Seeking the wisdom of the hive mind on my current situation. As a seasoned teacher with a rich background in both the USA and internationally, I made the leap back to the States for an administrative role. While I'm enjoying the work, the allure of my past life abroad tugs at me. Despite applying for various positions through SEARCH, the response has been rather quiet. My focus is mainly in Asia and I would consider China if it was a T1 city.
Scenario 1 = Keep applying for admin jobs and wait out some positions. Perhaps late Winter / Spring might yield better results for someone with not as much admin experience.
Scenario 2 = Head back into the classroom and apply at solid T1 schools. My teaching experience was strong and I have no reservations about getting interviews/offers in my field for teaching roles. If I obtained a role like this, I would like to work my way up the ladder but realize that might not work for a variety of reasons.
Let me know your thoughts as I bounce some ideas around. Cheers to those looking for their next roles for 24/25!
Teaching to Admin back to Teaching?
Response
What leadership role are you seeking?
HOS/Executive leadership roles are either recruited for in the year prior to the appointing recruiting cycle or during early recruiting in the current cycle. Late winter/Spring is way to late for anything except an urgent appointment. Theres just too many issues and concerns to ask a new HOS to hit the ground running, it happens and its been done but its far from an ideal scenario.
If its senior leadership than it depends a lot on the position/role and the current demographics of the leadership team. An AP/VP/DP in a small IS who is the only other leadership member, that also is a position that Executive leadership is going to want to take their time with and to have them inplace they are going to want to do that early (again baring an urgent hire).
Its not much different with a larger IS that has a heavier leadership team where roles can be consolidated or workload dispersed among the current team members. Its not uncommon to absorb/dissolve a position and count the savings as an accomplishment by executive leadership.
Its not really early for leadership vacancies as the SA leadership fair is coming up in a week. If youre not hearing from anyone its because your resume doesnt have a lot of value yet and ISs are confident there is better value they will identify. Situations arent going to get critical enough until February/March. The issue of course is that by then youre going to have missed the Early and Peak recruiting time for IT appointments.
Leadership roles in IE are defined by reports, peer deliverables, or resource budgeting and allocation.
There are 3 general avenues into leadership:
1) Grow In: You start at an IS as an IT, you work well with leadership, parents and ownership, and then when there is an opening you get the job because ownership trusts you and leadership and parents like you. This pathway is faster at lower tier ISs, where there is a lot of turnover and longevity often means your only one of the few staff to renew.
2) Work In: You get a M.Ed in Ed.Ld, you add a credential, you build some leadership or management experience and you work your way up into leadership. This may and often requires some work in DE. This is the pathway that accounts for the majority of leadership. Candidates were leadership in DE, and they were hired as leadership in IE.
3) Edge In: You make friends and build a network, maybe you marry into, but someone in ownership likes you and gives you the job, or someone in leadership helps you get into the job. This is the least common path into leadership.
The issue with your second scenario is thus three fold:
1) While you can do anything for a year and not have it effect your resume in more than a trivial way, beyond that your skill set starts to get dated. Its a matter of perception the more time you spend away from leadership roles, tasks and activities the less you are perceived as being a competent and proficient leader. Leadership is a very different skill set from IT/instructional roles. While you will grow and master the skill set of an IT during your long tenure there, youre leadership skill set isnt getting any better, and its not growing in title or responsibility.
2) Youll fall through the glass ceiling. Once youre in leadership moving about in leadership is much easier to do, getting 'in' to leadership in the first instance is the hardest part of getting/breaking into leadership. If you step back to a classroom role you will be crossing that threshold and become an IT again, you did that already by moving back to the US to get into leadership, if you leave for an IT classroom position you will essentially have to break into leadership again.
3) Since your focus is only on Tier 1 ISs for classroom IT roles, not only is your resume very lite for leadership roles at that tier of IS but you will very likely finish out your career in the classroom. Theres simply not a lot of room at the top for mobility in leadership. Leaders that get to leadership in those tier of ISs tend to stay until they retire out making for a very long cycle of maturation/turnover. Youre going to be waiting forever for a vacancy to open up and when it does youre resume as a leader isnt going to be any better than it is now.
Ive written this often but you dont have any decisions to make until you have options. There is nothing to say you cant do both, you can apply for IE vacancies at both IT and Leader level roles. Once you have an idea of your marketability than you can apply what ever metrics or schema you use to determine what to take. In the meantime you dont likely have to give notice to your current DS until much later in the AY.
Its probably to late for you to realistically put travel together and leave to attend the SA Leadership fair (in SG), but that would be my other suggestion. Youd need to leave in a week and youd likely need to take 3-5 days of leave to account for travel. To be worth while you would need to have already gotten a positive reception from ISs attending that fair, as going cold might be exciting its not likely to be productive in the way youd be happy with.
The other option and its the stronger one as written above is to stay where you are and build leadership experience moving into roles of increased responsibility until you have a competitive marketable resume for IE leadership roles (at the tier and location you want)
HOS/Executive leadership roles are either recruited for in the year prior to the appointing recruiting cycle or during early recruiting in the current cycle. Late winter/Spring is way to late for anything except an urgent appointment. Theres just too many issues and concerns to ask a new HOS to hit the ground running, it happens and its been done but its far from an ideal scenario.
If its senior leadership than it depends a lot on the position/role and the current demographics of the leadership team. An AP/VP/DP in a small IS who is the only other leadership member, that also is a position that Executive leadership is going to want to take their time with and to have them inplace they are going to want to do that early (again baring an urgent hire).
Its not much different with a larger IS that has a heavier leadership team where roles can be consolidated or workload dispersed among the current team members. Its not uncommon to absorb/dissolve a position and count the savings as an accomplishment by executive leadership.
Its not really early for leadership vacancies as the SA leadership fair is coming up in a week. If youre not hearing from anyone its because your resume doesnt have a lot of value yet and ISs are confident there is better value they will identify. Situations arent going to get critical enough until February/March. The issue of course is that by then youre going to have missed the Early and Peak recruiting time for IT appointments.
Leadership roles in IE are defined by reports, peer deliverables, or resource budgeting and allocation.
There are 3 general avenues into leadership:
1) Grow In: You start at an IS as an IT, you work well with leadership, parents and ownership, and then when there is an opening you get the job because ownership trusts you and leadership and parents like you. This pathway is faster at lower tier ISs, where there is a lot of turnover and longevity often means your only one of the few staff to renew.
2) Work In: You get a M.Ed in Ed.Ld, you add a credential, you build some leadership or management experience and you work your way up into leadership. This may and often requires some work in DE. This is the pathway that accounts for the majority of leadership. Candidates were leadership in DE, and they were hired as leadership in IE.
3) Edge In: You make friends and build a network, maybe you marry into, but someone in ownership likes you and gives you the job, or someone in leadership helps you get into the job. This is the least common path into leadership.
The issue with your second scenario is thus three fold:
1) While you can do anything for a year and not have it effect your resume in more than a trivial way, beyond that your skill set starts to get dated. Its a matter of perception the more time you spend away from leadership roles, tasks and activities the less you are perceived as being a competent and proficient leader. Leadership is a very different skill set from IT/instructional roles. While you will grow and master the skill set of an IT during your long tenure there, youre leadership skill set isnt getting any better, and its not growing in title or responsibility.
2) Youll fall through the glass ceiling. Once youre in leadership moving about in leadership is much easier to do, getting 'in' to leadership in the first instance is the hardest part of getting/breaking into leadership. If you step back to a classroom role you will be crossing that threshold and become an IT again, you did that already by moving back to the US to get into leadership, if you leave for an IT classroom position you will essentially have to break into leadership again.
3) Since your focus is only on Tier 1 ISs for classroom IT roles, not only is your resume very lite for leadership roles at that tier of IS but you will very likely finish out your career in the classroom. Theres simply not a lot of room at the top for mobility in leadership. Leaders that get to leadership in those tier of ISs tend to stay until they retire out making for a very long cycle of maturation/turnover. Youre going to be waiting forever for a vacancy to open up and when it does youre resume as a leader isnt going to be any better than it is now.
Ive written this often but you dont have any decisions to make until you have options. There is nothing to say you cant do both, you can apply for IE vacancies at both IT and Leader level roles. Once you have an idea of your marketability than you can apply what ever metrics or schema you use to determine what to take. In the meantime you dont likely have to give notice to your current DS until much later in the AY.
Its probably to late for you to realistically put travel together and leave to attend the SA Leadership fair (in SG), but that would be my other suggestion. Youd need to leave in a week and youd likely need to take 3-5 days of leave to account for travel. To be worth while you would need to have already gotten a positive reception from ISs attending that fair, as going cold might be exciting its not likely to be productive in the way youd be happy with.
The other option and its the stronger one as written above is to stay where you are and build leadership experience moving into roles of increased responsibility until you have a competitive marketable resume for IE leadership roles (at the tier and location you want)
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
Re: Teaching to Admin back to Teaching?
If you want to be in admin overseas, you now have experience domestically. Apply for VP positions or principalships of smaller/out of the way schools where you stand a better chance of landing a position. Once there, stay for 3-4 years (most contracts initially will be 2 or 3 year contracts). Use that as a springboard to your next position.
Getting in at a T1 is in no way a guarantee of landing an admin (or even a leadership position such as department head or head of year). There is more flexibility at smaller schools. I know a guy who went to a school as a teacher, ended up coordinating everything, as well as becoming a VP and Tech Director at the same time! He's now a principal at another school last I heard, but he had no admin experience going into the school where everything happened.
Getting in at a T1 is in no way a guarantee of landing an admin (or even a leadership position such as department head or head of year). There is more flexibility at smaller schools. I know a guy who went to a school as a teacher, ended up coordinating everything, as well as becoming a VP and Tech Director at the same time! He's now a principal at another school last I heard, but he had no admin experience going into the school where everything happened.