DODDS Hiring Question

WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Ringler, as I mentioned, nothing works quickly in DoDEA. It's a very slow culture. People move at their own pace. If you emailed HR I am sure that they will take care of it, but as I said, it won't be quickly. Lists for available positions have not gone out to principals yet. I'm sure that your name will be included on lists for SY 12-13. As I also said, Elementary Spanish is a new program for DoDEA this year. It is going into larger elementary schools with students in excess of 650 students.

I'll give you the advice that I give to my own friends that are currently in the applicant pool. Be patient. Check your email daily.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

@wedodude

This isnt a popularity contest, and being liked isnt a prerequisite for being right.

@ringler24

Would need more then the first part of your user email, sorry.
It could be updated quickly or slowly, depends on the priority.need. Ive seen things happen overnight for the right candidate. DODEA can move mountains if they want to. Principals can look at the profiles now, and organize who they want to talk to, but cant "officially" conduct interviews yet. Principals generate their own lists now.

Dont be impatient, send an email, and make a single phone call, but dont be annoying about it, as this just pisses HR off. Eventually it will be corrected, how fast depends on what the need for elementary spanish is.
WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Ringler, principals do not generate their own lists now, HR still does this in steps. Step 1 is the list of local hires eligible to teach the position. The principal must interview military dependents first. If the principal doesn't select a local hire then HR will generate and send the, list 2 which is the CONUS applicants.

Right now we are in a holding period until June 1. We were all just notified that there is money for a whopping 5 more transfers and we are awaiting that those receiving their transfer accepted the position. This year marked the first time that a teacher could reject their transfer and still keep their job. In years past if you were transfered and declined it meant that you have to seperate from DoDEA.

We should know more on June 4 as DoDEA has said that they will close the transfer round officially on June 1. Of course this being DoDEA that could and does change depending on a whole host of things.

If you don't hear anything by the end of June, don't fear, hiring can take a long time and many teachers arrive late because of how slow the process is. It's perfectly normal for us.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Nope

Post by PsyGuy »

HR doesnt create hiring lists anymore, principals create their own. If you look at the top of your qualifications page you will see whether you are an external or internal or local candidate. While principals have to follow a work flow policy, in what groups they must contact first, second etc. They can easily determine and declare that they "were unable to find a suitable candidate" in any particular group.

Teachers could reject their transfer mainly because of a lack of a secondary transfer round, a lack of back filled teachers, and so many excessed teachers from schools closing in Germany.
ringler24
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 6:25 pm

Post by ringler24 »

Well the note was removed from my file but that subject area was left "Pending". Bummer. Right now I only have ESL listed as Qualified and everything else I'm still waiting on. Will attempt being patient : )
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Well

Post by PsyGuy »

As you see they can move pretty fast if they want/need too. The pending is likely due to two factors: 1) Inexperience with assessing the elementary spanish qualification as its new. 2) Principals dont even know what need/demand they have for it, so its an unknown priority for HQ.
WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Ringler, the pending means that they are looking over your transcripts and license. They could also be waiting for your confidential references, not sure if you got those out yet. Those can be done online, so that should speed things up. When I applied I sent an email to my references to be on the lookout for the reference email. It has a habbit of ending up in the junk/spam folder.

HR will be sending out the qualified applicant lists shortly to principals. All those contain are the names. Like I said, phase 1 is for military dependents. They go first. If there isn't a qualified applicant that is local to the area then they'll move on to CONUS. Again it is just a list of names. Principals will use the online system to look over your application. Last year we received lists in Japan with applicants that didn't want to teach/live in Japan. This year we are being directed to interview them anyway.

Remember, 2 schools closed this year in Germany, in the Heidelberg region. 2 more a scheduled to close next year. We had 200 excessed teachers this year between the two school closures that all got placed at other schools. Next year we'll have around 150 excessed teachers looking to get placed. The good news for them is that our bases in Spain, Belgium and Italy are all expanding, so they shouldn't have any issues getting placed. We also have 2 brand new schools opening in SY 13-14 in Korea.

The process to get hired is a grind. It's a lot of hurry up and wait. You'll likely get emailed by a principal if they are interested in you to schedule an interview. It will be 100% on the phone. We don't use Skype, it's not allowed to be installed on our computers. If you're selected your name will go to HR who will begin to look very closely at your classes and license. After a few days they will FedEx you the largest packet of paperwork on the planet with all sorts of things that will have to be done, including saying an oath in front of a notary and having them notarize the form. You'll also have to get your No Fee (Official) passport. While you'll send this to a guy at HQ, he will in turn send it off to the State Department and they can take their time. It took 4 weeks for me to get mine.

Hang in there. Don't worry. I'll let you know when the hiring opens up.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

Pending doesnt mean they are looking over anything. It just means it hasnt been reviewed yet. it all depends on anticipated needs, and priorities. There are some applications that have had pending listed for some subjects for years.

HR doesnt send out lists anymore, principals do their own searching and compilation of lists. When you make one, you will receive an automated email telling your the region, school and subject. These are done when the principal does them so they will be an irregular times throughout the summer.

The schools in 2013/2014 arent hiring now, and no one knows if they ever will. None of the other schools in europe are expanding and most of the excessed teachers from germany got placed in europe first (if they were qualified) as its the least expensive. It should be a pretty lean recruiting year.

They dont use skype for interviews (well a few do, i had a skype interview with a principal), almost all of them though are by phone. You may or may not get an email from a principal, and its very possible they will just call without advance notice. If you miss the call they just go to the next name on their list, and so its important to use a phone number that you have access too 24/7 or as often as possible.
WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Ringler, so I contacted my area HR rep and he said that we can expect our list of local hires to be sent to us around June 7. He said that in the entire PAC, which is Korea, Japan and Okinawa, that we currently have around 78 positions to fill. He expects 20% to go to local hires, but the rest should go out to CONUS. We'll have about 2 weeks to wade through the local hire lists that they send us, if we receive one at all as not all on the list are even local. For instance, last year we received a list with a local hire's name that was about 400 miles away, so obviously we weren't going to hire that person. At my school we currently have 5 positions to hire, sorry ES Spanish is not one of them other wise I'd send you a DM and get your name.

He also mentioned that if we don't have anyone local for our positions that we'll get our CONUS list the following week.

Did you get your references in by chance? I believe that you check the status of those? If HR doesn't get those your application will remain in pending. They'll want all 3 of the references and we read them before we make contact with an applicant.

Feel free to DM me any questions, and that goes for everyone else. Less noise to deal with and we can have private conversations where you receive the facts on what's going on.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Sorry

Post by PsyGuy »

HR doesnt send out referal lists anymore. Principals create them themselves.

This board doesn't support PMs (security and spam prevention).

You can check your evaluations on the online application, by clicking on "Status" in the upper right hand corner. In addition to your references, this will also display when your certificate is validated (HQ checks it against your states online registry).

There will less then 78 CONUS hires globally across DoDDS for 2012/2013.

If wedodude really had facts they would have no problem posting responses publicly. The truth doesnt need to hide, but your free to accept or reject whatever information you want.
WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Well Ringler, and anyone applying to DoDEA, too bad about PM's. Here's my email, dodeaap1@gmail.com. Guess I'm giving too much info as to my identity, but whatever. Feel free to email me. Once your application is active I'll be able to tell you if I can see you. This is my first year as an AP in DODEA and my first hiring season so I am only going off what my principal told me and the emails that PAC HR has been sending out.

Just for giggles I emailed a friend of mine who is an AP in Europe just to see if they do things differently than us. They don't. HR sends them the list of applicants as well. Maybe Americas does it differently, but EU and PAC do not.

I'll be happy to answer any questions. Truthfully, I'm not a happy admin. I miss the classroom and working with teachers that strive for excellence, not worksheets, which is what the bulk of my teachers do. So if you're not a skill 'n drill, sit 'n get type of educator, please apply. We need more teachers like you.
anon
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:14 am

Post by anon »

Dear WeDoDude,

OK...aps completed, still need two references to respond...they are my current supervisors...I'm thinking of taking them a hard copy, scanning them and uploading them to complete the process/application. (?)

Next? E-mail and call HR and ask for us to be considered for SY12/13?

Also, I guess we need on hand official sealed transcripts and employment verification forms?

We have passports...will they need to be changed to official passports at some point?

Lastly...patience on our part!!!
Thanks for all your help.
ringler24
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 6:25 pm

Post by ringler24 »

Hey anon,

Just an FYi, I think your supervisor references have to be mailed in by them or filled out by them online as they are confidential. When they've done it you'll see check marks by their names under Status. I did the online version and then emailed my references to give them a head up to expect the link from DODDEA. Hope that helps!
dutchschultz
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 7:27 pm

Post by dutchschultz »

Anon,

Also be aware that they may have been received at HR but haven't been listed as received. I know that my references, two mail-in versions and one online version, took about several weeks before they were marked as received. Again, it's another thing that takes time.
WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Anon, yes you will have to travel on an Official Passport. You are not entering the country as a tourist, but rather on official U.S. government business.

References have to be confidential. I sent my references an email to be on the lookout for them. You can't see them, or mail them.

Transcripts can be sent by you but must be sealed by your university and stamped. They must be official transcripts, not copies.
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