New teacher looking to move to Charleston area

[Baconisgood]

Don't overlook other districts in the region such as Berkeley or Charleston County schools. While DD2 might seem like your dream job, you can often start your career in a district that has more openings for newly minted Teachers. Berkeley School District has said it will build 20 new schools in the next 20 years! Tanner Plantation is getting a new Elementary School scheduled to open in 2018.

Good luck and leave your snow shovels in Nebraska!

[Chas4Life]

I started teaching as a second career a couple of years ago. I went to the job fairs in the spring and met with quite a few schools. My observations of the hiring process is that it can be _very_ unpredictable and that teachers who move here without a job are in a tough, stressful position.

At the job fairs, I met quite a few teachers who were very frazzled because they were here without jobs and were desperately trying to find one. It's stressful enough just to be searching for a job period. I couldn't imagine doing it while also worrying about how long your nest egg is going to keep paying the rent. Of course, you could always work another job while you look for work in teaching here, but it might be better to find a teaching job in Nebraska and keep coming to S.C. each year to look for a position here. At least then you'd be building up your teaching resume while you wait.

The hiring process is so unpredictable with schools. I'm in a critical need area, and there were a lot of schools with open positions for someone with my certification. At the job fair, I secured an interview with a school for the next week. This was at a school with really high turnover in a tough neighborhood. They'd been without a certified teacher in my position for over a year. The interview went well, so I assumed they would offer me the job. I never heard back from them. Just recently, I met a teacher who used to work at that school. She told me the principal and the assistant principal who interviewed me were let go not long after I interviewed there. Luckily for me, I eventually landed a position at a great school, one of the best in the state. A lot of other teachers have told me about how unpredictable the hiring process is. Some of them were Teachers of the Year in their old schools in other states, yet they struggled to find a job here. A lot of times the most qualified teacher on paper isn't chosen, for whatever reason. Just be aware that you could have a great resume and really kill it in the interview and still not be offered the job.

My bottom line advice is to suck up the extra cost of flying here for interviews before you move here permanently. Good luck!