Teachers in Transition – Episode 225: The Stress-Autoimmune link, and More About AI in Your Job Search

However, the rapid rise came with challenges. Away faced scrutiny when reports surfaced about a challenging internal culture, revealing issues in leadership style, communication, and employee well-being. Some of this was rooted in apparent disconnect between stated core values and the actual practice of those values. This mismatch in values and mission added to a hostile atmosphere which led to multiple articles and exposes.   After an unpleasant CEO shak-up  it will ultimately be up to Rubio to rebuild. 
 
 Leadership failings included an extreme transactional style with no positive rewards to balance corrections. Communications failings included micromanaging and public shaming through slack channels. Employees from minority groups who didn’t agree with her and were caught talking about it on Slack were summarily fired.  Employee well-being was put at risk through issues including long areas with no time off.  When employees would demonstrate physical or emotional fatigue, Korey would use her core values as a blunt instrument to gaslight the employees.  

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 helping teachers leave the classroom. I am here to help you reach your goals and figure out how to navigate the journey from stressed overwhelmed and burnt-out teacher to a new career and the job of your dreams with margins in your life to spend with your family, your friends and your hobbies .I provide tips and suggestions to help with stress and mental health, hacks to help 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!

In today’s segment on stress and mental health, I want to talk a little bit about the connection between stress and autoimmune conditions. There are various ways to look at this, and it has long been suspected that many people carry the "ingredients," if you will, for an autoimmune disease. However, it often takes an inciting event, for just one or two more factors, to turn it into a full-blown health problem. According to the Global Autoimmune Institute, over 80% of patients report uncommon levels of stress prior to the blossoming of the disease.  This was 100% true for me. I have an autoimmune disease called psoriatic arthritis. If you've heard of rheumatoid arthritis, then you know the direction I’m headed. Psoriatic arthritis is its nasty little cousin, with "psoriatic" relating to the same root word as psoriasis. I think it’s important to interject here that having psoriasis, is no guarantee that it will ever blossom into full blow Psoriatic, but if you have Psoriatic Arthris, you definitely have psoriasis. 

The year that mine blossomed into full-blown existence was an incredibly stressful time in my life. My husband was deployed repeatedly between 2003 and 2009.  We had two small children, I had over 300 students in my class roster. And while a band director often handles (and loves to handle) that many students, my co-teacher at the time was less helpful than I would have liked. I felt it would have been easier for me to do it all myself than to deal with the issues the other director created on top of the rigors of the requirements of the job. Thank goodness for band kids.  

Even so, because I was still in my 30s, I forced my way through the fatigue, pain, and everything else until one day I hit a wall. I realized I couldn’t keep doing it. I went to the emergency room—or rather, I called to get an appointment through the military medical system while already on my way there, deciding that if they didn’t have an appointment, I was going anyway. They had an appointment.  I was officially misdiagnosed with Fibromyalgia. We knew much less about that 15 years ago and it was often used to give people a catch-all diagnosis. 

I started seeking a different diagnosis because this didn’t FEeL right but faced resistance at every turn. I kept saying, “But there’s this, and there’s that.” It ultimately took 4 years of ACTIVE fighting to get a correct diagnosis. 

The point here is this: your health is paramount, and too much stress can trigger lifelong health issues. Managing stress is essential. Unfortunately, teaching is a very stressful job, and the stress can’t be eliminated—it will always be there. The best you can do is take care of yourself.  This is where we hear about how helpful diet and exercise can be when fighting stress.  Diet, exercise, and sleep are the ruling triumvirate of good health, but I swear it’s just more stressful to know that we don’t have the time to take care of ourselves.  Many teachers internalize that they’re at fault because they can’t do EVEN MORE in the effort to alleviate stress. 
 
 So, exercise, eat better, and sleep more – as you can.  But it might be very helpful to remember the lyrics from a classic country song: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em; know when to walk away, and know when to run.” Sometimes, you push forward. Sometimes, you walk away. Sometimes, you need to acknowledge, as we discussed last week, the gap between your expectations and reality.

The best way to lower your stress is to accept reality, walk away for the day, and come back to try again later.  Things really do look a little better when we’ve had time to get away from the feedback loop of the stress.  Things really do look better once we’ve had a little time to sleep, eat something, and take a shower. 

I’ll have that link to that song in the show notes in case you want to listen to some vintage country music – having it in your head as a little earworm will help you remember it in those most stressful moments. 
 
 And now, moving on to today’s hack.  Today’s hack is designed to help with your mental health so that it isn’t taking up space in your brain and making your day more stressful. 

 I’ll start that I have a small confession to make: I don’t watch sports. I’m not a huge sports fan. It wouldn’t occur to me to spend the money to go to a game, especially with ticket prices as out of control as they are today. (hmmm…. Tickets to see the game or groceries for several months…) And while I have my favorite teams for my own reasons, I don’t make it a point to watch them on TV—I just don’t care. Some of that may come from a comment my dad made when I was younger. He said, “What’s the point in watching the game? The score is the same tomorrow, whether you watched it or not.”

Well, I can’t argue with him on that, although I see it a little differently now because my husband is a huge sports fan who loves to watch all the games—a love he got from his family specifically his mom who was also a huge sports fan. I get how it can be as you see about the big plays, watch the highlights, catch the drama, and experience the excitement. However, in today’s world, I can watch clips later. I don’t have to invest all my time in it.

So, with that perspective, here’s today’s little hack to save you time, protect your mental health, and reduce stress: guard your heart and be mindful of how closely you’re following the election returns on Tuesday night. Staring at the results and feeling anxious isn’t going to change the outcome by the next day – or possible up to a week to get the final results.  Last cycle we didn’t have a definitive answer for four days. Take the time to get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed on Wednesday, November 6, ready to handle whatever comes.   Because that’s going to be a day full of drama landmines whether you are still in the classroom or not. 

Today in our segment on career transition and job hunting, we’re going to talk about using AI in our job search to make life easier. As teachers, I believe we’re a bit hesitant to embrace AI because we quickly recognized how students might use it to avoid learning. And yes, it’s probably as much of a problem as it is a help at this stage in our classrooms. But AI is undoubtedly the wave of the future, and many companies developing and using it are doing so with the idea that it will handle tedious automated tasks, allowing us to spend more time on the work that truly matters people focused work. So, at least, it’s nice to know there was some underlying positivity in its creation.

But, as we’ve all heard, some companies are using AI to reduce staffing needs. Instead of needing 10 people, they might now only use six. And that’s not exactly what AI was designed for—it was designed to create efficiencies. So how do we use these efficiencies in our job hunt? Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind.

First and foremost, honesty is crucial in career transitions and job searches. Unlike acting, where you might bluff a skill and learn it later, in a job application, you need to demonstrate the skills you actually have. So, honesty is always the priority.

When it comes to using AI, Generation X has an interesting advantage here. I have vivid memories as a Gen Xer of the two Commodore computers in our school library and the privilege of spending just a few minutes on them. A year later, we had more computers in the lab, where we learned simple programming to make images or create loops. I remember saving our work on cassette tapes, and then onto floppy disks, and then onto less-floppy disks—right before the digital age began. One of the key lessons we learned was “GIGO,” which stands for “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” AI will only give you quality information if you provide quality instructions.

For example, I was experimenting with AI by submitting a job description along with my resume to see how well they matched. The system returned a match score of around 95+%, which it claimed was an excellent fit, and suggested I apply immediately. I thought, “Wow, I knew I could do that!” But when I double-checked what the AI had actually done, I realized I had not given it my resume, so it had simply turned the job description into a resume without my actual skills. My actual skills were not that much of a match after all!  So, a word of caution: always verify the work of AI to ensure it hasn’t generated skills or qualifications you don’t possess.

The primary rule, again,  is GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. You must give AI clear, precise instructions to get helpful results.
 
 Sometimes you see this with people too.  I’ll use my son as an example here  was visiting just last week and I asked him before he left, “Hey, can you take the sheets from the bed and throw them in the wash before you go?”  He said, “Sure! No problem.”  
 IT was 9:00 at night I realized that no, those sheets had not been washed.  He has simply thrown them in the washing machine. He walked away thinking he had completely fulfilled the task I had given him – throw in washing machine – rather than actually washing the sheets as I thought I had requested. 
 
 AI is very similar in this regard. Here are a few useful prompts. Take a job description, but don’t copy the entire thing. There’s usually some “fluff” - like information about the company history or benefits—those are not necessary. Instead, copy the tasks and requirements that the position lists for candidates. Then, go to ChatGPT and say, “Take this job description and my resume. Using my skills, align my resume with the job description. Do not add skills I do not have, but reword my skills to better match the job description.” Then paste the job description and resume, and let ChatGPT do its thing.

If you want to enter into the same setting, you use Shift+Enter to make sure you don’t accidentally submit it too soon. That was how I had my job description turned into a resume. ChatGPT will then reword and organize your information in ways you might not have thought of. If you’re reviewing a job description and find it overwhelming, you can copy the key parts (requirements and tasks) and ask ChatGPT to “extract relevant skills and keywords.” This can help you focus on key phrases to target.

There are many ways AI can assist in your job search. For LinkedIn Premium members, LinkedIn has also been really developing its AI. Recently, they held a recruiter seminar showcasing a new hiring assistant feature for recruiters and hiring managers. This assistant allows them to quickly generate job descriptions and even automatically pull candidates from LinkedIn’s entire database. So, it’s crucial to ensure that your LinkedIn profile is optimized and that you engage with LinkedIn regularly so the platform recognizes your activity.

During the seminar, the presenter demonstrated this feature by asking for a job description to replace an employee named Maria.  LinkedIn created a job description based on Maria’s profile. The presenter added a request for more close marketing experience, which the assistant integrated immediately. It was then able to give the recruiter a list of 30 potential applicants it had found by scraping through everyone on LinkedIn. Next, the AI Assistant messaged potential candidates, to gauge interest in the position. If a candidate responded, the hiring assistant continued with pre-screening questions, saving recruiters from needing to contact unqualified applicants – or uninterested applicants.  What I appreciated in the process is that while the first contact appeared to come from the recruiter, once a candidate indicated an interest, the system quickly informed the candidate that it was a virtual hiring assistant handling the pre-screening questions.  I like the transparency there. 

From a recruiter’s perspective, this makes the hiring process much easier, allowing them to focus only on qualified, interested candidates. As a candidate, it creates another step before you get to a live human. So, as a candidate, especially if you’re transitioning fields, your job is to make sure your LinkedIn profile clearly connects the dots, acting as an extension of your resume, and that your profile includes key industry terms.

As teachers, we might not see LinkedIn as important since it wasn’t typically part of our job search in education. However, in the corporate world, LinkedIn is essential. 

In an effort to help as many as I can, I am hosting a Resume Workshop on November 24th at 2:00 PM Central time.   I’ll share tips to make your resume ATS and recruiter friendly.  We go through the Dos and Don’ts of writing a resume AND we will break down how to write really effective bullet points to show off all those valuable skills you’ve earned in the classroom.  This workshop is 100% free to attend and will last about 90 minutes.  

If you’re ready to start that exit from the classroom, you can head over to Teachers in Transition.com and sign up for a completely complimentary discovery session or a  virtual coffee chat and we can talk about what your options are. 

 I also want to take a quick moment and invite you to follow our Facebook page – Teachers in Transition!  There is, of course, a link in the show notes. 😊 And continue the conversation in the Teachers in Transition Podcast Club Group where you can talk with other teachers who are in the same boat as you are. 

 Next week: Make sure to tune in next because we will have an interview from a teacher’s adult child. And you can hear their perspective on what it was like growing up with a teacher for a parent. 

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!