Teachers in Transition - Episode 187 - Support Networks & Resume Dos and Donts

Today on the pod, we are going to talk about what you might need in a support network and ways to get the help you need, we have a very interesting teacher organization hack with a common kitchen item, and in our segment on Job Hunting, we go over about some resume Do’s and Don’ts. 
 
 Meet the FLYLADY at FLYADY.NET (at the time the podcast dropped, their website was having a few issues, but I’m sure it will be up and running soon!)

It was in Episode186 where we talk about using menu planning and online grocery shopping to save time and minimize decision fatigue.

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 Thank you so much for listening!  
 
 

And remember to send your comments, stories, random thoughts, and more to me at TeachersinTransitionCoaching@gmail.com!  I can’t wait to read them.  

The transcript of this podcast can be found on episode’s page on Buzzspout.com

A link to a picture of  My beloved 2nd place ribbon

Transcript

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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 want to start by apologizing for dropping this episode a few hours later than normal, but it was one of those weeks! I am your host, Vanessa Jackson - a compassionate Career transition and job search coach who specializes in working with burnt out teachers who are ready for a career change but are not sure where to begin or who need a little extra assistance in reaching their goals.  Today on the pod, we are going to talk about what you might need in a support network and ways to get the help you need, we have a very interesting teacher organization hack with a common kitchen item, and in our segment on Job Hunting, we are going to talk about some resume Do’s and Don’ts.  Thank you for listening today!
 
 First up, a little matter of podcast housekeeping – if you subscribe to this podcast (or any, I suppose) on Apple podcasts – go and see if it that subscription was paused for you.  A recent Apple update put a lot of subscriptions on pause.  And please please please share this podcast with friends and colleagues.  Word of mouth and recommendations are how most people find podcasts, so if you find this to be helpful or entertaining, share it!

In our first segment, we are going to talk about the importance of support and what support looks like – or should look like. 
 One of my most prized possessions doesn’t look particularly valuable. If someone were to break in, they wouldn’t look at it twice. But I have it where I can see it every day and it makes me smile.  I’ll put a picture in the show notes, but it is a homemade 2nd place ribbon. It has two little red ribbons hanging from the bottom, and a gold seal.  There’s a piece of paper on top of the gold seal sticker with a hand drawn and colored in number 2.  I earned that ribbon when I was about 4 years old.  I’m over 50 now, just for reference. 
 
 How did I earn this ribbon?  The memories are a little fuzzy because it was quite awhile ago, and I was very young. Our Sunday School was having a little contest where we were asked to draw pictures of stories.  I drew a few.  I remember one was about Noah’s Ark, but I don’t remember the others.  We had a cousin who was staying at our house for a visit. He was in the middle school age range, and he came to church with us on the day that coincided with the day that they were selecting the winners.  After Sunday School was over, I went out to look at the bulletin board full of entries and none of my pictures had any prizes.  I was dejected – what 4YO isn’t, right? And shortly thereafter, my cousin found me and asked “Well?”.  I replied I hadn’t won anything.  
 
 His comment was “That’s not right” and he went off to find someone.  It turns out that he had been there during the judging and saw who won what. Someone ELSE had moved my ribbon to a different picture when no one was looking. He saw to it that that was fixed. The ribbons were moved back around and I was surprised and delighted to see that I had a 2nd place ribbon. 
 
 I often think about my cousin standing up for me with a smile. If no one had been watching the judging, no one would have noticed that they’d been moved around. Every time I see that homemade little #2 ribbon, I feel loved and supported.  
 
 We all need a support network. Who is yours? Do you have siblings? Close friends?  A spouse or partner? Perhaps parents that can help. A group? 
 
 As you are embarking on the idea of leaving teaching, you will need a lot of support for a lot of reasons.

1.    Teaching takes up a LOT of time

2.    Home Obligations take up a lot of time 

3.    Hunting for a job takes up a lot of time. 

4.    Parenting takes a lot of time 

If you have a spouse, partner, or roommate, you might need to sit down and specifically ask for what you need. It is hard for teachers to do that because we are so used to putting everyone else first, but your are your own CEO, COO, CIO, and C-everything-O for YOU incorporated.  You are also the primary product for YOU, Inc., In addition to ALL the other things going on, you are responsible for finding a market for your product (you) and marketing to potential businesses that YOU are the latest, greatest thing that everyone absolutely, positively HAS to have and instill in them a sense of fear of missing out on YOU.
 
 You need TIME to job hunt, and you’ll have to squeeze it somehow into a schedule that is already contains too much for mere mortals.  I am going to pitch a few suggestions, but remember, not everything works for everyone.  The best solution for you is what works for you. If these ideas don’t land, maybe they’ll lead you to an idea that does. If you have something that works for you, I’d love for you to share it by sending me an email at TeachersInTransitionCoaching@gmail.com or you can leave a message at 512-640-9099.
 
First, I want to talk about home obligations – housework, laundry, and food related tasks.  If your kids are old enough – they can pitch in with some of the basics.  A few minutes taken to teach them now can yield HOURS later on.  Kids can do more than we think if we take the time to teach them how… and accept that they may not do the job the way you would have done.  Your 8-year-old might not do the same amazing job of dusting that you would have done, but when that kid is done, there is without question less dust. 
 
If you don’t have kids around the house, consider compressing housework into fifteen minutes.  If you can afford someone to come in and clean, try that.  I got to do that for about a year after a serious injury, and I STILL to this day find it stunning that my family would pick things up to make it easier for a stranger to clean, but not so that we could clean our own home.  But I know the economy isn’t in a place for most people right now. We have to work with what we’ve got.  And you know, it’s OK to lower standards a bit.  There is a wonderful human named Martha Cilley (with a C), whose internet handle/nickname  is the FLYLADY. She has a system that you build gradually on over time to help keep you home clean and asks for only 15 minutes a day. She has been at this since it was just an email list, but now there is a book, an app, a website, and all sorts of goodness.  One of her constant sayings is (paraphrasing here) “Just jump in where you are. You are not behind.” Which may be one of the most comforting things I’ve ever heard. Regardless, she has a system already that is easy to adopt and do. 
 
And Food.  Oof… We talked in last week’s pod about menu planning and online shopping. I’ll put link to that episode (episode #186) in the show notes. Those are big time savers and brain savers. Teach your kids – and especially if they are teenagers – how to cook. You’ll save money on fast food and restaurants too! If you are not comfortable asking your child to cook, teach them all about mis-en-place, which is the process of getting all the ingredients ready and measured into the little pannikins like you see on cooking shows. It is then that much faster to put the food together when you walk in. 9:26 My son used to get home before me.  He’d have everything measured out and ready to go so I could breeze in and throw the menu together like a celebrity TV chef.     
 
Additionally, I am a huge fan of prepping your food earlier in the week which also guards against decision fatigue and makes mornings easier. 
 
Is there someone you can carpool with (after vetting them, of course) so that you can reduce the amount of time you shuttle kids here and there?  Or to work?  Carpooling isn’t so bad for kids.  My friendship with my best friend in middle and high school, started as the result of a carpool plan between our moms. We still talk!  

Talk to your partner about what chores or responsibilities they can take over.  Can they handle running the children to all the everywheres one night a week so that you can devote your time to the pursuit of a new life? Can they commit to cooking one night a week? My experience is that most spouses aren’t sure what to offer, but they DO want to help.  If they aren’t particularly supportive, then you will need to find that feeling of support elsewhere.  Like in a group.

 You need supportive spots to share ideas on your job hunt and vent the frustrations you encounter.  You need people to cheer you on.  And as much as social media gets a bad rap for driving people apart, it can bring people together. A very long time ago, I joined what was then called a listserv of women whose children were due in month of January of 1999. It was supportive and full of helpful information. With over 100 people on the list, someone was always on their way to a doctor’s appointment and could throw a question in.  We shared birth stories We shared trials and tribulations. Eventually, we migrated over to a private Facebook group. We have shared our kids’ experiences and our lives with each other for over two decades. And even though most of those kids have turned 25 by the time you hear this, there is a solid group of women – most of whom I’ve never met in person – but who I consider very dear friends. So consider finding a group. There are Facebook groups and subreddits full of people who understand what you are going through.  And I’ll take this moment to announce that we are going to have a Teachers in Transition Podcast Club Facebook group which will be for that very purpose.  Find tips, ask advice, and connect with others. We can share menu plans, and SUPPORT EACH OTHER.  Search in Facebook groups for Teachers in Transition Podcast Club and it should pop right to the top.  I’ll also put a link to the place where you can join in the show notes. We’re better together, and we can help each other. 

In our segment with Nifty Teacher Hacks, I am going to share a tip that comes to us from a teacher from North Pole, Alaska. Instead of file folders, she uses Gallon Sized Ziploc-style bags neatly labeled and standing tall. I was surprised so I tried it. And It works!  Things stay together better in other things like bags, backpacks, and large purses.  This works for groups of papers, lesson materials, and permission slips, and more. This is great because you can store things in there that might not fit in an ordinary file folder, PLUS you can SEE what’s in there.  This is a great tip for those of us who suffer from the if-I-can’t-see-it-then-it-doesn’t-exist phenomenon. 
I currently have these gallon sized zipper bags clipped to our family command center to collect tax information as it comes in. 

So moving over into our Job Hunting Tips segment, we are going to chat a bit about resumes. The purpose of a resume is to convince a computer that your skills are a high enough match to look at you further.  These are applicant tracking systems, or more commonly called the ATS.  
 
Y’all… I see a lot of resumes, and I don’t know who is teaching the columns and pretty colors and such, but it is not helping you be seen.  

So, first up – the Don’ts

Don’t use colors, pictures, or columns when creating a resume.

Just don’t. When applying for a job, you will upload your resume into an applicant tracking system. Then you will spend a large amount of time inputting much of that same information into their system anyway – more about that in a moment.  If you don’t have to apply directly, and are working with a recruiter, they will upload your resume into that system. When building your profile in the corporate system, the recruiter will ask it to parse the more important information into the right boxes. The more beautiful and creative your resume is, the less likely it will be to get through an applicant tracking system or allow that system to accurately pull out your skills, talents, and gifts. Not every recruiter is diligent about making sure that information parsed correctly everywhere. Recruiters have to meet KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and their life is about numbers.  All the pretty colors will not translate and they are wasted on the computer.  Save your time and don’t stress about the design.  
 
 Remember the KISS method:  Keep it simple, 

Do NOT put your entire address in your header.  That is no longer on trend.  Companies are interested in City, State, so that is good to have up.  You will need to have your LinkedIn profile, email address, cell phone number.  Make sure your name is prominent and bold at the top and center it.  

Do NOT put the date you graduated. This is doubly true if you have been teaching 15 years or more. Ageism can work for you or against you.  Sometimes people like older workers because we are not as good at drawing work-life boundaries as our younger counterparts. And sometimes they don’t like older workers. And you just can’t tell in the ATS which it is.  

Don’t over-showcase your teacher experiences. Tread carefully here. Your skills are valuable, but you have to know how to present them. If you are looking at a job in, say, data analytics, then listing your sponsorship of an afterschool student group isn’t going to impress the computer sifting the resumes.  As someone who has taught in more than one place, I had each district listed individually, but they are all still part of the same group and treated it as just one entry. 

Don’t worry about making it all fit on one page.  That’s old wisdom born from a concept that still holds true.  Recruiters and Resume reviewers will not spend a lot of time looking at your resume before making a judgement call.  I have heard anywhere from 6-10 seconds, and that matches my own experience. Old wisdom was that your resume needed to only be one page because asking the person reviewing your resume to turn a page was apparently just too much. Nowadays, that is all on the computer and no one minds scrolling a couple of pages. If it keeps going on to page three, that’s where I started to think that maybe this was going on a bit long. 

Do not listen to the questionable advice of “Just put what you’re missing into the header or footer with white text” or “just make it white text and a size 2. font”  First of all, many ATS don’t even look at headers or footers and second – the AI is starting to catch that sort of thing.  It is not helpful. And when someone is caught doing that, now there is an immediate trust and integrity issue.
 
 Do NOT put your goal at the top.  That’s valuable real estate when someone is quickly scanning.  They are not interested in reading a paragraph. In fact, goals or objective statements are no longer standard practice. Instead, it is a summary statement  - and move it below your education and experience.  Instead put your 6-9 best skills or traits up at the top in two or three columns. A recruiter will scan these skills and become interested for more.  Remember these skills – they tie into something shortly. 

Now for the DOs: 
 Do make sure that all the dates are in 2-digit month and 4-digit year format.  Example 01/2018.  Make sure all of the dates are aligned on the right side.  Someone reviewing this will run an eyeline down and start making decisions just off of dates. 

Do convert teacher-speak to corporate speak.  It doesn’t matter if you were able to raise the test scores of half your class. Nobody cares about test scores unless they’re using them as a reason to bash teachers and schools. Instead, you increased performance outputs by 50%. 

Do make sure that you use numbers and statistics at least five times in that resume.  Those jump out and catch the eye.  And the computer likes them. 
 
 Remember those 6-9 skills and traits I suggested for the top?  DO make sure that your responsibilities and accomplishments support those assertions. 

 Do make sure there is enough white space on the page.  I am betting that most of my listeners see a solid wall of text in a long post or a phone text and often decide it’s not worth the read. If your page is too crowded on your resume, someone scanning quickly is going to easily miss things. You don’t want them miss anything important.  And everything about your resume is important. 

And finally a Bonus Tip: Make sure your email address is professional!  I was working with someone whose email was first name, a reference to a former career, the birth year and a delightful “BMF” at the end. I won’t elaborate on that because I keep this show safe for work, but those of you familiar with the work of Samuel L Jackson will know immediately what BMF references.  Maybe that’s a great email if one is targeting security guard in war-torn countries, but absolutely NOT acceptable for jobs in the corporate world (and I would add court and parenting to that!) I suggested a new email address of First two initials, Last Name, Suffix @ gmail.com.  No year, no prior job reference, no allusions to profanity. 
 
 If you think you might like some help with your resume, feel free to reach out for a complimentary discovery call to see how I can help you make a more effective resume. Teachers in Transition will be hosting a free online resume workshop in February, I will have a date nailed down soon which I’ll share next week. I was just too excited not to share today.

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!