This is a guest blog from someone I worked with:

So there I was, fresh out of college and ready to take on a classroom. I had finished my student teaching but the school I worked for had no open positions. So what did I have to do? I had to find a job! Loan debt was looming and I really did not want to work for an inner city school but if a job did not open up soon I might have needed to. I sent out my resume to schools that were up to an hour away and got no bites.

It was at this point I became very frustrated and asked my former mentor teacher what I was doing wrong. She asked to see my resume and immediately pointed out that it was not doing a good job of selling me. So I did what every recent graduate does and ignored her advice. Who was she to tell me that my resume was lackluster? It was ridiculous.

So I sat and waited for three more weeks before I started to believe that maybe she was not as stupid as I had believed her to be. I searched around online for help with building a resume and found a ton of useful sites.

The first thing they showed me was that I had to introduce myself well in a cover letter. That in order to stand out, I had to show them that I was a bit different. I also learned that old tricks like using color paper do not work any more. Most educators get hired because of their professional style not because they used yellow paper with blue font. The tips on how to write a professional letter as an introduction were eye opening and much needed.

So I followed the advice on the sites and waited. Thankfully I did not have to wait long this time. I had three interviews the next week! It is I had only ever held restaurant jobs previously and interviewing to be a short order cook is pretty different from interviewing for a teaching job.

I sat in the principal's office waiting for my interview and felt the nervousness that this office used to cause me as a teenager. I felt like I was in trouble. Little did I know, I was in trouble. The advice I had received on the websites was dead on but I had failed to properly prepare for it. They had recommended I find what the school was looking for but assumed it would be as simple as the fact that they needed a teacher. So when the principal asked me what I had to offer the school, I drew a blank. It was horrible. Needless to say, I did not get the job. I am probably lucky they did not call an armed guard to escort me out of the school.

Never one to get too down, I went back and studied up on how to interview. I still had two more to go and knew they might be my last good opportunities this year. I went to the second school and once again dropped a big bomb of an interview. However, this time was not disastrous! This time was just mediocre. I was improving and that bode well for me.

Finally, I went to the third interview and performed beautifully. In fact, I am writing this on my break from my classroom. It was an interesting trip to get here but I am glad I made the journey.