To read the prequel, click here. Before the school year came to an end, I spoke with a school counselor in regards to my worries about finding a job and having to fend for myself in the adult world. I asked for some practical advice on the job hunt/interview process, and the top five pieces of advice he gave me were: 1. Get a LinkedIn account. It really works! Exhibit A: my current job. Unlike visiting individual job search sites that add spokes to your wheel, networking is like adding entire wheels to each spoke (see diagrams below). 2. If you have an online or phone interview, don't wear pants. Check out my version of "letting it loose" below. 3. Always follow up. Call, email, or send a card to your interviewers to thank them for their time, and this could also be a good time to ask for feedback about the interview. 4. Practice, practice, practice, practice, and practice some more! There's no way you can prepare answers to every single possible question they will ask you at an interview, however, you can think about situations in which you've exemplified a certain skill that's relevant to the position, and practice telling that story in a clear and concise manner. If you're like me, not practicing prior to an interview will only end one way: 5. After you're done school, take some time to relax and do NOTHING (easier said than done). Then devote a good two weeks to the job hunting process - it's a full time job!
So, it turns out I didn't have to spend the full intensive two weeks job hunting... I was haphazardly updating my LinkedIn profile when I saw that a friend of mine whom I worked with two years ago made a post about teaching positions available at his school. I sent him a message, and a few emails, a lesson plan, resume, and Skype conversation later, I managed to get an interview with the school! The interview was an important deciding factor for me, because it gave me the chance to ask the interviewers about the school culture, some of the things they enjoyed most about the school, and some things they thought could use some improvement. Their responses were genuine, and they didn't give me stock responses that made me want to cringe ("Oh the students are great, yeah, really great! [Full stop. No further explanation provided]"). Another thing I appreciated was the fact that the school sent me a sample copy of the contract to review right when they gave me the offer instead of swaying me into an agreement before I could review the terms and conditions for myself. (SIDE STORY: During my time of post-grad panic, I accepted a part time position as a tutor for a tutoring company that was a two hour bus ride away from home. It wasn't until after the first training session that the employer revealed to me that training was unpaid. Which, isn't the worst thing if that was the whole story, BUT I was expected to attend monthly training sessions (an additional 5 hours a month, not including the induction process), AND that bit of information just happened to have been left out of the contract.) Tangents aside, because I was able to see myself working well with the people at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Taldykorgan, KZ, because they had been honest and professional in their dealings with me, and because I knew I would have at least one friend at the school, I decided to take the job. Of course, my family insisted that I also do a sh*t ton of research before committing myself to the position, so I did my due diligence and asked as many questions as I could before accepting the offer. After that, the rest of the summer was spent vegetating at home and gathering all the paperwork that was needed to obtain my visa. Up Next: Adventures in Kazakhstan - Getting There
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April SooInternational math educator who writes, occasionally. Archives
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