Teachers in Transition - Episode 82 - How to Begin to Approach a Job Search or Career Change

Teachers often think about changing their job or career for a long time before they take any action. They aren't sure what else they would be qualified to do, and sometimes they just don't know what they would want to do if they left teaching.

In this episode of "Teachers in Transition," Kitty talks about a checklist she recently devised called "10 Things You Need to Know & Do if You Want to Change Your Job or Career." She also mentions some books that one might enjoy reading for information and inspiration and she offers the name of some online assessments that one might take if they are looking to determine their strengths and interests.

Kitty also mentions that she provides a paid assessment entitled the Pathway Planner. For more information about that assessment, reach out to Kitty at kittyboitnott@gmail.com. Likewise, if you have any questions about anything else that was mentioned on this episode, email Kitty at that email address.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

"10 Things You Need to Know & Do if You Want to Change Your Job or Career" is available at http://teachersintransition.com/checklist.

What Color is Your Parachute (by Richard N. Bolles)
Coach Yourself to a New Career by Talane Miedaner
Careerealism by J. T. O'Donnell
StrengthsFinder 2.0  (by Tom Rath and Donald D. Clifton)

Assessments that were mentioned:
16 Personalities at https://www.16personalities.com/
Myers-Briggs Personality Profile at https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/
Truity at https://www.truity.com/
Pathway Planner at https://kittyboitnott.coachesconsole.com/uploads/supplements/pathway-planner-brochurer-copykb_7d45c71e6409e.pdf

For help with stress, check out these resources. A Stress Assessment tool is available here:  https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/stress-assessment/

A Cheat Sheet on Stress Management is available here:  https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/cheat-sheet-on-stress-management/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Are you a teacher who's 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 some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do. You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach. And I specialize in helping burn out teachers disliking deal, not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day to day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for teachers in transition. In some episodes, I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes, I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track. These are questions that you need answers to, and I can help you find those answers. My name is kitty. Boitnott welcome to teachers and transition. Welcome back to episode 82 of teachers in transition the podcast and the YouTube channel. My name is kitty. Boitnott the owner of[inaudible] coaching and the founder of teachers in transition. If you've listened to me before, you know that I alternate topics each week on the podcast and the YouTube channel one week, I talk about career transition strategies and the alternating weeks, I talk about stress because I am a certified stress management coach, as well as a heart centered career transition and job search coach. I specialize in working with teachers who are feeling the agony of burnout and are considering the possibility of leaving their classrooms and transitioning into another career. Hopefully the career of their dreams this week, I'm talking about career transition and in particular, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about a worksheet or a checklist that I created a few weeks ago that I'll offer as a free opt in a low in the show notes. It's a checklist of 10 things you need to know and do. If you think you're ready for a career or job change. And in this checklist, we won't have time to talk about all 10 today. So I'll probably talk about a couple. And then in a future episode, I'll talk about other steps that you need to be taking into account and following. If you are even thinking about making a job change, because whether you've started a job search or not every job search every career change, every life change starts with a decision. And many times teachers aren't yet ready to make a decision they're on the fence. They feel like there must be something out there for them to do. That would be more satisfying and less stressful than teaching, but they don't know what it is. And frankly, often they don't have the time or the energy to think about what they'd have to do to get a job search. Even started. Most of the folks that I work with don't know how or where to begin a job search, which is why I'm here to help them. The other dilemma they run into is trying to figure out what in the heck they would do. Instead for many of them, all I ever wanted to be was a teacher. Some of my clients started out teaching their doll babies when they were five years old in their bedroom, after school, they loved school and they wanted to stay in school for their whole lives. And they thought that being a teacher would allow them to do that. But the reality sets in for some, some sooner than others, I'm working with people right now who are all the way from year three in their teaching career, up to 27 years in teaching. And all of them have the one thing in common and that is they're ready for a change. The problem that they run into is what is it would they want to do instead? So that's where you have to begin. You have to figure out what is it that you would like to do. And if you really don't have a clue and most people don't, I'll ask, I'll often ask new clients. If I gave you a magic wand and you could have be, or do anything in the world that you would want without worrying about practicalities, what would it be? And only two out of a hundred can tell me without any hesitation. Oh, that's easy. I would do fill in the blank. I would be a trainer. I would be a curriculum designer. I'd be a yoga instructor. The other 98%. Yeah. Well, that's a really good question. I wish I knew that's the problem. That's why I called you. I don't know what I would want to do. Many teachers don't know what else they might be qualified to do. And some of them fall into the category. Like I did. They're overeducated with degrees upon degrees, but under, under, as far as work experience under experienced. And that's a dilemma that many teachers find themselves in over educated and under-qualified for certain jobs that they'd be interested in. That doesn't mean that you can't figure out a way to do the job that you have a yearning to do. The first order of business is to figure out what that is, whatever that yearning might be. And there are multiple ways for you to go about doing that. So I want to offer some suggestions today that comes straight out of my program to jumpstart your job search 2.0 program, where I offer some reading, that's intended to inspire people to think about work differently, to read some of the case studies that are offered and to think about how they might take their own career and pivot into a new direction and some assessments that can be useful. So as far as books that I often recommend, there is the tried and true. What color is your parachute book? This book is, um, periodically it's updated every year. So that it's up to date. It's been edited and, and republished every year for the last 20 or so years. There's also a website that you can go to that accompanies that what color is your parachute book? Some of my clients love the, what color is your parachute book? Others find it too heavy. And I recommend it because everybody has their own different learning style and approach to how they take in information. And so it's not a surprise to me that some people love it and other people don't care for it so much in the event that it's not your cup of tea. That it's seems too, too heavy, too much, too much a book that's far more readable as far as just reading it for pleasure as well as for inspiration is a book called coach yourself to a new career by to lane Maya, Danner, I think is how you say her name. M I E D a N E R, coach herself to a new career. She's written a couple of other books as well. And she has a website that offers some assessments as well. But I found that book to be particularly readable and relatable. She offers lots of case studies. And I think people in general can read that book from cover to cover. Unlike the way I recommend you approach the put colors, you parachute book. I think you approach that book kind of like you would an encyclopedia, you flip through it and find the section that resonates for what you need in the moment. But the coach yourself to a new career is a book that you can read, cover to cover just like a novel. And there are assessments and exercises that you can partake of a also career realism by JT. O'Donnell's an excellent guide to helping you in a variety of assessments, assessing your learning style, your work preferences, helping you to envision what kind of work environment you would feel like you would thrive in. Do you work better as solo? And just give me the information that I need. Let me go off and do it in what's my deadline, or do you need this energy of a group? Because again, we're also different that we have different work styles and work preferences, as well as learning styles. So those are just a few of the books that I recommend. A one, another one is by apps. Absolutely. Abby, Abby kohat, um, she's written, Oh gosh, it's over here. 101 job search secrets, I'm sorry, 101 job search secrets by Abby cohort. She can find that on her website and absolutely abby.com. And then some of the assessments that I, that I recommend. There's one in the strengths finder, 2.0 book that I think people can find useful by buying the book. You get a code in the back of the book that guides you to an online assessment that will result in a report that gives you your top five strengths. And then in the book, there are lengthy descriptions of what it means that you have these particular sets of strengths and how you might use those strengths in a particular type of work. So you might find that book useful, other assessments that you might take online include 16 personalities, which is sort of a takeoff on the Myers Briggs personality profile. You can take the Myers-Briggs if you haven't or if you haven't taken it in a while, you might want to retake it with an eye toward the information that is provided to you, um, as to how you might use that information in a future career or job. Uh, there's another website called Truity that you might find useful. Uh, I offer, uh, an assessment that's called the pathway planner and the benefit of the pathway planner is that it is connected to the occupational handbook. That's maintained by the United States department of labor. And your report from the pathway planner actually provides hot links to specific jobs that your pathway planner assessment indicates you would be well suited for. There is a fee for the pathway planner, but if you're interested in learning more about that, you can reach out to me and ask it kitty. Boitnott not@gmail.com. The point is that at the very beginning of any job search, including when you're still on the fence and you haven't made a decision about, yes, I'm going to look for a new job for, for next year. If you're just thinking about the possibility that you might want to leave your current position and find something new and different, you need to know as much about yourself as possible. And you need to be thinking in terms of what kind of work would you enjoy doing. If you're not enjoying doing what you're doing now, what would you find more enjoyable, more fulfilling, more satisfying, and perhaps more fun. Teaching has become increasingly stressful. I am getting more and more hits on my stress assessment tool and the cheat sheet on stress management. So I know that teachers are out there struggling with stress because the current situation is clearly not sustainable. You're being asked to do more and more with less and less support, and it's not right, but it is what it is. It is the situation. I mean, we've been dealt this hand of cards and we have to play them through and there isn't going to be any real relief for several more months to come. I don't believe so. If you're a teacher and you're struggling with virtual teaching or hybrid teaching or in person teaching, and it's beginning to get to you, you know, that you're overstressed, then I invite you to take advantage of the cheat sheet on stress management. I'll include a link to that. I'll also include a link to the stress assessment in case you're interested in that because all of this is connected. The stress is connected to your desire to make a career change, right? And if you are ready to make a change, you need to start educating yourself about what it is that you would do instead, and then how to position yourself for that next great job that you're going to be looking for. The first order of business is to figure out who you are and what you want. So on my checklist of the 10 things you need to know and do, if you're ready for a job or career change, the number one offer is figure out what you want to do next. If you haven't already. And the second one is become laser focused on what you want to do next. Those are the first two steps, know what you want and become laser focused on what you want and that's it for today. If you have any questions, email me@kittyboynutatgmail.com, please offer a review so that other people can find this podcast in the event that they need to hear the message that I'm offering. Check me out on the teachers and transition YouTube channel and subscribe there as well as always, if you have questions, please email me@kittyboitnottatgmail.com and I will offer links to the checklist, the self assessment on stress and the stress, a cheat sheet. Uh, and if you have questions about that pathway planner assessment, that I mentioned, that there is a fee for you can email me about that as well. That's it for today, have a wonderful, wonderful week, please stay safe and stay well. And I'll see you next week. So there you have it, an episode of teachers in transition. I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to teachers in transition so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode, I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at kitty Boitnott at Boyd, not coaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. I'm Katie Boitnott and this is teachers and transition.