Once you’ve undergone rigorous training in order to gain your teaching qualifications, the next big challenge is to find your first position as a newly qualified teacher. There are a number of things which you’ll need to start thinking about which can help you to be organised and to land the perfect job as soon as you’ve finished studying.
Decide where you want to focus your job search. Whilst you can cast the net a little further if you have less preference, you’ll have to travel to interviews and this can become expensive and time consuming if they are too spread out. You may also want to be in a specific area where friends and family are close by. Look for jobs in certain areas by checking local media, and filtering larger job sites to search within a particular radius. If you’re not so concerned by distance, you can set a wider radius.
Speak to other teachers who you’ve got to know during your training. Often they will be aware of positions which are available, and they might even be able to put in a recommendation for you. If it’s a teacher you’ve worked with before who knows your key skills, they might be able to suggest roles which they feel would specifically suit you.
If you’ve found a few different positions which you’re interested in, do some research on the schools. This will help you to get a feel for what life working there would be like, and will help you to ascertain whether it’s a place you’d like to be. Different schools will have different strengths and specialties, so it all depends on what is important to you.
Finding Your First NQT Job
