Teachers in Transition – Episode 218: The Cyclical Nature of Everything, a recommendation, and Part 3 of our Interview Questions Series

Today on the podcast Vanessa talks about the cyclical nature of life and of job searches, she shares a recommendation from another podcast where they talk about interviewing and interviewing skills. Finally she goes through part three of her series on interview questions and things to think about when answering them.
 
 
 Another song video from my favorite band about the cyclical nature of life:  Far Cry

Onetonline.org Interest Profiler is a place to learn about your preferred style of working. 

More Happier: How to Ace A Job Interview, Revisited - a Happier with Gretchen Rubin Podcast.
CORRECTION:  In the podcast, Vanessa says it is the Septembe 24th episode.  It is the  September 7th  Epsiode!

I’d love for you to come and join us on our Facebook Page! Join the discussion and toss in your two cents!

And remember to send your comments, stories, and random thoughts to me at TeachersinTransitionCoaching@gmail.com!  I look forward to reading them.  Would you like to hear a specific topic on the pod?  Send those questions to me and I’ll answer them. Feel free to connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn!

The transcript of this podcast can be found on the podcasts’ homepage at Buzzsprout. 

Transcript

Are you a teacher who is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout - or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing something different or a new job or perhaps pursuing an entirely different career - but you don't know what else you're qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search and you just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you are not alone. my name is Vanessa Jackson; and I am a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal with the overwhelmingly stressful nature of your day-to-day job and to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. You might ask yourself, What tools do I need to find a new career?  Are my skills valuable outside the classroom?  How and where do I even get started?  These are all questions you deserve answers to, and I can help you find them.  I’m Vanessa Jackson. Come and join me for Teachers in Transition.  

***Hi!  And Welcome back to another episode of Teachers in Transition. I am your host, Vanessa Jackson – I’m a career transition and job search coach specializing in teachers. I teach you how to navigate the journey from stressed, overwhelmed and burnt-out teacher to your next career where you are valued, challenged, and have mental and emotional space at the end of your workday for your family, your friends, your pets and anything you want. I provide tips and suggestions to help with stress and mental health, hacks and recommendations to help you through your day, and job-hunting tips.  If you are frustrated with your current teaching position, if you are stressed, overwhelmed, and burned out you are in the right place – Welcome! Today on the podcast I talk about the cyclical nature of life and of job search, I have a recommendation from another podcast where they talk about interviewing and interviewing skills and finally I go through part three of our series on interview questions and things to think about when answering them.
 
 Life is really just a series of cycles. My favorite band has a song called “Far Cry.” It talks about the cycle of life’s frustrations.  A quote from the refrain is “One day I feel I’m ahead of the wheel and the next it’s rolling over me. I can get back on, I can get back on.”  I thought about that song more and more as teaching got increasingly frustrating. It’s such an educator way to think, you know?  “OK, today was awful, tomorrow will be better -I’ll MAKE it better!”  Cycles are everywhere. 
 
 One of the things I loved about living in Alaska was how connected I felt to nature in a way I had never experienced before. You paid more attention to the sun because in the summer, you had all that daylight, and in the winter, all that darkness. In Texas, we might gain or lose a few seconds of daylight each day, but in Alaska, it can be up to 7 minutes a day. So, you learn to notice those changes. They celebrate the winter solstice because it means the days will start getting longer, and for those who struggle with the darkness, they begin to see the light returning.

That wasn’t the only cycle I noticed. One year, there were so many voles running around—voles are like little tailless mice. Shortly thereafter, I saw more rabbits, and then more foxes. Then, there were fewer rabbits and voles, and eventually fewer foxes. Everything moved in cycles.

In Alaska, they don't fight forest fires unless the fires threaten structures or towns. Instead, they monitor the fires and let them go, which does wonders for nature. The year after a fire, you can see all this beautiful fireweed—this stunning magenta flower that blooms from the bottom up. Before it blooms, you can harvest the leaves for tea, and once it blooms, the petals can be used to make jelly. Once the fireweed has gone to seed and pops out little cotton-like fluff, you know you have about six weeks until the first snow. It’s a beautiful sight, but it’s also a countdown to winter, so while it makes people happy to see it, they also know that the wonders of summer are drawing to a close.  

I tell you all this to remind you that everything comes in cycles. Yes, the job market is tough right now, but it won’t always be. There are still jobs out there, and we’re in an era where we need to prepare for what's coming. We went through a cycle where remote work was all the rage, and now we’re in one where companies want everyone back in the office, despite studies showing that many people were more productive working remotely.

A lot of the teachers I talk to want to work remotely. I think that’s because we’ve been so drained from being in front of people and responsible for so much, that we crave solitude and quiet to heal our souls. I was listening to a podcast today featuring a writing team who was discussing "Work Together Wednesdays" because they missed the camaraderie of an office. It made me realize that people can thrive in different environments.

It’s like that cartoon that many teachers know when in reference to testing—how can a duck ever know how smart it is if it’s only judged on how well it can climb a tree?

Different skills matter, and it’s important to find where yours lie. I think career quizzes can be a great idea and fun while you’re at it, and there are some great tests you can take—some your pay for, some are free. The O*NET Interest Profiler is a great free tool at onetonline.org. The more you learn about yourself, the more you know what you bring to the table in an interview or job search.

I’ve seen a lot of teachers leaving the classroom, looking around and thinking, "I could do that... I’m not sure what it is, but I could do it." The issue is that you often don’t realize what skills you have, which makes it hard to know how to market them to potential employers. That’s why the second step in leaving the classroom is so important: the Clarify step. You have to learn who you are again—not as a teacher, but as a person. You need to recognize your value and appreciate the skills you haven’t used in a while. In some cases, you might have to rediscover just how many skills you have because you’ve been told that you weren’t all that valuable.  

As you go through your day, pay attention to what brings you joy, what makes you smile, and what gives you energy. Keep track of those things, whether on your phone or a piece of paper—don’t trust yourself to remember them, because they’ll slip away. Keeping those insights handy can really help you as you narrow down what will be the perfect next step. 
 
 

Moving on to my next segment, I have a recommendation. I’m actually recommending an episode of a different podcast. And I’ll include a link to it in the show notes. It’s from Happier with Gretchen Rubin, one of my favorite podcasts. In the September 7th "More Happier" episode, they had a guest who shared great tips for interviewing. One of his key points was to research the company and the person interviewing you before you go to the interview. Gretchen’s sister, Liz, chimed in and shared how frustrated she would get when someone came to an interview with her and didn’t know anything about the other shows or work she and her writing partner had done.  I believe a good paraphrase of her comment was “Why should we bother to hire someone that hasn’t taken the time to do a five-minute IMDB search in the lobby before they came up?!?”  Her tone of voice made her feelings on the matter very evident.  If you aren’t aware, IMDB is the International Movie Data Base and it houses all the information about everyone connected to every movie ever made. It’s impressive. 

It’s important to show you’ve done your homework, and there were a lot of other great tidbits in that episode, so I encourage you to go listen to those and make notes as you are preparing your exit strategy from the classroom. (I feel it’s important to toss in – especially for my English teachers that the phrase ‘more happier’ is intended to imply that they want More of the Happier podcast, not a grammatical error)

Moving on, And we're going to slide right on into our little series on interview questions that could come up .In this little series we are talking about some common interview questions and some things to think about before you answer them. Also, you should always practice these before you go in to an interview.  So here is Part 3 in our series on interview questions.
 
 One question that comes up is: “What do you know about this organization?” As alluded to in the previous segment, The interviewer wants to know if you cared enough about the position in the business to take the time and do your homework. So what should you look for? You should be aware of their mission and their corporate qualities.  Research if they have any new initiatives going on. You should look at any parts of that business that relate to the position for which you are applying. As an example: If you are applying for a marketing job, then you kind of need to look at their social media accounts.

. A related question might be, “Why this company?” This is a very common interview question and this is your chance and an excellent opportunity to talk about the company's vision and mission, its values and its culture. Again, showing off that you have taken the time to check them out and research them. You can learn about their culture by looking them up on Glassdoor.  Glassdoor is a site where employees can leave reviews about the company where they work. You might look into some of their marketing campaigns. Every single one of these companies is going to have an about page on their website. Read it and take some notes. Do a search and see what pops up in recent news stories – even check out how their stock is performing.  (Bonus points if you know why it’s going up or down). You might have a story in your back pocket that relates to their mission and why you are anexcellent fit  to work with them.  

Another common question is, “What is one of your greatest professional achievements?” This can be tough if all the achievements are in education. Your future employer might not care about how you reached an unreachable student or created innovative curriculum—unless it’s relevant to the job. You need to craft a story or narrative that highlights the transferable skills possibly in abstract and general ways.  YOU will have to connect the dots of how this greatest professional achievement relates back to the job that you're applying for. Don’t tell yourself that you have nothing that applies. I know that as a teacher you have many amazing professional achievements. Don't let any of the current people working on your evaluation tell you otherwise. You have done amazing things. So you want to jot a few of these down, and make sure that you have written out those stories. Read them to yourself so that they are fresh in your mind. 

Also, companies looking for a culture fit might ask, “How would your colleagues describe you?” This question comes up when a company is particularly looking for a culture fit because as we have discussed before, when they have 1000 people applying for a job, chances are high  that everybody  has the skills necessary - if they have made it to the interview phase. So at this point, now they're looking for personality and culture. The vibe check, if you will. So this is your personality and your work style all in one happy little package. If you work with me, I have had you do a little bit of market research in this area so you will be well aware of what people would say about you before this question ever comes up. I often have my clients ask friends and colleagues for feedback, and we fold that into their personal branding.  If your personality doesn’t match the company’s vibe, it might be disappointing, but it's better to be somewhere that fits you.
 
We’ll continue with more interview questions in part 4 next week.  Make sure to tune in! 

It is always my hope that this podcast is helpful to you on your journey out of the classroom.  If you find that you might want more assistance – and more individual, personalized assistance, that’s what I do. I help you work through the steps of Decide, Clarify, Build, Refine, and Attract as you translate your skills, inventory your talents, and go about the business of job hunting.  It’s not a failure to work with a coach – Olympic athletes do it all the time! Teachers get in the habit of doing things on their own, but this isn’t something you have to navigate by yourself  .  

I’d love to connect with you—find me on LinkedIn, join our Facebook group, The Teachers in Transition Podcast Club, or visit teachersintransition.com to schedule a complimentary discovery session. Remember, the best time to start your job search is at least six months before you're ready to leave, so now’s the time to prepare for your career beyond education.  I look forward to meeting you. 

That’s the podcast for today! If you liked this podcast, tell a friend, and don’t forget to rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in weekly to Teachers in Transition where we discuss Job Search strategies as well as stress management techniques.  And I want to hear from you!  Please reach out and leave me a message at Teacher in transition coaching at gmail dot com.  You can also leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099. 

I’ll see you here again next week and remember – YOU are amazing!