, who want somedirection to help them get out
of the classroom.
If you're interested in learningmore about how I might be able
(22:28):
to help you reach out atteachers in transition com slash
calendar, set up an appointmentfor a free discovery session,
complimentary discovery sessionso that we can talk about
whether or not what I have tooffer is what you need.
(22:49):
Do check out the article, selfexploration, the first step in
the job, search from the spangroup.
And as always, please reviewthis podcast.
So whether people can find it,let me know what your comments
are, what your thoughts are.
Ask questions, email me at kittyboy, gmail.com.
(23:10):
If you'd like to suggest a topicfor me to cover one week and
I'll, I'll be back next weekuntil then take care, stay safe
and be well.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
So there you have it.
An episode of teachers intransition.
I hope you enjoyed theinformation and I hope you'll
plan to come back.
Please subscribe to teachers intransition so that you can be
alerted of future episodes.
And let me know if you have anyquestions or topics that you
(23:44):
would like me to specificallycover in a future episode, I'm
more than happy to help withindividual questions as well.
So email me at kitty boy, notboy.coaching.com.
If you are interested in findinga new career or just enjoying
(24:06):
your life more, this is theplace to start.
I'm kitty boy not.
And this is teachers intransition.
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