DH can’t get a job for love nor money!

[Jenbot78]

Advice wanted please. My DH is a teacher with ten years experience in primary education. He took voluntary redundancy two years ago as the job he had was a long commute and not compatible with having young kids. He took on part time supply work to share childcare for my youngest which he loved!

He has applied for 10 jobs and only got one interview. The one he got through to the interview stage as they liked his lesson. But failed the interview.

I have two friends who are deputy heads who have read his application and say it’s good. He hits every essential and desirable point on the person specification. He’s starting to feel very demoralised now. He e mails each school asking for feedback on his application and no-one ever replies.

We can only conclude that he is more expensive than young teachers which is why no one wants him! He is 44 years old.

Has anyone had experience of this happening to them? Did you get a job in the end? Any advice/feedback welcome.

Apply to be a secondary Maths Teacher if he is strong at maths!

Agree with the above - either maths, science, or computer science. To be honest there’s vacancies in so many different subjects but these seem to be the most difficult to recruit. Also DT and music in my area.

the only thing I can say is when I was first a teacher it was really rough to get a job for me and I did a maternity cover - I think maternity covers often result in more than just maternity if they go well…

Try now as they will be keen to fill the role by September- but secondary maths would be a good shout - I'd imagine there would cpd available to get the gcse end of it up to standard of he was worried about that

Where are you? Schools here are desperate for staff, including my own DCs!

Hi, I just applied for two jobs as a UPS3 and secured two interviews both for yesterday. I went with one of them as closer to home and despite another candidate being there I got it! There is def hope out there for your DH. I am secondary btw. Hope he gets something soon!

Would you be willing to give a rough idea of your location? Schools here (urban West Midlands) are absolutely desperate for staff.

A few suggestions: if he isn't already on LinkedIn, get him to create a profile and set it to 'open to work'. He can set this only to be visible to recruiters if he doesn't want it to be public. Secondly, consider registering with recruitment agencies as well as for long-term supply. Finally, he should consider sending speculative CVs to any and all commutable schools where he would like to work. The next week will be very, very tense for headteachers as they wait for any last-minute or unexpected resignations to come in, of which there are always a few. This is exactly the time to get his CV out and hopefully land on the desk of a HT who is tearing their hair out with a resignation at 23.59 on 31 May.

My only advice would be to keep going. If he is UPS, is he applying for assistant or deputy heads? If not, that may be the problem, he'll be up against younger people with new college learning much cheaper etc. It's not right, but it is what it's like in primary. It's really tricky in my area to secure a UPS primary job without being SLT. Everyone's a subject leader on MPS with no extra time or money. Or, try to find a long term supply and hope it turns into something permanent? It's really hard but hopefully something will come up between now and the end of May.

No feedback is normal, but I'd say if he's not getting interviews, there is likely an issue with his application. Often, people are too polite to say there's an issue if they see one. Is he tailoring it to schools? Is he visiting the schools? I understand this is a big thing in primary.

I'd say keep going- as there will be less competition for any vacancies that come up now. Or, as others have said, consider looking at secondary maths, or similar.

Potentially, with two years out from classroom teaching, he might have to be willing to drop down to M6, and express this in his application?

Also, who is he using for references? Some schools take references before interview- is it possible there could be an issue on his references?

His pay grade doesn't automatically come across from his last job so he's only as expensive as he demands to be.

I would imagine there will be some jobs flying in tomorrow as the May 31 deadline has been and gone and there will be ads going up with schools keen to get someone in place for September. Those who are not having to negotiate early release and are free to fill in applications, visit schools and attend interviews can hopefully scoop something to their liking. Good luck!