Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Attending a teacher job fair is like...

a cross between fishing, Disneyland and speed dating.

Last week I flew into Austin to attend a regional job fair. The reasons for going to all that trouble are simple: we would consider moving back to Austin and vicinity, and, unlike in California, there aren't 20,000 people competing for jobs in education. Although I could be wrong about that. I knew that over 800 people attended this job fair the previous year, and when I drove up to the building and saw that people were parking in the empty field across the street, I figured that that number was about double for this year. Nothing says "fair" like parking in a muddy field and praying that you won't need to elicit the help of Bubba and his half ton truck to pull you out of the mud at the end of the day.

I arrived at a quarter until 10 - fifteen minutes before the job fair began - only to find that I had to stand in a line that stretched from the front door all the way to the parking lot. When I finally got inside, I had to stand in more lines. Lines that circled half the room. Lines that took 30 minutes to get to the front. And then when I got to the front, I had a seconds to cast my expertise and virtues into the glassy eyed administrator or human resources person who made a few notes and placed my resume into one of several stacks of resumes each about ream of paper thick. It was daunting.

I overheard a girl say she flew in from Bend, Oregon, so I'm guessing there were many other people who, like me, flew in from out of town just to stand in line after line after line for the minute possibility that we might impress someone in 30 seconds or less.

All in all, I applied for jobs in about 8 different school districts. No bites yet, but I'll keep dangling my line in here and there regardless.

4 comments:

Karen said...

I can't imagine! I hope you get a call from Austin. I'm sure that your good recommendations will make a difference for you.

Aniket Thakkar said...

I feel so sorry... I know our words of assurance would do little good, but I wish you get a job to your liking soon. I really wish you do.

PJD said...

Wishing you much luck.

I had to read one sentence twice because I thought it said this:

Nothing says "fair" like parking in a muddy field and praying that you won't need to elicit the help of Buddha and his half ton truck to pull you out of the mud at the end of the day.

May Bubba provide. Just don't try rubbing his belly for good luck.

Anthony said...

prayers from here for you & your family. I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be so good hearted and have the basics all up in uncertainty. I hope there is some good news soon.