Please help. How do I get hired as an elementary teacher (K-4th grade) in Austin /Round Rock/Georgetown? (Houston: transplants, day care)

[surfcorky]

I have my Standard Generalist EC-4 educator's certificate. I have 5 years of experience teaching kindergarten in Arizona. I have applied to 10 school districts, and attended the Round Rock career fair a few months ago.

I live in Round Rock and am worried about not getting hired for this fall. The job fair was discouraging because of the vast numbers of people applying. How can I get an interview? Could anyone help me? Do you recommend speaking to principals even though the applications say not to? Is there anything else I can do to get noticed and considered for a job?

Any information, tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[HappyTexan]

Sorry to say but there are numerous threads just like this. I guess Texas is becoming the last great refuge in this recession.

Nevertheless..good luck to you.

[ohio2texas]

I would suggest you do a forum search for your answers. There have been a lot of threads regarding this. Best of luck to you!

[AustinTexan]

You wait your turn and pray you get hired. Lots of locals and Texans way ahead of you, get use to it and accept it.

[Baptaker]

Try getting in on a last minute summer school job...maybe not the grade of your choice. You will most likely be evaluated and at least put your name out there and have some recommendations.

[girlcitizen]

Education jobs in Austin can be hard to find - especially if you aren't from the city. Do you speak Spanish? If you are bilingual then you have a chance. If not...start checking out San Antonio and Houston - their need is greater. Austin has sooooooooooo many students graduating from UT and surrounding colleges w/ degrees in education. The competition is CRAZY! It's really all about who you know it seems.

[loves2read]

it has always been about who you know--it is just that before teachers were retiring in greater numbers and schools were growing so there were more jobs open
that is not the case now--fewer teachers are retiring in past couple of years--schools are having more trouble with their finances thanks to the legislature which once again is doing least it can to resolve this problem--and giving teachers a raise to pacify them is not the answer...
you are in a world of hurt--and there are plenty of people with you
you probably won't get a job
and sub lists are full
suggest you consider taking job with day care and getting business classes so that you can learn to run a day care center or taking an additional degree in something like library science or being a diagnostician...

[mego65]

Are you only applying to those three districts? I have applied to 14 districts so far and fill out more every week. You can't limit yourself to 3. Plus, from what I hear Round Rock and Georgetown are desirable schools, so you would really need an in.

[AustinTexan]

You're a transplant and moving to a highly educated and desirable city in Texas is going to be tough for most of you. I know that all the articles and magazines say that Austin and Texas are the best places to live, but there are a lot of people who have lived here their whole lives who quite honestly should have a better shot of landing a job than you. I think Texans and locals should be considered first and foremost and whatever is left over should be offered to transplants. Maybe that's why there are so many people on these boards complaining about how hard it is to find a job in Austin? As soon as the migration here slows down, if it ever does (hopefully!!!), jobs will be easier to come by. If we could just stop Californians from coming here alone, our city/state would be so much better off!!

[llkltk]

Why would you want to stop Californians from moving here? Everyone has a right to move where they want to move. Maybe that Californian is more qualified than that Texan. I just don't get the whole thought process, where do you think most of the jobs around here came from? They came from companies relocating from California. Do you think Texans should put on their resumes "I'm a Texan so I deserve the job because I'm not a transplant". That's silly!