More than a bit discouraged

[MotherBear]

Seems it can even happen to their own.

Career derailed after good start
The Press | Friday, 04 January 2008

Melissa Banks would like nothing better than to spend her days in a classroom, but finding a job in a New Zealand school has proved so difficult she is about to leave the country.

Banks, 25, graduated from Teachers' College in Christchurch in 2003 and headed overseas to teach in England.

"I wanted to do my OE and I thought a teaching degree would stand me in good stead in the UK," she said.

"I travelled around teaching at lots of different schools, which gave me loads of new skills and experience, as well as seeing a bit of the world."

After 18 months, Banks returned to New Zealand hoping to continue her career, but after a good start she has found it almost impossible to get a job.

"I got a job at Avonhead Primary School relieving the deputy principal in her classroom, and I did some other relieving work there as well, which was really great," she said.

"But unfortunately, after a year they could not keep me on.

"After that I applied for bucketloads of jobs and sent out loads of CVs, but although I got a lot of interviews I couldn't get a job. There always seemed to be someone with more experience."

Despite having some experience, Banks is still classed as a beginning teacher, meaning schools have to put in extra resources to help her.

"I can totally see where they (schools) are coming from," she said. "It is easier for them to employ someone with experience, but that doesn't help new teachers. There are loads of good new teachers out there."

Banks is now working as a restaurant manager in Akaroa and plans to go back to Britain to continue her teaching career.

From here .

Only 1 in 3 new teachers get a job .

[KiwiHopeful]

I know. I saw that and, believe me, it didn't make me happy at all--not just for myself, but for this poor girl as well. From what I understand, with these young teachers, schools need to find an experienced teacher on staff to mentor them during their first *two* years teaching here ... and it keeps the mentor teacher out of their own classroom very frequently. So, of course, schools don't want to hire that kind of problem--and even if they do, they might not have enough experienced staff to help their new teachers.

I give NZ credit for doing something at least. In the US, our problem is with teacher retention. About 1/3 of all teachers leave the profession after the first year, and 1/2 leave within 5 years. We've tried to tackle it on the education school side--tightening the requirements, requiring more time in the classroom during prep programs--and offering mentoring to new teachers during their first year. This has helped somewhat, but a big part of the problem is the poor pay.

It seems that what NZ is dealing with is what we've found in the US--mentoring takes time, time, and more time.

[Dawn]

I also have a kiwi friend who is a primary school teacher and she can't get a job either!! Crazy - when they're recruiting from the UK like mad and offering wage incentives etc

[selchie]

It makes me angry that teachers, who have such an important job, are paid and supported so poorly. In California, teachers wind up spending their own money to buy supplies for the classroom . It sounds like it's not only in the US. My tiny conspiracy theory gland tells me it's a way to keep the populace ignorant and pliable. My hat is off to anyone who takes on such a demanding and poorly appreciated role

[KiwiHopeful]

I take my hat off to anyone who does what they love and does it well! IMHO, very few of us in *any* field get the we they deserve.

I know it's a little corny, but this has always been one of my favorite songs for that very reason:

Call - Let The Day Begin LYRICS

Pretty much everyone needs more thanks than they get.

[q2.co.nz]

Hello KW, hello everyone,

after reading through the posts in this threat, I'm tempted to ask a reverse question:

Has ANYONE from any country EVER lived somewhere, where getting a job because of your qualification is the norm and getting a job because of who you know is the excemption? I think it's a myth. And I must confess, I too thought it would be different in NZ.

(I'm not talking about sales and marketing people here. They usually do stunning careers in a short time, no matter where in the world they work, because their job is to make people believe and do something. They are trained in that. Convincing someone to hire you is their finger exercise. That's different from the people producing a product, teaching or researching etc. They aren't trained in that. We are those foolish idiots still believing in earnest work and earnest pay and so on.)

I am experiencing a similar situation in the media industry in Germany. Its 100% only about who you know. To an extend that you wonder how any website, brochure or ad campaign ever get done at all, since all positions are filled with the beer buddies, friends, nephews and wannebe "I studied design" -daugthers.

I sometimes can't help myself thinking that we are all living in corrupt, dark Mordor, trying to find our little friendly Hobbit Land. But once we get there we still act like Mordor citizens. Rushing around, working us to death, trying to find meaning and approval in life through work and recognition of work. Is moving to NZ an outer journey, or an innner one? I guess we have to learn to become Hobbit citizens (I'm mainly talking to myself here), then, my feeling says, we will also find those jobs.

My husband and I are moving from Berlin to NZ in 3 months!

Greetings, Petra

[KiwiHopeful]

I've certainly gotten job interview because of who I knew, but the area in the States where I come from has a relatively small community of teachers. I doubt there's more than 3 degrees of separation between myself and any other teacher in the state. I don't think that I've encountered a situation where I've lost out to a candidate who was less qualified than I was. As I said, I usually know the person who got the job over me, and usually I can say 'Oh yeah, I see why that is.'

That said, on the other side of the coin, I've hired people from outside of our community who were complete unknowns to us. I always try to give an interview to the people I know--even if it's just to give them a chance to practice--but I've always hired the person who I think is most qualified for the job. I think to do otherwise only comes back to bite you in the end, and I prefer not to hire any more problems than I need to.

[selchie]

I've gotten jobs where I don't know anyone, based on my qualifications & references. I doubt that any job I got where I did know someone was based purely on them knowing me - they also knew the quality of my work. But I'm sure there are situations where people are hired purely based on who they know. It's just not the norm in my sphere.

[MollieMoo]

Hi there KH
I'm new to this site but was relieved (sorry ) to read your experiences of trying to find work. I'm not in education (like many of these posts are) but have found it equally difficult to find good well paid work in the energy/environmental area. Agencies never call me back. I have a UK honours degree and a Masters and 15 years of working experience and how much is it worth here? very little it seems. I must say I'm surprised about the teaching sector - I would have thought that it would have been straightforward to get something in teaching. Have you thought about hiring an agent to work with you to help you secure something?

I recall reading an article on the stuff web-page a while ago about a very experienced IT guy who had to return to the US I think because he couldn't secure a job. We are told daily that there is low unemployment and employers are competing for staff. I don't get it at all. Where are all these jobs?

The work experience has further clouded my view of New Zealand. There are a number of good things about living in New Zealand sure but it certainly isn't paradise. Add to the workforce disappointment, the poor and insulting salaries, the child bashing that goes on, the endemic drunk driving and the hooning drivers cutting up the roads each night in our residential areas......hmmm....somehow the nice scenary just doesn't cut the mustard. This is where my family and I are for the moment but like I said it simply is not paradise. Its a disappointing experience and such a long way to come to find that out. I sure as hell don't want to stay here for ever.

[molly]

From own experience and what other immigrated friends experienced, titles and degrees are indeed not very valued in NZ. Everyone that I know (except for the ones that got recruited because of their specialist knowledge) had to start right at the bottom of the job ladder or even start in a completely different area of work. Once, some NZ experience is gained, many doors start to open very quickly and after one or two years, you are there where you left your job in your own country - or somewhere even better .

On the salaries: I am not sure, that at the end of the day (when living) in Oz after tax and rent/rates and everything else is being paid, you really have more money left in your pocket. We are running a company in Australia as well and I don't really see much of a difference.