Advice for a college student

[Skelda]

Hi everyone!

First of all, thank you all so much for your contributions to this forum. It's really a tremendous resource. I've been lurking for a few years now, and I've found it very helpful.

I'm currently a college student, and I'm due to graduate this coming May with an MA in English. I already earned my BA in English Secondary Education last winter, and I have a CEAS from the state of NJ.

Through my university's "global student teaching" program I had two different placements: one at a DS in NJ and the other at an IS in SE Asia. I'm hoping that this can be an asset.

I'm very much aware that most ISs prefer 2+ years of experience, which obviously I don't have. All I have is my student teaching and some tutoring experience. I'm also aware that the hiring season for 21-22 will be unusual due to COVID-19, that English Literature is a particularly competitive subject, and that ISs typically don't have as many resources for new teachers as DSs.

Finding a job in NJ in my subject is competitive too, however, and it's very possible that I will be unable to find a job here unless I move, at which point I would rather work at an IS. Even if I do get a job in the states, it's most likely to be at a Title I school or a long-term sub position. International teaching is my end goal, so I don't especially want to teach in DE any more than I must.

With that said, I want to try to get a job as an IT for the 21-22 schoolyear. I am flexible about location (my preference is probably E or SE Asia, but I would go anywhere) and I'm honestly flexible about school quality as well, as long as I can get my foot in the door, stay for a year or two, and then move on to better schools. My current plan is to register for Search as an intern in order to access their database and just apply for as many schools, especially lower tier schools, as I can. And if I fail to obtain a job in IE for 21-22, I can always fall back on trying to find a job domestically. The number one thing I want to avoid is not getting a job for next year since I want to start building up those two years of experience.

Do you have any advice? Does my plan seem like a smart one? What expectations should I have, especially given the unusual situation going on in the world right now and its impact on IE? I can't imagine that it helps my prospects, but if I'm extremely flexible do I still have a chance?

Also a few additional questions:

-If I do go abroad immediately, my CEAS will never be able to become a Standard certification since I won't have taught in NJ. I'm aware that that's not as good (though functionally really should be the same), but is that something that could become an obstacle later in my career if I have no way to become fully certified? It's not a huge consideration, but something to at least keep in mind. My impression is that most ISs will treat it the same as they'd treat a Standard certification, but maybe not all.

-Who should I be getting as references? I have a different student teaching supervisor for each placement, so would just the two of them be enough? I could also get my tutoring boss or my professors but I'm not sure if their recommendations would be less meaningful. My former cooperating teacher is also now an Assistant Principle at the IS I student taught at, so would it be inappropriate to ask him? Honestly if there's an English opening at his school, I'm fairly confident that he would hire me based on some comments that he made, but I don't want to bank on that.

-What expectations should I have in terms of timeline? I know usually the hiring season starts in October (so about now), but since I have no experience I imagine I'm probably not an early hire, though that doesn't mean I won't be applying. COVID-19 also could alter things, since a lot seems to be uncertain.

-Would it be worth it for me to do the virtual Search fair in December? I've been considering it, since it does explicitly say that it's open to new teachers, but I have no idea if it's worth my time or if I should just stick to applying to schools individually.

Thanks in advance for your help! I know I wrote a lot. It's a very strange time to be trying to plan for the future, but any of your guidance/wisdom would be much appreciated.

[PsyGuy]

Get references from all of them. The DS, the IS, your tutoring supervisor, the teaching mentor thats now an AP, your professors, etc.. If your religious (or even if your not), fining a Christian church to belong to, and then visit with the pastor and gt your face known so you can get a character reference from them would help. There are a number of smallish ISs/DSs that have a Christian slant to them, and they put a not insignificant amount of weight into being practicing Christians as a requirement of employment.
Adding some volunteer or side hustles that are education related or just working with children wouldnt hurt.

Tutoring doesnt count. Subbing/relief/supply teaching generally doesnt count. Being a long term would generally count as long as your the TOR and you dont call it subbing. Youre really just an at will as opposed to contracted DT in terms of difference.

We still dont know what peak recruiting is going to look like in January. Youre not an early hire. Really though this year we dont know what peak recruiting is going to look like, it wouldnt hurt to start sooner rather than later.

Keep that network connection you have with your former mentor. You want that appointment to happen if thing dont work out for you. You dont want to have to work that angle late only to find out its not available.
Your fall back is really what do I do if June arrives and you still dont have a job, thats when you start thinking, okay which country do I want to live in right now and then had there with the intent of teaching ESOL. A fall back plan isnt "trying" to do something its what do you actually do and thats more a 'can' issue than a 'may' issue.

You shouldnt have any expectations. You have a pretty lite resume, lot of white space, and what you do have isnt going to fill enough of it no matter ho you try to spin it.
Sure you have a chance, better than some. Youre legal (credentialed), your qualified in literature (first an advance degrees), more so youre not overly selective, and you dont mention any logistics issues like kids or trailing spouses, youre pretty open to location and even quality of IS. Your flexibility is whats really going to work for you.
Theres a job for anyone if you will accept anything. The issue for you is really will the anything be worth something in X years in moving up and through IE. Theres a fine line between working in a cram ES prepping students to take AP exams in literature and working in a DS to a group of local host national students in an AP literature course. That difference might com down to was your work during the day when students would regularly be in school or in the afternoon/evening after school.

Youll never get to transition to the Standard credential (unless you teach in NJ) but as its a lifetime credential anyway, and it authorizes you to provide instructional services in a KS/K12 environment the differences dont really matter. You could likely use it to get QTS if it was an issue for you. Sure you might find some leadership or recruiter that sees it as inferior, but thats going to be a rarity.

Virtual fairs probably arent worth anything. Especially if SA considers the virtual fair your 'free' fair. They tend to be exhaustibly underwhelming. I would think its worth seeing if the onsite SA BOS fair happens in January. That would be a better allocation of your time and resources.

[sciteach]

To be truthful - you are in a difficult situation. You have no teaching experience but have qualifications for one of the most competitive subjects (English). Student numbers are decreasing in many countries due to the flux of COVID-19 and the economic impact that closed borders entails.

Many countries require teachers to have a certain number of years experience - which means these countries are already out of the question.

You might be able to get a paid internship - but these may be rare this job hunting season due to flux. This potentially means more teachers applying for less jobs than normal

It's possible that you may be able to get a job - but these will be at some of the local international schools. Some of these are great - some feel as though you are in hell. These schools often are not the best place to learn to teach. Some of these schools are great for people who have a bit of experience as they often let you do whatever you want to do or micromanage everything which is the nightmare part of this.

My personal recommendation is just suck it up and try and get 2 years solid US experience and then branch out from there. This will give you some experience and more importantly some cash to help set up in your new country when you move there.

Others of course will have other things to say.....

[shadowjack]

Search Associates will take on interns, who can work for schools for a two year period and transition to teachers after the two years.

The bigger issue is one day New Jersey might decide to wipe out all those old teaching certifications and start anew - and then you are really screwed if anyone checks. That said - you can recruit internationally for next year as an intern and if nothing comes up, recruit domestically as a teacher, perhaps targeting a PG state where it is easy to maintain lifetime certification.

Keep us all posted! Good luck!

[Skelda]

Thank you all for your advice! It's very helpful.

I know my situation isn't ideal, and COVID certainly doesn't help matters, but at the same time, it's not ideal for new English literature teachers in my home state either.

I have no logistics issues, no trailing spouse, and no kids. I'll reach out to get my references and start searching asap, and I definitely will ask my former cooperating teacher to keep me in mind if any positions open up. I can get a religious character reference too, since I sang in a Catholic church choir for many years. Although my preference is not working at a religious school, I'm willing to do it if I must.

I understand the arguments in favor of staying in the US for two years. It's not my preference, but if that's the direction things go, then I'll make the best of it, even if I have to be a long-term sub or move to a different state. And if it's in NJ and I can transition my lifetime CEAS to a lifetime Standard certification, all the better.

Ultimately, I'm just going to be flexible, apply as much as I can, and hope for the best, and then as PsyGuy says, if June comes and I don't have a job, I'll have to figure out where to go from there and where I want to be. I'll let you all know how it goes. Thanks again!

[scooter93]

It certainly doesn’t hurt to try. I managed to get my first teaching job this year at an IS with only student teaching experience. Same subject as you. So far, it seems to be a really good school also. However, I just applied on a whim and had no real expectations and it very well could have been a right place, right time type of thing. There is definitely hope tho especially if you aren’t very picky about location.

[Skelda]

Thank you scooter93! That does make me hopeful.

[PsyGuy]

I dont know how @sciteach is defining "many countries", there are regions that require a certain number of years of experience, and two is a common minimum, but there is some significant ambiguity about what counts as experience, which may include your tutoring, ESOL, and a number of environments that relate however tangentially to edu. Further, is the means and methods that a ministry (labor, edu, immigration, etc.) assess that experience. First, In many cases its little more than taking a resume or similar document at face value. If your resume says X years experience thats pretty much as far as vetteing goes in determining if your experience is qualified. Second, is that often its the IS that certifies if your experience meets the requirements or not. The IS fills in a box with a number or a check mark and thats it.

Internships are very mixed bag in IE. They really are on opposite ends of the spectrum. On one end you have a small number of ISs that truly provide a properly resourced and mentored experience for ITs too develop the core inflection point skills in a supportive environment and do so at a compensated level that would be considered paid. Those ISs are a small minority and the one that do typically only have one and rarely two whole IS positions in a given recruiting cycle. On the other end, what is much more common within the definition of 'internship' is really just an excuse and a title for an IS to get cheap, cut rate labor. Your duties and tasks arent any different than a regular IT, and you dont get any access or resources beyond that of a regular contract IT. They just pay you less or lower on their salary scale, and often fewer benefits.
SA has a program and coordinator just for interns, but its nothing to get excited about. You can get an invite to the BOS fair (or SF) and you get the same access to the job database as anyone else. Often that transitioning doesnt look any different than anyone else. Though those ISs that have 'real' intern programs tend to be higher tier and those intern positions can lead to regular IT appointments.

The general consensus is two years post credentialing experience prior to entering IE. This assumes that the DE/DS option is a viable one. You have some angles you can leverage, but at the end of it you may not have a position you can get into and thus dont have an option for getting that experience. Sitting around waiting for a job that might never happen isnt going to help you and considering that even a bottom tier ISs compensation will have a better OSH package than the nothing you will get in DE.

Its remotely possible that NJ could dissolve those credentials, it would be for all practical purposes extremely unlikely that NJ wouldnt maintain validity or some pathway for retired credentials. Even then NJ has the distinction of currently offering lifetime credentials, they dont have expiration dates on them, so even if NJ dissolved them, your CEAS wouldnt dissolve or fade from existence.

You may want to have a plan or idea what to do if June comes along and you still dont have a job BEFORE June. If for no other reason, you need something to compare your job search options against, even if that something is just a reasonably thought out idea.

[IE_sciteacher]

It is possible to get a job but like others have said it will be challenging. My advice would be to look at the recruiting organizations that have a larger percentage of new grads as their base (UNI Fair and Queen’s). However, I have no idea what those agencies/fairs will look like this year given the pandemic.

When I was in the same position as you a couple of years ago a lot of the job opportunities were in central and South America and the Middle East and less in south east Asia. I would believe this to be that and south east Asia is more desirable and closer to Australia and New Zealand which increases competition.

Focus on trying to find a school that has been around for a few years or part of an established company of schools and offers a non-local curriculum. This would be my bare requirements for a first teaching position school.