How to Reinvent Yourself in a Troubled Economy

[Chef Dave]

In a previous thread, I wrote about: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? What Every Teacher Should Know About Defamation


I would now like to begin a discussion on how teachers may "reinvent" themselves in a troubled economy.

In my case, I lost a job offer because of administrative defamation. My attorney is suing for 10 times the amount I would have made in salary and benefits because she says that my career as a Culinary Arts teacher may effectively be over. Even though I will most likely prevail in my suit against my former district, the reality is that CTE directors in my state who have previously spoken with my immediate supervisor won't necessarily care about the right or wrong of my situation. What most of them will remember is that one of their own essentially said that I made "no worthwhile contributions" and that I had "poor classroom instruction and management skills."

So - regardless of whether you're the victim of defamation or the victim of a troubled economy that has laid teachers off due to state budget cutbacks ... how do you reinvent yourself to become employable?

I'll tell you what I'm doing.

1) Diversify your certification: I am presently certified as a CTE Culinary Arts teacher in Arizona. I also hold an elementary teaching certificate from Texas. Using my Texas certificate, I'm taking a state test and a couple of on-line classes to qualify for Arizona certification. I am also applying for a certificate as a CTE business teacher.

Doing this will give me three certifications: Culinary Arts, Business, Elementary

Since there are a lot more elementary teaching jobs that jobs for CTE instructors, I am hopeful that something will eventually turn up.

2) Work as a substitute. I know ... this isn't ideal. Some teachers don't leave lesson plans and some classes will act out. However - working as a substitute will give local administrators the chance to get to know me. If I do a good job, I think that working as a sub will give me an advantage in finding a new job.

3) Update your portfolio: Use this time to update your portfolio. My teaching portfolio used to be in a scrapbook but I've scanned everything and combined jpeg images with digital clips on my laptop.

I have my portfolio divided into the following shortcut links on my laptop's desktop: Career highlights, my creativity, restaurant operations, restaurant sanitation, hands-on instructional units, and personal interests (hobbies and volunteer service)

Instead of having potential employers sit through a 20 minute digital production, I use my laptop to answer specific interview questions.

4) Be prepared to relocate: I know from having once been much more active at this site, that the issue of relocation can be challenging to many teachers. Connections to friends and family and a spouse's employment can make the possibility of relocating to be challenging.

I myself actually turned down the opportunity to work at a Navajo reservation because it was 1 1/2 hours from the nearest city. The district also wanted to house me in a one bedroom apartment. As an older teacher, I haven't lived in a one bedroom apartment in ten years.

Part of the reason I gave up my overseas teaching career was that I was tired of one bedroom apartments. When I moved back to the states in '99, I had furniture and other personal possessions stored in three different locations in two different states.

With this being said, I turned this job down knowing that I'll probably be able to find a mid-year vacancy at a nearby Apache reservation school which has a high rate of faculty turnover. With three different teaching certificates, I think I should be able to find something ... and if that doesn't pan out, I can always continue employment as a substitute teacher.

5) Build on your strengths: If you're interested in looking for employment in other areas, consider your strengths.

I'm a working chef. I also make soap and candles as a hobby.

I can supplement my income as a substitute teacher by selling soap and candles (handcrafted to resemble actual food products) to local gift shops. i could also sell these on e-bay.

I've been asked to become a private Culinary Arts teacher, working in homes to teach families how to cook.

I could work as a restaurant manager, chef, or cook.

Finding another job outside the field of education doesn't necessarily mean that you'll never teach again. In my opinion, having a job that puts food on the table and keeps a roof over my head trumps sitting at home fretting over my situation.

If worse comes to worse, look for a job in the food service industry. The average turnover rate in some casual dining restaurants approaches 150% each year. Average turnover in a fast food establishment - especially now that summer is ending and kids are going back to school is about 80%.

Flipping burgers or wiping down tables isn't glamorous ... but if it helps keeps you financially afloat until you can find another teaching job, why not seek gainful employment?

6) Always follow up: One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is failure to follow up. If you get an interview, send the employer a thank you card after the interview. Follow up with a phone call to ask about the job within the next couple of days. Some human resource personnel, especially in non-education jobs, look for follow up calls to help gauge an applicant's actual interest. Sitting by the phone waiting for a call that may never come is passive. In this economy, you have to be more aggressive.

Conclusion:
Losing your job is a horrible thing ... but this need not be the end of your teaching career.

If anyone else has constructive ideas about how teachers who have lost their jobs may find another one, I'd certainly be interested in hearing them.

Best wishes,

Chef Dave

[herdgrad]

Chef Dave I think you have summed it up quite well. I wish you the best of luck!! Hopefully something will come along.

[merrynl]

Along the same lines as updating your portfolio...

If you bring a portfolio to your interview, USE it. Don't just leave it sitting on the table. Were you asked a question that relates to something in your portfolio? Open it up and use that to answer the question. Talk about what you did, but also SHOW them.

At the end of the interview, when they ask if you have any questions or if there's anything else you'd like to tell them about yourself, use the portfolio again. Give them an idea about what's in your portfolio and ask if they'd like to look through it. If you spent the effort to create a portfolio, make use of it!

[Chef Dave]

Along the same lines as updating your portfolio...

If you bring a portfolio to your interview, USE it. Don't just leave it sitting on the table ..

I think this is excellent advice. Some administrators I have known have told me that the single biggest problem they see with applicants who come to interviews with portfolios is that they DON'T use them. They DON'T incorporate elements of the portfolio into the interview by using them to help answer interview questions.

One administrator told me of an applicant who arrived using a portable two wheeled luggage dolly bearing two plastic crates filled with stuff. Curious to see how this applicant would integrate the contents of the crate into the interview, he pointedly did NOT ask about the contents of the crates just to see how she would react.

In the end, the applicant left without ever having used any of the materials she had brought. She had clearly expected to be asked about the contents and had prepared for a "show and tell" project. Unable to integrate these materials into her interview, she left without having used them and without a job offer.

The shame of it is, that had she integrated her material into the interview, the principal said he might have hired her. Stepping "outside the box" would have demonstrated initiative and creativity. Allowing these crates to sit passively throughout the interview regretfully signaled the opposite qualities.

[silvana]

....of course Dave you know the best reinvention is helped along by a new hairstlye...shoes...and of course some new clothes =)

[hweber]

A very informative and well-stated post Chef Dave, and merrynl your advice is great too. Chef Dave, we could always use a good restaurant in, nothing ever seems to work here. You are a multi-talented person, I know that you will find a place where you can use your talents.

[SS Rocks!]

6) Always follow up:[/B] One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is failure to follow up. If you get an interview, send the employer a thank you card after the interview. Follow up with a phone call to ask about the job within the next couple of days. Some human resource personnel, especially in non-education jobs, look for follow up calls to help gauge an applicant's actual interest. Sitting by the phone waiting for a call that may never come is passive. In this economy, you have to be more aggressive.


You make a fantastic point here Chef Dave! I owe my current job to calling to follow up on submitting an application. When I called to confirm that my application package was received, I wound up speaking to the content area supervisor and she scheduled an interview with me over the phone.

It may seem like you're being a pest (I know I felt like that) but it can pay off!

[Chef Dave]

... and this just in ...

Last week I mailed my attorney a modest present. I wanted to thank her for meeting me as a person and not being a "stuffed shirt" who like Joe Friday, on Dragnet, just wanted to hear the facts.

I sent the attorney two homemade candles. One was in a votive and looked like a luscious fruit tart topped with a sugar glaze. I also sent her a cherry cupcake complete with a fluffy mound of "red frosting" topped with four cherries. If it wasn't for the wicks, you'd think that these were real food products.

http://s2.thisnext.com/media/230x230/CHERRY-Cupcake-Candle_53061207.jpg
My attorney called me today and suggested that I open a specialty candle store making handcrafted candles.

My father has also noted my interest in fresh water ponds. I have a 5,000 gallon fresh water pond in my backyard. The pond has two waterfalls and numerous plant shelves that are filled with rushes, reeds, water chestnuts, umbrella plants, and water mint. Frog bits, which look like mini-lily pads, float about the surface of the pond. The pond is also home to five koi, two goldfish, and a large school of mosquito fish.

In recent months I have developed an interest in AquaFarming i.e. raising game fish such as tilapia, catfish, bream, wide mouthed bass, fresh water trout, fresh water shrimp, and blue crabs.

Live critters would live in 500 gallon tanks. Waste products would be taken from their pond filters. When mixed with iron supplements, I'd have a liquid fertilizer for a hydroponics vegetable garden.

My father thinks I should open an Aquafarm that sells live game fish, pond fish, pond plants, and organic vegetables.

As for myself, I'm writing a novel. I'm not sure if I want to be a novelist and I don't know whether the novel is publishable ... but I'm having a lot of fun writing it.

I wonder whether it's possible to do all three? I will have to think about it.

So - to add to this thread, if you're thinking about how to reinvent yourself, think about what your strengths are.

I know one teacher who quit her job to design jewelry. I know another teacher who crafts furniture. If you have a talent, think about how you might apply this talent to a potential job.

[silvana]

aawww Dave those candles look simply delicious....you have a real talent...do they smell?

[hweber]

When I first saw the photo, I thought is was a cupcake! You are so talented, could I have just one of your talents? I am still trying to find mine!

[silvana]

hweber, I think you have a very good one, you are very nice, positive person that is a gift =)

[hweber]

thanks Silvana - that was very kind of you!

[Chef Dave]

HAH! I have a line on a third grade teaching position just 20 miles away.

I should be receiving my certification test results, passing, thank you very much, by Monday. I am already certified as a substitute teacher. If the district is truly desperate to fill this slot, they may hire me as a substitute and then have me sign contract once my certification comes through.

I would rather be a Culinary Arts teacher but high school jobs are hard to come by. The only alternative to working as a 3rd grade teacher on a reservation school would be to move to Phoenix where there are still several jobs in the inner-city.

Given a choice, I'd rather stay in the country where I own my home and have a 5,000 gallon freshwater pond in my backyard.

Going back into elementary education wouldn't be such a bad thing either. Core academic teachers have more job stability than CTE teachers. Unlike high school teachers in small rural schools who are often strongly encouraged to sponsor extracurricular activities and/or to attend sporting events in support of their school, elementary teachers typically have their evenings and weekends off. I also have 17 prior years of elementary teaching experience with 8 years teaching 3rd grade.

[hweber]

YEAH!! Good luck, I hope it comes through.

[SS Rocks!]

Good luck to you! :)

[Chef Dave]

Well ... I didn't get the job. The position was filled by the time I applied for it.

I WAS OFFERED A CULINARY ARTS JOB at a reservation school in the northwestern part of the state. I turned the job down. I had mixed feelings about doing this.

On a professional level, the Culinary Arts Department was in a state of disarray. Pots, pans, spatulas, measuring cups, and mixing bowls were in a confusing jumble with stacks of textbooks, stand mixers, 44 gallon stock storage bins (for dried beans, rice, flour, and sugar), piles of aprons and culinary jackets, and pallets of size ten cans (103.5 oz) of various food products.

The kitchen was clearly not ready for use and I had concerns about my ability to relocate and have the department ready for instruction within a week's time frame.

The school in question was a good 6 1/2 hour drive away. Since this was a reservation school in a rural area, the school provided housing for non-Native teachers.

When the school wouldn't SHOW ME the 1 bedroom apartment that they wanted me to live in, I got very nervous. I have previously lived in assigned housing overseas. In Saudi Arabia the walls of my corporate apartment were so thin that I could literally hear televisions, phone calls, and embarrassing personal noises in adjacent bathrooms. In Beirut, Lebanon, I lived in a high heat/high humidity area without A/C. My ceiling fan fell off the ceiling nearly hitting me during my first day in the apartment. Raw sewage backed through the floor drain in my show stall.

Since I have four cats, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of a one bedroom apartment. Given my age, I would also have had problems fitting all of my personal possessions into a one bedroom unit.

The main sticking points though were the unready state of the Culinary Arts Department coupled with the district's unwillingness to even show me the one bedroom apartment in question.

In talking to a friend who had worked at this school, I found that the district had an allegedly high rate of turnover among non-Native staff. I think this may be par the course for many reservation schools since the quality of residential housing and the relative isolation of these teachers from the amenities of metropolitan areas is probably an issue.

I am holding out in hopes of finding a job mid-year. In the meanwhile I am working on a novel and hope to begin the process of finding a literary agent by December.

[upnorthteacher]

Best of luck finding a job this year, Dave. With your many talents and varied experiences, I'm sure the right job will come along. I would love to read your novel when your finish!

[hweber]

I am sorry that you didn't get the position. :( I hope you can find something soon.