Job searching is stressful, especially when you’re in education and it ramps up for September. Most schools will begin their recruitment process before summer starts, but it’s not uncommon for new vacancies to come up later in the year.
The best way you can prepare for a new teaching role this September is to look early and do lots of interview preparation. It’s important to do this even as you’re job searching so that when that first interview gets scheduled, you’re ready for it.
Start Looking Early
Most teachers get hired during the summer, so we don’t recommend looking at the last minute.
For a job starting in September, the posting could go up as early as February. Put yourself ahead of the others by looking early and having your CV and application all prepared.
Lots of jobs go up in April and May, and job fairs happen before schools break up for the summer. By June, the hiring managers usually have a clear idea of their recruitment needs, so it’s also an excellent time to be looking.
However, if you’ve not got something set in stone by August, you don’t need to panic. Lots of schools end up with last-minute jobs going up after summer. Many administration departments have to do hiring in the few weeks leading up to term starting again.
Research Interview Questions
While you’re job searching you can prepare for the interview questions you’ll expect to face in advance.
When being interviewed for teaching jobs, a common method interviewers use to measure a candidate’s skills is competency-based questions. This involves responding to the question in a structured way, following this script:
S – SITUATION (10%)
T – TASK (10%)
A – ACTION (70%)
R – RESULT (10%)
When you’re working on your answers, we’ve put an estimate for how much of your answer you should place in each section.
There are some handy guides that will help you get a better idea of what interview questions you’ll face.
Use a Recruiting Agency To Support With Applications
There are plenty of benefits to working with a recruitment agency as part of your job searching. Education recruitment agencies can help take the strain off job searching. You can work with dedicated recruitment consultants who are experts in the industry.
They’ll be able to support you by managing your expectations and help prepare you for interviews.
Plus, you’ve got someone extra looking on the job boards for new vacancies. Lots of specialist recruitment agencies work with schools directly, which means you’ll be the first to find out about the vacancies in your local area.
Contact References
The last thing you want is for a potential job to fall through because the employer couldn’t contact your references during the vetting process. When job searching, always ensure to contact any references in advance to let them know they’ll be likely to hear from someone and that you want to use them as a reference.
First, it’s courteous when you’re handing someone’s details out, but it also makes them aware that a reference is coming and won’t slow down that process.
It doesn’t have to be the headteacher of a former school either, it could be whoever the senior was, or the head of your department.