It all started with an email stating there was a job fair in Philadelphia and all you had to do was sign up for the initial interview. I held on to the email and last minute decided to go, thinking that this would be great practice for when I did actually get an interview because I didn't feel called to teach in the city.
April 10th came and I got dressed in my power-suit, had copies of my resume in hand, had all of my clearances, and they were in a nice teacher bag. I arrived at 440 Broad st and realized that what I had gotten myself into was a lot bigger than anticipated as I had a hard time finding a parking spot and the place was crawling with people in business attire and brief cases. As I walked inside there were so many people and booths; it looked like a big craft show. A man told me where I needed to go and as I walked there I marveled at the amount of people standing in line with resume's in hand waiting for opportunities to talk to different schools and realized I had only brought 2 resumes, because I thought I was just going for an interview. I sat outside the office and was told to fill out a bunch of paperwork as I saw person after person coming out of the office crying. I started to get anxious. I was calling people and texting them as I did not know phone numbers that they were asking me on the paper I was filling out and thought I would never finish all of this paperwork before they called my name.
A woman then called out into the waiting area "Lauren Lieberman, you may come back now." That's me I thought as I grabbed all of my things and tried to compose myself. I sat down in a small cubical and waited for my interviewer to come meet me. He came and asked me only six questions as he wrote down my answers furiously. After these questions he excused himself from our meeting and went to "grade" my responses. Several minutes later he came back with more papers in his hand and explained to me that I had scored very high on the interview and asked me to fill out some more papers while he went to talk to someone. He then came back with more papers, this time telling me that the Philadelphia School District would like to offer me a middle years math position and that I did not have to write the essay because I scored so high on the interview. He then sent me with papers to another room to get processed and said "Congratulations." I was on a high. I was shaking and wanted to cry. I picked up the phone and called my parents; at first they thought something was wrong because I was crying. I then proceeded to call other friends and family to share my excitement with them.
May came and I was ready to apply for site selection. I kept trying, but was having difficulty and could not understand it. Come to find out, there was a placement freeze where newly employed people had to wait until all the positions were filled by the current teachers that wanted to shift. I was disappointed but hopeful.
After our wedding and honeymoon, I decided to start applying other places. I had sent out around 200 applications and resumes and had several more interviews all of which ended with, " We found someone that had more experience than you, I'm sorry." This started wearing on me and by August I was resigning myself to substituting at any school I could and living in my parents basement.
Friday before Labor day around 1:45 pm I got a phone call as I was working at Crayola that day asking me if I would like to take a position at the school across the street from Temple University? I replied yes and they asked me to be in Philadelphia on Broad st by 4:30. I started rushing around to find my boss and ask her if I could leave. All of my co-workers were like, "JUST GO!!" As I was rushing around, I got another phone call. "Ms Thatcher, I have another school in the northeast called Austin Meehan on Ryan Ave, would you rather work there?" I was so exited that school had been on my list as a good school. After that I was on my way to sign all of the papers so that I could start teaching on the first day of school. Excitement and praise to God for His goodness was all that could be thought of on that infamous trip down to Broad st the Friday before Labor day.
No comments:
Post a Comment