It has been almost six months now since I started my job search. I have officially been unemployed for a week short of three months. I am being paid to do some course design, but I haven't found a full-time job yet. This is rather amazing to me. I have always been able to get a job. But, seemingly, this time I cannot.
At least that's what I thought until I heard about a job yesterday. My former colleague has accepted a job teaching ESL at an upper elementary school - a middle school in south Louisiana. She told me that the school district is still looking for an ESL teacher. So I called this morning and talked to the woman in charge.
She gave me a very convincing sales pitch. 4 hours of classroom time a day,2.5 hours of prep and meeting time. More that 1.5 times the salary I was making at the college. Good benefits. I was starting to get interested.
And then she asked me why I was interested in the job. I gave her some answer or other, but I realized almost as I was saying it that the only reason I am interested in the job is just that: it's a job.
And I don't think it would be fair to me or to the school district, much less to the students, for ma to take a job just to have a job. So while I haven't made a final decision yet, I think I have pretty well decided that I will call the woman and tell her I am not interested. It seems like the honest and professional thing to do.
But there is that little bit of me that is scared, that is afraid that I still won't have a job another 6 months from now. Will my standards and my concern for others be as high then?
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2 comments:
I was really coming to that realization myself. Plenty of principals have called and I've even done some interviewing but what I really want is to work with gifted students - all day. No exceptions, no distractions and with all that comes with dealing with gifted families. A position like this does not exist in the public school system in the Houston area. I am proud to say that I have a draft offer 'on the table' from the only school that is solely for the gifted child. We'll see where that goes. I have the weekend to ponder the deal and decide if it is going to be 'just a job' or 'the job'. I wish you the best meditation on your needs and desires!
It may be a cultural thing, I guess, but I really don't see why can't one apply for a job because it is a job, it is well paid and one needs it. It is an opportunity. In practice it may turn out to be a lot more than just a job: a professional challenge, a rewarding experience, we may find out that it's the thing that we can get sincerely enthusiastic about. In my part of the world, if you're jobless, you grab a job opportunity like that. If a better job opportunity comes along the way, you can still drop this job, can't you?
Take care.
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