Blogging might help!

I read a wonderful article that suggested blogging can help you secure a job...so....here we go! I actually started blogging a long time ago, but now my main blog is about my profession, "Creative Classroom on a Budget by Jenny Harrisson". Having worked for nine years in the field of creativity, I have many ideas to share and really enjoy this. Probably it's mostly my friends following my blog, but I know that my ideas are appreciated. If any prospective employer reads my blog, they would get an insight into my thoughts, work ethic, personality and passion for the arts and teaching. You know....this blog just might help someone else find that dream job too! Might even help me :)

Let's look at Merit Selection

Whilst organising my CV I began applying for advertised positions within the DEC. Selection criteria have to be specifically addressed which takes careful thought and considerable time. I also applied for Assistant Principal positions which have additional General Selection criteria to be addressed. The DEC provides clear guidelines and assistance on their website which I found really helpful. So far I haven't secured any interviews in this way, but submitted two applications on Wednesday so you never know!

Highly skilled and confident

I am confident and highly skilled and my challenge is to find a school out there where I can make a worthwhile contribution. Where are you? After many years of teaching I still have passion, enthusiasm and love of teaching.

Pop in for a chat

After sending out my CV to 120 primary school principals, three asked me to pop in for a chat. This week is really busy in schools with the new Kindergarten children arriving only yesterday, so I thought I would make a time next week when things have settled down a little. Even though the most likely scenario is that I might be offered casual work at these schools, it is all great experience and you become known. You never know where it might lead. My motto is to keep an open mind and explore all avenues!

Some interest

A number of primary principals responded and told me that they had put me on their casual list. This is a start, but in the long term, I really want a permanent position. Having spent the last nine years as a primary visual art specialist, I feel that despite teaching visual arts really is my passion, these types of jobs are few and far between. There are far more classroom primary teaching positions available and I have taught in the classroom for many years before specialising. At the end of last year I managed to get two interviews at independent schools for temporary primary visual art contracts, but wasn't successful. You learn from the experience and move on. I see securing an interview as a real bonus and am happy to get that far. One step closer to that dream job!

The search begins

The summer break is over and my job search goes into full swing. First of all I decided a fabulous CV was the way to go. I had been adding to my same old CV format for years and it was dated and portrayed my skills as narrow. So the decision to go to a professional was easy to make and would give me the boost I needed. After an interview lasting an hour, my draft CV was written. My skills were clearly defined and key achievements outlined impressively, followed by work history. After a few edits, I was delighted with the results and felt ready to go. This was just the bait I needed and I felt pretty keen and confident that something would turn up. I scoured the internet and located lists of email addresses of nearly every primary school principal north of the harbour. Perhaps the easy way to go would have been a mass email expressing my work availability but decided to email each principal independently. Over the next few days I soldiered on and soon had sent an email with my CV attached to 120 primary school principals.