To apply or not to apply?

[MissPrimaryCrafts]

Help! I'm doing my PGCE and starting to look for jobs, I'm quite worried about this as although there's a lot of talk about teachers leaving the profession I've heard from many people who qualified last year who failed to get a full time job for their NQT year.

I absolutely love one of my placement schools, it would be my dream to work there. However they're not advertising right now and of course I don't know for certain that 1. They will advertise at all and 2. If they did that I would get the job. I'd like to wait a bit longer and see if they advertise, but there are a couple of other jobs being advertised in my area and I feel like I should go for them as I can't afford to be picky...but then what if I get that job and my dream school advertises and I can't apply for it!

Any advice? Would it be unprofessional to speak to my mentor at the school and ask if she thinks they'll be advertising this year?

I'm a mentor and would be happy for you to ask me whether we were recruiting this year had you done a placement at my school

Some teachers are desperate to leave as covid increased their workload but are not leaving due to the lack of jobs being advertised in all sectors.

I've mentored trainees and had no objection to them asking about potential vacancies. Definitely ask her!

In terms of the other jobs - definitely apply. It may be that you don't get the first one you interview for but at least you'll have interview practice.

It's always difficult when you would like a particular school but if you end up working in a different school, you may love it there too.

Good luck!