Getting jobs

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Home : 2002 : April : 4

Getting jobs
By Amanda K.

Steve, when you call the system at night, do you only call a couple of times? Sometimes jobs become available at odd times. When I was subbing, I would start calling the system at 5, which was when the system started making
calls out. I would call the system every two to five minutes until I had a job. I would just devote myself to the phone. It gets boring, but you can watch tv or something while you are doing this. You really have to be extremely proactive with the sub lines. If it says, "no info," chances are that information might come up in a couple of minutes when a sick teacher calls in, or

when another sub chooses not to accept a job that the system called him/her for. You can either call the system every couple of minutes to pick up these jobs or wait until the system calls someone else. I, too, learned that the hard way.

I have been teaching full time for 3 years now. When I look at a flier, I like to see that the sub is dedicated to teaching, and most importantly that the sub will actually teach the lesson plan as the teacher writes it. You'd be amazed at how many subs don't. It's a big plus. You should specifically list this in a bullet point on your flier. You can also say that you are training to be a full-time teacher. Leave the fliers with teachers and secretaries.

Also, school secretaries are really the most important person in your life. Be really nice to them. You can just walk into a school and hand your flier to the secretary, telling her that you really are looking forward to subbing, and could she please post your flier somewhere? This kind of initiative is usually looked upon with favor, as it shows you are not a slug and are actually dedicated to your job (many subs are not dedicated at all, and teaching staffs really jump on dedicated people)

Another thing you can do is get to know the other teachers when you sub. Eat lunch in the staff room and introduce yourself to people. Teachers are more willing to request someone that they've met than they are to just blindly call in the system for a random sub.

And always leave a good sub note, closing with a statement that you enjoyed the class and would love to come back. Leave your system number and your fliers/ business cards with the note.

These tips really worked for me when I was subbing... and I started subbing in January, too. Teachers are always on the lookout for good subs, not just at the beginning of the year.