Teaching is a work of heart.

positivelypersistentteach:

theimprobablefiction:

positivelypersistentteach:

tunedintoteaching:

I don’t like to do that.  I know that when you know the right people, it will get you in the right positions…but then I don’t feel like that is authentic.  When I land a job, I want to know it is because I deserved that position rather than it being someone helped me to get it.  I think this goes back to my post I made a while back of how I don’t like when people help me, I like when I do things myself.  It could be seen as a flaw but everything that I have accomplished in my life has been my own doing.  I grew up in a household where I was the only one who spoke English and it was very difficult for me but that taught how to be independent in my studies especially.

Long story short, I don’t plan on calling in favors from people in my past especially if I have not talked to them in a while.  There is nothing worse then when someone contacts you after a long while because they need something,  I am not that person.

So when I do get my first teaching job, it will be so much more satisfying because I did it all on my own.

This is a totally understandable.  I was THE EXACT way and refused to even use my dad’s connections (he had been on city council for over a decade).  However, please keep in mind that 98% of teacher candidates out there are using their connections.  It is how other careers work — called “networking.”  Don’t think of it as a leg up, think of it as using the same even field pretty much everyone else is.  Use your connections as long as it is all done ethically.  That’s another piece of advice I could give myself.  I might have found a job sooner and it would have set me on the path to be financially secure sooner.

I’d like to add that by using your connections and networking like most other professions you’re really only getting yourself an interview.  You’ll still get the job “all on [your] own” based on your resume, interview, and qualifications.  You just made getting in the door a tiny bit easier.

I was going to reblog my own reply, but notajournalist said it perfectly. I have a much larger network for my job search this time around and I’m using it. But like notajournalist said, it’s ultimately up to me to land the job during the actual interview, not my connections.

I meant the interview part.

Thank you all for your insight!  Even getting an interview through “connections” doesn’t settle well with me. I would rather get an interview through my accomplishments and hard work.  I don’t know.  That is just how I am.  I know many people are working through people they know to get what they want but I just cannot see myself doing that.  

My life skills teacher back in high school always said, “It is not always what you know, but who you know.”  I would rather use what I know to become who I want to be and to be true to myself.

I really appreciate everyone’s input!