And so the world of Twitter and blogs continues to open new possibilities... especially in the job market!
Last year, I was fascinated to read about Ross McGill (aka TeacherToolkit) and his quest for a new job in Scotland via blogging and Twitter - read <here>. Certainly the world of social media and teacher blogging have revolutionised so much of what we do - why not the jobs market too?
Martin Burett (aka ICTMagic) has recently launched a new arm of UKEdChat.com to help teachers find jobs (see <here>) that has a very different price structure to that of TES Jobs. It will be interesting to see if schools will sign up to this instead - I hope so, as Martin is doing brilliant things via UKEdChat - make sure you are signed up to all their regular bulletins.
TES Job adverts start at £199 and go above £1000 depending on how much space you want. However, how many staff still read the large jobs section? I get emails weekly with targeted ads, I've also started using the iPad app (still a little fiddly!). However there are other options... Guardian Education Jobs continues to grow and searching for 'Education Jobs' in Google throws up an increasing number of recruitment sites.
Some schools are also using various recruitment agencies more and more... not just for temporary positions but for more permanent ones too. I don't think it's a coincidence that these agencies are more than happy to sponsor TeachMeet events where they can speak to staff about their services. They must work, or schools simply wouldn't be paying their fees.
Twitter has also played a large part in this change. Ross started up a Twitter account called @MyEdHunt which retweets jobs and many schools and staff tweet and retweet vacancies in their schools. Martin is also tweeting jobs via @UKEdjobs too. Ultimately the schools' own website can become a vital hub to catch the attention of potential employees.
This is the second time we are advertising this job as unfortunately we didn't appoint first time around. Considering it was very short notice, we managed to get a few applications, some via Twitter. This time we are advertising via the Catholic Teacher's Gazette which is in print and online; this was a cost decision. However it is increasingly hard to decide where to spend your money?
Perhaps, a strong social media presence may be the new way forward for schools. I'm hoping I can get the job out there again via Twitter and this blog. I'll be sending everyone the way of our school website where all the details are <here>. However, the flip side to this is that there are a lot of good teachers on Twitter but a huge number of good teachers who are not... (yeah and maybe they should be! See <here>)
Do you want a job working with me in an amazing, vibrant and official Outstanding (S48) RE Department? Get involved <here>.
Update 29/4/14:
Also now on TES in the end!! <here>
Go Andy!
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