Will work for salary...

On Tuesday, I attended the Oregon Professional Education Fair. This is a huge job fair in Portland attended by many districts in the area, and not a few districts from other areas, especially Washington and California, but also from as far as the Bering Strait and El Paso, Texas. I arrived early and with optimism, but despite the fact that I felt confident and positive about all of my interactions with districts it was a discouraging day.

I left my resume with ten districts, but one has to wonder how much that really matters. In the world of EdZapp and internet, especially when there are hiring freezes, is handing someone a resume going to make any difference? Even if I did make a really positive impression on people, even impress them to the point where they want to hire me, are they going to remember that they felt that way about me in a month when they perhaps have an opening I'm qualified for? At least with theater, when I gave a resume, it included a head shot so the directors could remember which one I was.

Because of my personal situation (my fiance is going to school in Eugene, and we own a house in Springfield) I cannot consider moving to a new area, which means that I could only consider districts close enough for me to drive to. There was not a single district from my county at the fair. One had been signed up, but they had canceled at the last minute, an event which was particularly frustrating for a colleague of mine that had attended the fair specifically to talk to that district (Bethel).

So I talked to Corvallis, Lebanon, Roseburg, Salem... ten districts total. Not a single district had a job available that I was qualified for, although most of them also said that they didn't know what jobs they might have at all. In general it seemed as if the fair was happening to early. I heard the same story over and over again, "we just don't know yet."

The most frustrating experience was Woodburn, which is probably too far for me to travel to, in reality. I waiting in line for at least 45 minutes. I of course had chosen the slowest moving line. It was the last school on my list, and I was already achy and tired. It moved so slowly... and when I finally arrived up to the front of the line, my mini-interview was conducted to the side of the booth, standing, in the walk way, very quickly. At that point was so terribly discouraged and convinced that there was no way I was getting hired.

I was surprised at how many positions required advanced math, so I will be actively pursuing that in the next couple years. If I am indeed unsuccessful in getting a job in the fall, I will re-take those more advanced math classes that I don't remember as well. They will likely be easy classes, and it will probably come back to me, but by taking the classes, I can also steal some ideas on how to teach the material (or how not to teach it, depending). Even if I do receive a teaching position, I still want to work towards passing that praxis. Because I have already done practicums in math, I should only have to pass the praxis in order to receive the endorsement.

Regardless, I am not terribly optimistic about finding jobs, nor was anyone else at the fair, or anyone who I've talked to who is in the same position as me. And combing the district websites for openings sure makes for tedious work in the evenings.