yesterday was the big education expo job fair spectacular, and it was simultaneously chill and intense. the event itself had been crazy built up, to the point that all of us were pretty nervy about it. i agonized about little details on my resume, cover letter, teaching philosophy, etc etc etc. i got my fancy online portfolio (complete with those aforementioned documents, a picture of myself, and some lesson plans i have created) all good to go, got the outfit picked out, and went to bed at a reasonable hour. upon arrival i was immediately blown away by the sheer amount of people squeezed into the building, each district with their own table set up science fair style to entice you to come talk with them. add to that the dozens upon dozens of students and young professionals dressed in their classiest outfits trolling the halls looking for job opportunities, and we were probably a fire hazard. so the initial impression was pretty nuts. however, walk up to any of the tables and, though the feel was decidedly varied depending on the district, everyone was generally welcoming and appeared glad to talk with you. i had emailed the locations i was most interested in ahead of time, with my resume attached, and had only heard back from one (and they just said "come to our booth to sign up for an interview!"), but when i arrived at the tables basically all of them had my resume printed and ready - some even recognized my name! i got my interviews lined up and went on my way to eat lunch/panic about interviewing.
the interviews went surprisingly smoothly. it was a little crazy - you get a half-hour time block, and while some places used up to the last five minutes, others had you in and out in 15. sounds like a lot, but it goes FAST. i, like a super nerd, had a binder with extra resumes (good idea) and print-outs of some lesson plans i had done (also good idea) so i was able to provide extra resume copies to those who needed/lost mine, and could show them things that i had done in the class. you sit across the table from the interviewer and they will likely have a list of questions that they write notes on as you answer. smile, be friendly, and have questions prepared to ask them. every single one asked "do you have any questions for me?" BAD IDEA to say "nope." smile, shake hands, say thank you, and get out of there :)
the interviews i had were all very encouraging (yay!); now all i have to do is complete about a gagillion emails/forms/online applications. oh boy.
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