Not getting shortlisted for Primary teaching jobs

[PurpleCranberry54]

I’m a primary trainee teacher (TeachFirst) and am currently applying for jobs for September. However, I’m having real trouble getting shortlisted for lesson observations and interviews. I’ve applied to and been rejected from 7 jobs so far. I’ve had SLT, including my headteacher, look over my personal statement, and everyone has said it’s great and they wouldn’t change anything. I tailor each application to the school, make sure I hit every criterion on the person spec and make an effort to visit. I’m not sure if the primary job market is just extremely competitive or something, and I should wait for after the resignation deadline to have any luck as an ECT, or there’s something wrong with my application that I’m not seeing.

Any advice is appreciated.

I should probably also mention that while I’m training to teach in England, I’m not from here originally. I did my undergrad in my home country before moving to the UK, and I’m wondering if my foreign qualifications might be putting schools off. This is one of the reasons I make sure to visit as many schools as possible, as I don’t want them to make assumptions about me and my English. I don’t have an obvious foreign accent and generally pass for a native speaker (which I’ve been told by many locals), so there isn’t a barrier to teaching phonics and English, but I still wonder if schools might somehow see my background as a disadvantage. It doesn’t help that I have yet to meet a single non-white British primary school teacher, even in diverse schools.

Where in the country are you applying? We have a very diverse staff in my school, including teachers who gained degrees in other countries.

That’s reassuring! I’m in the North West.

I think for Primary, certain areas, particularly if they're near big universities that train a lot of teachers, can have a lot of applicants for each position. The town I'm in, a little way north of London tends to really struggle to recruit enough good teachers.

Visits are often so important. Have they been during the school day or at the end of the day?
If in the school day make sure you are positive and smile. Interact with children however briefly if you can. EYFS children may approach you in particular.
Years ago our Head was showing candidates round for the deputy job. She asked us what we thought. We all said “ the smiley one”
She was the only one to smile , look positive and actually respond to children. Yes,she was appointed!
Good luck the right school will be out there for you.

Some have been during the day, but most have been after school because of my teaching commitments as a salaried trainee. I try to make a good first impression, but many of the tours I did were also attended by 10+ other potential applicants, so the members of SLT showing us around didn’t even get to know our names, making it much harder to stand out. Thank you for your words of reassurance!

That does sound like large groups looking round. Not long until the resignation deadline. Hang on in there.
Taught in the North West for 35 years and worked with so many schools for the later part of my career as an SEN advisory teacher. The right fit is out there for you.

7 applications is really not very many so I wouldn't worry yet about your personal statement not being good enough, especially if you've had positive feedback from a headteacher. You just need to keep applying.

I must have applied for at least 80 jobs as an NQT. I was finally successful at the end of June, in my 6th interview. It's been 16 years since I graduated but it was definitely very competitive back then. I think the job market has changed a lot in recent years for experienced teachers, but I imagine ECT roles are still incredibly popular. You're literally competing with everyone in the county who has graduated this year. Only you know how picky you can be in terms of the type of school, the year group and how far you wish to cast your net, but I remember filling out about 15 applications between April and May, then getting desperate and applying for pretty much every NQT job going once it got to June. I even remembered seeing the same 2 people at 3 separate interviews so we were clearly all doing the same. It paid off in the end though and, luckily for me, the job I ended up being offered was at a lovely school which I still would have applied for even if I was being more choosy. I went to a couple of interviews at schools I didn't really want. Maybe it showed as I wasn't offered either job, but I looked on it as vital interview experience.

There will definitely be a lot more jobs advertised after 31st May so don't give up hope. I only had one interview in May, the other 5 were all in June. As I say, I must have applied for at least 80 jobs in the end. I had to keep a spreadsheet to keep on top of all the application deadlines etc but it was worth it in the end.

Good luck

Just to add, obviously the more you apply for the harder it is to visit them all. What I will say though is that, I'm my experience, the visits are more to see how you like the school in terms of whether you want to apply. Like you have found, many tend to be busy and I honestly don't think the person showing you round gets time to remember names or get to vet you in terms of whether you'll be a good fit. That's what the interview stage is for. Often it's not even the headteacher doing the show round, it's often a role delegated to the deputy.

So don't worry if you can't arrange a visit. It's still worth applying and won't be held against you. All it means is that the school might be an unknown to you in terms of whether you think it's for you or not. Again, it depends how choosy you can afford to be I guess.

Thanks a lot for your insight and reassurance! I doubt that there will be 80 jobs to apply for where I live, but I have applied for 15 so far and am awaiting responses from quite a few. Not losing hope yet!

What you said about visits is interesting because I was under the impression that these were an expectation in primary, and the selection panel won’t take you seriously unless you have come in for a tour.

You're welcome

No, that's not true at all. They're interested in appointing the right candidate for their school. They're not going to hold it against someone if they weren't able to visit for whatever reason. The right candidate may have only seen the advert a day before applications closed and had no time to arrange a visit. They may have had prior arrangements during advertised visit times. Candidates who are applying for lots of jobs definitely won't be able to visit them all. Schools know and understand that there may be reasons someone can't visit before applying.

It's useful if you can (for you) but definitely not essential.

A small update:

I have since been shortlisted for two jobs. One was a lesson and interview in one day at a very prestigious school where I lost to an internal candidate. Positive feedback about both my lesson and how I interviewed; they just said that the other candidate ‘answered a couple of questions better’. The other school, I didn’t make it to the interview stage after a lesson observation and was told to call for feedback later this week. However, the behaviour of the class was shocking—there was clearly a lot of need in that cohort, but I would’ve expected them to be on their best behaviour with SLT in the room. I was consistently interrupted by children shouting out random comments, talking to the TA and each other, and just overall had very low engagement. I am looking forward to the 31 May deadline as there are barely any jobs going at the moment, but this experience has definitely affected my confidence. My ‘not shortlisted’ tally has now gone up to 14 applications.

If anyone has any more advice about the application and/or interview process and how to stop myself from spiralling, it would be greatly appreciated.