Job Search Update: What's Next?

Some of you have been following my semi-cryptic posts about a job I'd been applying for and was excited about it. I made it to the second round interview and felt it went okay but maybe not perfectly.

I got the news yesterday:

they picked someone else.

What was the job? Yelp was hiring a Community Ambassador for Detroit. It was 15 hours a week for a year, applicants had to live in the city, and I felt I was a strong candidate for the position. I was excited to reach out to new businesses, bring people to events in the city I love, and have an excuse to try out new places.

I had also applied to teach SAT prep at Phillips Andover in Massachusetts and was offered a five week contract for this summer. I turned that down in the hopes the Yelp job would come through. Both were jobs I would have been able to do along with my current test prep instruction, which I'm fortunate to love doing most days.

I thought I would be really sad if the Yelp job didn't come through, and I was for the first few minutes. And I thought I'd be especially sad that I had turned down Andover if the Yelp job didn't work out.

The next feeling surprised me though. I ended up feeling relieved. Relieved that I wouldn't be spending half the summer away from #fixerupperdetroit just as it's being finished. Relieved I wouldn't be spending the summer teaching SAT at an elite private school. Relieved that I wouldn't be working for a tech company whose labor practices I don't completely agree with, and that is financially struggling. Relieved that I have the next few months to find a job in the public or nonprofit sector instead of remaining in the for-profit one.

And then I felt a little lost. A little afraid. Because I haven't been scheduled for anything for the summer yet, which means I could consider going through an alternative teaching certification program. I don't have plans for the fall, which means I could pick a public school to work at. I've been seriously considering trying to find a position as an ESL classroom aide or building substitute teacher, or possibly as a long-term sub. Those are jobs I could do while doing test prep in the evenings or on weekends, or that I could do while figuring out what teaching certification would be the most effective. You know I've said that I can't handle teaching full-time in a public school. I don't want to jump in head first.

Rebecca and I sifted through some job listings when I got home last night. The areas it would be easiest for me to be certified (Spanish and ESL) are now critical shortage areas in metro Detroit, unlike when I graduated college into the Recession and no one was leaving a teaching job while pensions were in jeopardy, universities were producing too many certified teachers, and the majority of jobs available were paid hourly at charter schools or in such desperately low-income schools that I couldn't bear the working conditions. Turns out vilifying teachers, cutting pay and benefits, increasing standardized testing, and withdrawing public support from public schools has had a devastating effect on availability of teachers. Who knew?

So I'm pretty sure I must be addled to even think about going back, but I love teaching. I love languages. I love my colleagues who have stayed and bravely stuck it out for the sake of the children. I love children. And #fixerupperdetroit didn't really make sense either, from a purely logical perspective.

But can we really say that choosing love is logical?