Teacher Career Transition (Crash Course)

Welcome to the Educator Career Transition Crash Course!!

Lesson 1

In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to change careers. I’ll cover:

When you should start the job search process
When to leave your current employer and inform your current employer that you will be leaving
How to determine if it is time to leave your current employer

Timelines are SUPER important

First, we’re going to cover when you should start the job search. This is important because for some people this process can time A LONG TIME.

If you are super picky about where you work and what type of work you want to do.
If you need to polish your interviewing skills
If you struggle to market yourself

and the list goes on..

Here’s what you need to know about starting the job search timeline:

Set small goals and be honest with yourself about how much time you can devote to career change.
How serious are you? Are you committed to finding a new career or will you give up with a few rejections?
If you are under contract, then when are you actually available to start working at your new job? Most employers don't wait more than 1 month for someone to start a new position.

Takeaway: Write down the ideal date you wish to have a job by. And start the job search process at least 2 months before that date. In some cases, if you need to UPSKILL, then give yourself 6 months to learn the new skills for that career change.

Breaking up with your current school

Next, we’ll talk about how to break it to your current employer. This is important because you don't want to burn any bridges, the administrator needs to fill your spot, the kids deserve to know if their teacher/school counselor/principal will be leaving them.

Here’s what you need to know about informing your current employer: Unless you are under contract (even then you can get out by paying the fine), you should inform your employer AFTER you have accepted the WRITTEN offer and are 2 weeks away from starting your new job. Here's why -

Prefer to Watch?

If you inform them too far in advance, they might fire you..

They will start to judge your performance as mediocre just because you are leaving.

If you can keep it quiet until that job offer is in YOUR HANDS, that would be IDEAL.

Don't worry about background checks. They hardly call your current supervisor - and that is only to check if you actually worked there.

Takeaway: Keep it to yourself until that written job offer is in your hands.

Is it time to leave my current teaching career? (principal/counseling)

Finally, we’ll discuss how do you know that it is time to leave?. This is important because before you start spending time looking for jobs, applying to places, interviewing (trust me this is a time-consuming process), you want to be at least 80% sure that you want to leave.

I say 80% because, I have seen many people change their mind due to how daunting it is to change careers after you have "teacher" written all over your resume.

Here’s what you need to know about making this decision to stay or leave?

What are your long-term goals? Does staying in your situation help you achieve those goals? For example, do you want to eventually be a business owner? Is this job providing you with flexibility and resources to start your own business? Or if you plan is to own 2 homes by the time you are 35, is this job going to help you with that goal?
Do you feel happy majority of the time you are at work? or do you dread going to work?
Are you getting the mental stimulation you are looking for or do you feel stagnant in your growth?
What is missing that you wish this current job would provide?
- More Money?
- More Flexibility (to go to the bathroom or take time off when you feel sick without creating sub plans?)
- More time (so you don't have to spend all your weekend lesson planning?)

Takeaway: Reflect on all aspects of your work, and identify if something can be resolved to still allow you to continue in this field. If the answer is no, you have tried everything that is possible (changing schools, changing grades, speaking to the supervisor about your needs etc) then it is time to move on!

I hope you enjoyed this lesson! Next, we’ll cover How to find that next career that is right for you!

Next: Lesson 2 - Finding the next career that is right for you! (After leaving education)