what to do now

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what to do now
By Carolyn

I used to live in Pennsylvania, land of great teacher unions and superb teacher salaries. Pennsylvania teachers are privileged to be among the top five best paid in the entire 50 states. The big snag was that getting a
job as a teacher was like winning the Holy Grail, or something. When I lived there, I interviewed, off and on, for about six years for a full-time regular classroom teaching position, so I can definitely tell you a lot about my experiences with those districts.
The first thing you do is ask somebody who has gotten a job in the district where you want to work. I did this to get my interviews.

Depending upon the district, some teachers told me that I had to call Personnel to set up an interview. Some told me to call the principals, themselves. One teacher I spoke with in one district told me that to get the interview, she kept calling Personnel repeatedly. I didn't think this was good advice, since I didn't want to appear to be a pest, but when you are competing against virtually thousands, you have to be a little pushy. I did keep calling Personnel, and that was how I landed the interviews.

In your particular situation, I think it would depend upon the number of applicants your school district is looking over. Do they have hundreds of elementary applicants? If yes, then it probably wouldn't hurt to call them a few times to let them know who you are and to ask if everything is complete in your application. That way, it doesn't seem as if you are being a pest as much as being conscientious about getting a job. If the secretary tells you "yes" that everything is in order, then ask her if it would be okay to call back in a week or two. Also, don't be afraid to ask her when it would be best to call back.